In the digital marketing world, there are a lot of misconceptions and myths (myth-conceptions, if you will) about how organic search engine optimization and pay-per-click campaigns work together.
We’ve heard and seen it all.
But we have years of experience doing both PPC and SEO campaigns and we can definitively answer this ever-present question:
Is a pay-per-click campaign going to affect my organic rankings?”
As a rule, no.
PPC ads do NOT directly affect organic rankings.
Seriously. There are a lot of people who say that they started spending a lot more in Google Ads (formerly called Google AdWords) or Bing and then their organic results increased.
Or, someone who isn’t spending a lot with Google, but their competitor is, tries to link their competitor’s better results with the competitor’s increased Google Ads budget.
None of that is real.
There is a metaphorical wall (and probably a literal wall – it’s a big office) between the paid ads and organic sides of Google.
They won’t let PPC affect organic results because that would make the search engine results pages (SERPs) decrease in quality.
Google’s mission is to create the best possible search result for every query and rewarding advertisers with higher organic search rankings would work against that mission.
However, there are some indirect influences that are out of Google’s control that will cause your paid and organic traffic to possibly intersect.
Studies show that searchers who see an ad may be more likely to click an organic listing. Or, they may be more likely if they see a high ranking organic listing for an ad to click that ad.
People who have seen an ad or a brand previously (perhaps on social media) are more likely to click, engage, and convert. It builds their brand association and then they’re more likely to click the conversion button.
Think about your own online habits. You’re more likely to click on a brand that you recognize, right? Right.
PPC & SEO: A Match Made in Heaven
Organic traffic is important for a lot of reasons, but that doesn’t mean you can ignore PPC.
People often want to pit them against each other “SEO vs PPC” and ask which one is better, as they only would like to pick one.
They wonder if they should focus on ads or the organic search results? Which is better in the short term or long term? Are my SEO efforts worth it if I can just bid on keywords using PPC?
The simple truth is that if you combine the two marketing strategies, you are likely to learn more about your users and increase conversion rates with your newfound data. In the marketing world, more data is always a good thing.
Benefits of running both SEO and PPC campaigns:
- Keyword and conversion data from PPC can be integrated into organic search strategies
- Use the results from A/B testing ad copy and landing pages to improve your organic landing pages
- Easily test your keyword strategy in PPC before committing to a long-term SEO campaign
- Increase brand awareness by having both organic and paid visibility
With a comprehensive approach, you can drive conversions like never before. SEO and PPC can be extremely effective for small businesses as well as large.
Convinced that SEO and PPC work best together and want to get started on your own campaign? Digital Strike is here to help.
Even if you’re already using PPC and/or SEO we can take a look and see if your SEO strategy or search engine marketing can be improved. We are experts in search marketing and have worked in just about any business vertical you can imagine.
Contact us today for a free consultation.
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