On one side, there are organic SEO, Search Engine Optimization, and paid search campaigns such as PPC or Google Ads, which are the two largest traffic-driving approaches for increasing visibility in digital marketing. Both have pros, and together they complete a power and well-rounded approach to online marketing. The question is, how do you balance both?
This article will discuss the best way of balancing organic SEO and paid search campaigns in order to achieve the best online presence, driving traffic, and subsequently getting more conversions.
1. Understand the Strengths and Weaknesses of Each Approach
Well before one dives into the balancing act between SEO and PPC, the core strengths and weaknesses of each should be understood.
Organic SEO:
Strengths:
- Long-term strategy with sustainable results
- Credibility and trust with the users are established over time.
- No Ongoing expenses post the one-time investment except content creation and optimization efforts.
Weaknesses:
- Takes months to deliver the results.
- Ongoing efforts are needed for rankings-things change, search algorithms, and competition.
- Not easy to manage as it is based on the Google algorithm ranking.
Paid Search Campaigns (PPC):
Strengths:
- It provides results and visibility at the earliest.
- Keywords, demographics, location, etc. can be highly customized.
- Ad placement and budget can be controlled; it is measurable, and the ROI is easy to see.
Weaknesses:
- Cost is ongoing because you pay for every click regardless of conversion.
- High competition and expensive, especially in those industries with a high CPC (Cost Per Click).
- Continuous management is required to optimize its performance.
2. Leverage SEO to Support Your Paid Search Campaigns
Balancing SEO and paid search is the aim to ensure that they complement each other. This is how SEO can support your paid search campaigns:
A. Improved Quality Score with SEO Insights
Google Ads uses a score called Quality Score in determining the relevance of your ads to the user. One of the most important aspects of improvement in Quality Score is creating relevant landing pages. By doing research on SEO and optimizing your landing pages for the keywords under which people are searching, you increase the likelihood that your ads will perform better at a cost.
- Example: If your SEO team discovers some high-converting keywords that rank well in organic search, you can target those keywords in your PPC campaigns and keep the same messaging both on the organic listings and the paid ads.
B. Target High-Converting Keywords
You will find keywords that are already driving organic traffic and conversions, driven by the efforts of SEO, and then you can target those in the paid search, so that you ensure that you’ve caught as much traffic as you could for those high-converting terms.
- Example: If your SEO data shows that a particular long-tail keyword is causing relevant organic traffic, you could bid on that same keyword in paid search to get more impressions knowing it is a high-value term.
C. Use SEO Content for Ad Copy Ideas
Keyword research and content creation are often parts of an SEO project. Such initiatives will often create many ideas to help craft ad copy for PPC campaigns. Using top-ranking content, for example, can draw on headlines or descriptions in a PPC ad while already aligning messaging with user intent.
- Example: If your SEO content about “how to make a successful online business” is doing good organically, consider turning that into a headline for a paid search ad which really captures the essence of what the user would want to intend, such as “Start Your Online Business Today – Learn How.”
3. Paid Search Use to Enhance Organic Results
This is because paid search can also enable the generation of better organic SEO results. Here’s how you can use paid advertising for your organic visibility.
A. Visibility for Competing Keywords
For some keywords that tend to be really competitive in terms of organic searches, paid search ads can definitely increase your site’s presence. This saves you from any missed traffic; especially when focusing on high competitive keywords.
- Example: If you’re a local bakery that wants to rank for phrases such as “best bakery near me,” bidding up on paid search ads for this keyword may give you quick visibility while you work to optimize your organic rankings for that term.
B. Own More SERP Real Estate
This way, with organic and paid search results on SERPs, your business has a higher chance of dominating the search results for certain keywords. This increases the click-through rate since the searchers may feel comfortable clicking on your business when it comes up in organic results and also in the paid versions.
- Example: If your business is ranking on the first page of organic results for that keyword, running PPC ads targeted to that keyword will increase your visibility substantially and thereby increase the overall CTR from those results instead of solely depending on organic results.
C. Data-driven insights in SEO
Paid search campaigns can generate huge amounts of data regarding the performance of a keyword. You, therefore, look at how a particular keyword will perform in your paid campaign, say the click-through rates and conversion rate, hence creating an understanding on how you could improve your SEO strategy by using keywords that cost less to gain in the paid search but may trigger more traffic on the organic.
- Example: Assume that your keyword is converting in paid campaign but is not ranking organically. Then, it can be optimized within your website’s content, targeting paid as well as organic traffic.
4. Design a Holistic Approach for SEO and Paid Search
Balanced campaigns are well-known ones which amalgamate both organic SEO and PPC efforts. Collaborate on the plan of making one complement the other through building an overall balance.
A. Segment Your Objectives
While each of the channels-SEO and PPC-is a champion in its arena, they, too, need to be steered according to your business goal. Organic SEO is employed for the long haul for creating believability in a brand; however, for short term visibility that could instantly yield impact, PPC is considered.
- Example: Use SEO to build up the content library and authority around long-tail keywords. Meanwhile, run PPC against more competitive short-tail keywords that would take longer to rank for organically.
B. Avoid Cannibalization
One major key is avoiding cannibalization between the two channels. So if you target the same keyword on both your organic and paid channels, you just have to ensure you’re not over-replicating the effort or outbidding when you already dominate on organic terms.
- Example: If you already rank organically for a very highly trafficked term, like “best coffee machine reviews,” it may not make sense to spend a lot of budget in paid search ads for that same term. Therefore, focus your paid search efforts on complementary or more competitive terms.
C. Optimize Budget Allocation
Then line these up against your objectives and budget. You’ll probably find the best fit to use your dollars is when more dollars are spent flung on paid search towards current needs, and time in SEO knowing those results will actually be more sustainable, longer term.
- Example: If you’re launching a new product and need instant traffic, allocate a larger portion of your budget to paid search. Meanwhile, start building your organic content for the product to build long-term search engine authority.
5. Monitor and Adjust Your Campaigns
It’s a continuous balancing act between SEO and paid search. You should monitor the performance of both channels and adjust your strategy accordingly. Constantly testing and optimizing both your SEO efforts and paid search campaigns will help you identify areas to improve and increase ROI.
- Analytics: Check every now and then through Google Analytics, Google Search Console, and your Google Ads account. Find out what is bringing you the most traffic and what’s converting, and thus change your strategy.
- Iterate Based on Results: You might A/B test your paid campaign and SEO plan to see which works for you and which does not. Continuously optimize the two channels from the information you learn.
Conclusion
Balancing organic SEO with paid search campaigns can shift the game regarding what businesses may look forward to accomplishing regarding maximizing online presence and increasing qualified traffic. To know the best of both worlds about approaches, utilizing SEO insights into building PPC, paying search that fuels organic rankings, and combining an all-inclusive strategy brings your digital marketing strategy to a different level.
Remember that SEO delivers long-term benefits with sustainable growth, while paid search delivers immediate results with targeted visibility. So you can have the best of both worlds by strategically balancing them for a powerful synergy that increases traffic, conversions, and finally business success.
