By Marc Purtell - October 2009 eNewsletter
It has long been said that pay per click (PPC) and search engine optimization (SEO), two search engine placement strategies, are mutually exclusive and that having a PPC campaign will not help your organic rankings. While it is true that there is no direct connection between PPC activity and organic search ranking, PPC can certainly effect your search engine optimization indirectly. Here are ten ways PPC can complement SEO:
1. More SERP (Search Engine Results Page) real estate
Search engine result page real estate is highly valuable. When someone searches a keyword phrase that is relevant to your business, there are plenty of places a user can click, so you want to own as many positions as possible. By having both a natural listing and a paid listing on the same SERP, you will be much more likely to generate visits to your website.
2. Use different messaging on a single SERP (Search Engine Results Page)
Different people respond to different messaging. The content of your natural search listing may be attractive to some users, but not others. Adding a paid listing with a different message or a specific offer can appeal to an additional cross-section of users.
3. Conversion tracking
Tracking conversions in PPC is a great way to determine which keywords to focus SEO efforts on. By looking at conversion data of the words you are buying in PPC, you can get clues on what phrases will be worthwhile in your SEO efforts. Keyword phrases that produce a high conversion rate in PPC will most likely also convert well for organic traffic.
4. Branding through repetition
Branding your business is very important, especially for conversions. By showing up in PPC, people who see your ad will be more likely to click your organic listing if they come across it somewhere else. Having a paid listing and an organic listing on the same search engine result page may be just enough to get someone to remember your brand.
5. Ad copy can translate to title tags
One of the beautiful things about PPC is the ability to test different messaging in ad variations. Once you find the right ad copy to generate a high click through rate, you can use that copy in the title tags of your webpages. In organic search listings, your title tag often appears as the title of the search result and by knowing what messaging causes people to click, you can increase your click through rate in organic search as well.
6. Get on the first page for phrases you don’t rank for
Although this may be an obvious search engine placement strategy, it is very important. Any phrases you do not rank on the first search engine result page organically, are unlikely to drive much traffic. By buying that phrase in PPC, you can be on that all important first page virtually whenever you want.
7. Build links
By buying relevant traffic in pay per click, you will generate more visitors and brand exposure. There is a possibility of people who visit your site linking to you. If you have valuable information, free downloads, tools, etc. on your website, a number of pay per click visitors will end up linking to your website which will improve your SEO results.
8. Get free estimates on keyword competition/searches
There are often useful tools provided by PPC vendors. Google Adwords, for example, gives you access to Google’s Keyword Suggestion Tool that provides competitive data on keywords. You will be able to see how often phrases are searched and how many other websites compete for those keywords. This is great insight to have when deciding what phrases to focus your SEO efforts on.
9. Test forms in PPC before going site-wide
Perhaps you want visitors to your website to fill out a form. Deciding how to present the form and exactly what data to ask for can make a huge difference on the number of users that complete the form. Using PPC, you can test different variations of the form to see which is the best before placing it on your entire website.
10. Increase your profits
Making money online is dependent on using as many search engine placement strategies as possible to drive revenue. There is no single solution to generating huge profits. The more channels you test, explore, and optimize, the more money you will make. If you are already doing SEO, start running PPC as well to take advantage of the additional revenue opportunities!
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