What comes to mind when you think about the perfect pair in marketing? Is it the tag team of copywriting and design? Is it the combo of a social media and content strategy? Or is it the union of outbound and inbound marketing strategies for lead generation? While all of these couples are perfect for one another, there is a brand new pairing in town: PPC and SEO. With SEO and PPC working together, businesses can maximize their online visibility, reach their target audience effectively, and drive more conversions.
Whether you’re a marketing professional or a business owner looking to increase revenue, SEO and PPC working together is the perfect pair for your marketing efforts. Let’s take a look at why SEO and PPC are so important, and how they can integrate seamlessly into your marketing strategy.
Before we hop into SEO and PPC working together, let’s take a look at them separately.
SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization, which is the practice of optimizing a website to increase its visibility and ranking on search engine results pages (SERPs). SEO improves the quality and quantity of traffic to a website from organic search results.
Many factors can affect a website's SEO, including on-page elements such as content, meta tags, and keywords, as well as off-page elements such as backlinks, social media signals, and user behavior.
SEO is important because it helps businesses increase their online presence, reach new audiences, and drive more traffic to their website. When done correctly, SEO can increase conversions and revenue for businesses. However, it's important to note that SEO is an ongoing process that requires continuous monitoring and optimization to maintain and improve search engine rankings over time.
PPC stands for Pay-Per-Click, a digital advertising model in which advertisers pay each time a user clicks on one of their ads. PPC ads can appear on SERPs, social media platforms, websites, and other online platforms.
PPC advertising typically involves bidding on specific keywords or phrases related to the advertiser's business or industry. When a user searches for a keyword or phrase that matches the advertiser's bid, their ad may appear at the top of the search results or on other online platforms. The advertiser is only charged when a user clicks on their ad, hence the term "pay-per-click."
PPC can be a highly effective form of advertising because it allows businesses to target specific audiences with relevant and timely messages. It also provides a measurable and trackable way to monitor ad performance and adjust campaigns to improve ROI.
The benefits of pairing SEO and PPC are numerous, but the main one is taking control of the search engine algorithm. Here is Marketwake SEO Manager Josh Cummings with his thoughts on SEO and PPC working together:
“With SEO and PPC, we are trying to get as much real estate on search results pages as possible. We want to be covering it in as many ways as we can. We want to be in the top organic spots of search engines, but we also want to be in the top paid spots as well. You’re missing out on a good half of website traffic when you focus on only one or the other.”
What Josh says is very true. The main benefit of SEO and PPC working together is the ability to take up as much space as possible on SERPs. In fact, the combination of organic and paid search makes up 80% of all trackable website visits, according to HigherVisibility. With this much web traffic coming from these two sources, businesses must invest time and energy into their combined PPC and SEO efforts.
Additionally, with SEO and PPC working together, they can share keyword data, a process that is integral to optimizing both strategies.
Paid Media Supervisor, Marketwake
Oftentimes, PPC gets quicker feedback about which keywords are performing well. With this information, paid teams can send these keyword insights to the SEO team to help optimize target pages and improve website rankings. Without this consistent back and forth between teams, businesses could miss out on keywords that would immensely help them optimize their SEO and PPC strategy.
A final important aspect of SEO and PPC working together is their alliance against competitors. Competitors, especially ones with more website authority, make bidding on certain keywords and appearing in organic search rankings difficult. When SEO and PPC teams share their competitor data they can find new keywords that their competitors may not be bidding on, or explore niche keywords in their content marketing strategy that break out from under their competitors’ SEO shadow. With this, businesses can help improve their website authority and slowly grow to take advantage of the top SERP spots.
Retargeting is a primary benefit of SEO and PPC working together. With a strong SEO strategy, businesses can entice organic users to their website by being higher up on the Google Search Results Rankings. However, if those users leave the website without making a conversion, it is up to PPC to serve them with targeted ads that bring them back to the website. In fact, retargeting website visitors leads to a 43% increase in conversion rates, according to Criteo. Thus, whenever your SEO strategy is not leading to conversions, try picking up a PPC strategy that targets those who have visited your content or landing pages.
Essentially, setting Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) makes sending beneficial data between departments easier. Suppose the PPC team examines the click-through rates of specific keywords and achieves a certain performance threshold. In that case, they can forward the information to the SEO department to enhance website optimization and content strategy. Setting these KPIs early allows for an understanding between departments of what metrics will be good to know as you continue to have SEO and PPC working together.
When a business’s ground is covered between SEO and PPC strategies, they end up higher on search results pages for both paid and organic listings. As a business receives more visibility and clicks on search engine links, their brand will become known as knowledge leaders in their industry, differentiating them from competitors and increasing their website authority. It also helps to cover your ground and hide where your business might lack in either SEO or PPC. For example, a business with low website authority might have a weak SEO strategy. However, by investing in a strong PPC strategy in a niche market, they can make up for the lack of website authority.
With SEO and PPC working together, businesses can garner impressive results. For example, LeaseCrunch wanted to become the leader in the automated lease accounting software market. First, however, they would need to become a thought leader and trusted source in the world of lease accounting. To do this, LeaseCrunch asked for help from the experts at Marketwake. With Marketwake’s data-driven PPC and SEO strategy, they saw a 326% return on paid search investment, an 865% increase in organic web clicks, and a 3,552% increase in organic traffic in 2022! From just those numbers alone, it's easy to see why a well-oiled SEO and PPC strategy works so well together.
Want to find the best way to get SEO and PPC working together?
With Marketwake’s creative marketing solutions, we can help you drive leads, boost conversions, and grow revenue for your business. Marketwake’s paid media strategists are experts at knowing when and where to bid and have seen 29x returns on ad spend for their clients. And with Marketwake’s SEO and content strategy, we can help you dominate the search engine results page with an optimized website and powerful content strategy.
Ready to get started? Contact us to learn more about how SEO and PPC working together can help your business grow exponentially, and exceed any goals you’ve set for your business.
Besides keeping a line of communication open between your SEO and PPC departments, it is always best to enlist the services of a marketing agency that does both SEO and PPC strategy really well, like Marketwake.
Paid Media Supervisor, Marketwake
There are several ways to create a comprehensive digital marketing strategy with SEO and PPC working together. Here are some examples:
Yes, SEO and PPC can and often should be used at the same time to complement each other and improve the overall effectiveness of a digital marketing campaign.
Here are a few reasons why SEO and PPC working together is beneficial:
SEO and PPC working together can help form a winning digital marketing strategy. Here are a few examples of how:
A business would consider using PPC and SEO in conjunction with each other for several reasons. Here are some of the most important: