Many brands are only investing in one type of marketing at a time, PPC or SEO marketing strategies as they consider them to be separate but in reality, those two strategies can work really good together to bring full potential in the SERPs. So not to integrate into one another for a site marketing would be a big mistake.

SEO strategy is used for increasing a site’s organic traffic through search visibility and site authority. On the other hand pay-per-click (PPC) advertising seeks to generate traffic through created and targeted ads in search engines or social websites.

While they are essentially different, they both aim for similar goals. Also, SEO and PPC strategies often are dependent on eachother, feeding the other with important information for helping to improve the performance of the other one. To better understand the symbiotic relationship between these two marketing methods, let us see how they are different and how they are alike to outline how SEO and PPC feed each other’s outcomes.

SEO and PPC: The differences

SEO is process that aims to increase the quality and quantity of traffic that a site receives from search engines. There are a variety of SEO techniques for improving rankings, including content creation, technical optimization, link building and others. On the other hand, PPC advertising is a model of digital marketing where advertisers pay an amount each time an individual clicks one of their ads.

While these two tactics both go under the category of search engine marketing (SEM), there are some key differences between these two concepts.

Paid adverts appear at the top of search engine listings, above the organic rankings which are influenced by search engine optimization.

Also advertisers who generate traffic from their ads must pay for those site visits. Organic listings that obtain clicks as a result of earning visibility by utilizing SEO practices are free.

But the results generated from PPC campaigns, be it conversions, traffic, awareness or all of the above is immediate. Problem is that once the promotion ends, a site’s metrics will probably revert to pre-campaign levels. On the other hand, SEO strategies often take a while to gain momentum and businesses may not see a return on their investment for many months and even up to a year. However, once a company’s search optimization strategy begins producing results, those changes tend to be long term.

SEO and PPC: The similarities

While PPC and SEO are different in many ways, they also share some similarities. Both tactics aim to drive traffic to a website and also are often aimed at generate conversions. While one does this through paid means and the other through a process of climbing the SERPs organically, the end goal remains the same.

SEO and PPC are both keyword driven strategies. While advertisers will conduct keyword research to identify prosperous phrases to bid on and irrelevant ones to exclude through negative keyword lists, SEOs will also analyze relevant terms to understand how to optimize titles, content, technical elements and other critical on-site aspects.

So PPC and SEO can help eachother if used together to maximaze SERP coverage, while advertisers are waiting for SEO strategies to kick in, they can use PPC to get results right away and use it until SEO takes over or at least balances out the SEO gain to PPC gain.