SEO vs PPC: Which strategy fits you better?

For a new brand starting out, it is essential to design some sort of user acquisition strategy. No matter how good your product or service is if no one knows you exist you won’t sell.

This is where marketing comes in, and especially digital marketing. The world lives online nowadays so, it’s the best way to reach the audience you want to reach.

So if you are starting out and want to give your brand some online visibility what should you do? Should you opt for SEO (Search Engine Optimization), the non-paid strategy, and try to organically rank your contents for the right keywords so they reach the right target, or should you loosen the purse strings and pay to have your website advertised for the relevant keywords, through PPC (Pay-per-Click)?

Let’s look at the pros and cons of each strategy in the hopes of shining a light on the best course of action for your brand.

SEO Pros

– It offers a free and targeted source of traffic

– It can help your business grow by securing a good online presence and constant visibility

– It allows you to surpass your competitors and position yourself higher than them

– It allows you to uncover market niches and consumer needs that are being ignored by your competitors

SEO Cons

– The process of SEO takes time and, as such, will not show immediate results. It’s a long-term strategy

– It carries the risk of penalties if Google’s best practices are not employed

And what about PPC?

PPC pros

– It provides the option of retargeting your visitors

– It gives you quick results if you’re willing to set a competitive bid

– It is extremely affordable because the only cost you incur in is directly linked to the amount of traffic you get since you only pay for clicks on your ad

– With PPC you can track and optimize your ads in real-time, thus ensuring you get the best results possible at all times

PPC cons

– Unlike SEO, it isn’t free

– Once the campaign is over, the ads disappear. PPC only gives you visibility as long as you pay for it.

– PPC does not guaranty conversions, it guarantees traffic. What those users do once they reach your website, is based on several other factors.

Most of the times, brands tend to employ both strategies at the same time as they are somewhat complementary to each other.

Ultimately, the course of action you take will depend highly on the nature of your business, on your product, on your revenue needs, on your budget and, on many other factors.

For example, SEO, by itself, is not adequate for businesses who need substantial revenue in the short term. For this, PPC is recommended. However, while PPC does its job of bringing in revenue in the short-term, SEO can work on the background and help create relevancy and visibility in the long-term.

Set your priorities straight first and according to your goals and possibilities, choose whichever strategy fits you better, PPC, SEO or a combination of both.