SEO and Paid Advertising – A Perfect Combination
While many businesses view search engine optimization and paid advertising as diametrically opposed approaches to traffic generation, the truth of the matter is that they can be integrated into a cohesive marketing strategy. When used correctly, SEO and paid advertising can complement each other and help a website draw in targeted traffic. Here are 5 key ways in which the two approaches can be used as part of an effective marketing strategy:
Refining your SEO Campaign
No online marketer would question the value of organic SEO, but one of the common frustrations that many have with SEO is that it can take months to see tangible results. On the flipside, the primary strength of PPC is that you’ll see immediate results, allowing you a clear perspective of which keywords you should be targeting. With the analytics gained from your paid advertising campaign, you can reapply your focus to SEO using the keywords shown to be profitable. In this respect, you’ll be able to use the fast results of PPC advertising to refine your SEO campaign.
Maximizing your Exposure
Certain businesses adopt a strategy in which they pursue paid advertising until they start to see the effects of their SEO efforts, and then they cease their PPC campaigns. The misconception behind this approach is that if a website is receiving organic traffic from search engines, then there’s no reason to pay for advertising. The reason this approach is misguided is because it’s possible to have a great ROI from your paid advertising campaigns even while your SEO efforts are showing results—the more targeted traffic, the better.
Integrating Social Media
Social media marketing is the latest frontier in online marketing, and no business should underestimate the value of increasing their presence on social networks. Paying for social media advertising can garner your business precise information about the demographics most interested in your products and services, and you can then use this information to enhance your SEO campaigns.
Hedging your Bets
It’s never a smart decision to put all of your eggs into a single basket, and this holds true when it comes to online marketing. The algorithms which determine search engine results are constantly being updated, and your search engine rankings are never guaranteed to remain steady. This is why it’s best to pursue multiple channels of traffic generation, so that you’ll still have a portion of your traffic in the event that you have to adapt your marketing strategies to the latest trend.
Increasing your Credibility
Recent studies have shown that when a website appears on both the organic search results and as a sponsored result, it has a tremendous effect on the consumer. Seeing your website in both columns instantly boosts the credibility of your brand to a significant degree, and it leads to a noteworthy increase of your click-through rate and conversion rate. This is the clearest tangible data on how valuable SEO and paid advertising are when used in conjunction with one another.
