Marketers often struggle with getting the word out about a brand. Search engine optimization (SEO) and Pay-per-click (PPC) strategies are effective marketing strategies to improve a brand’s online presence but which one provides the best return for your goal? Search Engine Optimization Search engine optimization (SEO) is a marketing strategy involving improving a website’s visibility to make it rank high on search engine results. This can be done in many ways, including maintaining updated and relevant content, optimizing site load speed, and utilizing outbound linking strategies. Brands aim to increase their SEO rankings because it helps to build their credibility, as most people trust websites that are ranked at the top of Google’s results. In fact, ranking #1 in Google Search generates a CTR of 34.36% (The Global Statistics, 2022). Top placements in organic search results also help to build brand awareness, as you are awarded a larger Google impression share. This addition of quality content, optimized site load speed, and outbound linking helps to ensure visibility to a larger audience across all search engines. With the benefits of SEO, come difficulties as well. Achieving higher rankings in organic search is highly competitive as there are so many brands fighting for that number 1 ranking spot. Because of this, SEO is not a set it and forget it type of strategy. It is constantly evolving and there are various factors that impact SEO rankings. In addition to maintaining relevant and timely content, the metadata used on the site needs to be constantly optimized to reflect the latest content fluctuations. This helps Google to provide users with websites that offer the most relevant content, relative to their search query. User experience should remain top priority if brands want to stay successful with SEO. The website should have a responsive design for both desktop and mobile experiences, load fast, and be easily navigable. Stay relevant, keep a close eye on your competitors, and follow best SEO practices. Pay-Per-Click Pay-per-click (PPC) is an advertising strategy where you pay to improve the ranking of your website on search engines like Google. Being ranked at the top of a search engine can be accomplished by bidding or keyword targeting. PPC advertising allows brands to quickly get in front of their target market to stay competitive. PPC advertising offers quick results whereas SEO strategies can take months to start seeing any return on investment. PPC ads also stand above all organic rankings so your website will appear first for your targeted keyword. When setting up your ads, you can narrow down your target market to specifics of geographic area, interests, marital status, etc. With PPC advertising, brands can run A/B testing to see which ad campaign performs better and kill the ad that is not performing. Although PPC offers quick results, it does require a decent ad spend cost with no guarantee of leads, and without an understanding of the many nuances of PPC, it can be difficult for the typical marketer to master. If you’re asking yourself whether SEO or PPC is better for you…the answer is both marketing strategies are optimal. SEO is great for building a brand’s credibility and maximizing long-term return on investment (ROI). PPC is useful if you want to deliver quick results such as promoting an offer that is time-sensitive. PPC strategy can help brands stay competitive by quickly getting their site in front of their target consumers if they don’t have the credibility to do it organically. Ultimately maintaining strong PPC and SEO strategies will bring the most success to your marketing efforts. Need help figuring out which advertising campaign is better for you? Contact one of wedü’s marketing experts today!