MySocialBiz is no stranger to SEO. But if you are on a budget, and need to pick one or the other, what would you choose SEO or PPC? Before we can make an executive decision, let’s start by defining both strategies (please see our other blog posts on SEO here and here).
SEO
Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of optimizing your website and webpages to rank in the organic results in search engines like Google and Bing.
The challenging part about SEO is that you can’t pay to appear here. Search engines have algorithms that calculate the quality and relevance of your page and rank you accordingly. While this doesn’t cost money, it does cost you in time. As a result, a big part of SEO is figuring out what the search engines deem important. Instead of wasting time figuring that out, hire someone who already knows! SEO firms are a great workaround, and we happen to be one of the most accessible ones.
PPC
Pay-per-click (PPC) is an advertising model where you pay for clicks to your website. It’s typically associated with search engine advertising like Google Ads. Anytime someone refers to “search engine marketing”, you can likely assume they are referring to PPC.
Right off the bat, PPC is much MUCH faster than a grassroots SEO strategy. It also allows for experimentation with a much larger probability of being attributable than an organic strategy. However, PPC does require a bit of budget for ad-spend in order to be effective. Furthermore, “ad-fatigue” is a reality for ad-sets no matter how successful they may have been at one time.
So Why Wouldn’t I Go With the Free Option?
Well.. SEO takes time. Like, a lot of time. On average, 6 months is the typical lifespan it takes for any real progress to occur in Google ranking according to Forbes. It also requires authoritative and original content on a very regular basis. And this is the part that requires time (and some level of money) to invest in creating.
But you might be thinking “PPC requires money too?” Yes, but it’s a cut and dry transaction as opposed to the investment of time with a non-guaranteed outcome. The answer really boils down to how quickly you want results — and whether you have any sort of budget to support display or keyword ads.
For further information on how to make your marketing money work for you, or how to build a marketing plan from scratch, reach out to olivia@mysocialbiz.net or neil@mysocialbiz.net today.