Paid VS Organic Traffic

Most Company/Advertisers/Affiliates know the basic differences of Paid Traffic vs. Organic Traffic. However, there are many who are not even aware of the two basic types of search results or traffic. There are distinct advantages to Paid and Organic Traffic. Each of these methods depends on the web marketing strategy used and often both methods are used simultaneously to boost the overall Paid and Organic traffic.

Traffic coming from SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is free, while traffic generated from PPC (Pay Per Click) ads is not free. PPC ads are displayed above organic search results or on the sidebar of search engine pages for search queries related to their topic. Landing page keywords, ad keywords, CPC (cost per click) bids, and targeting all influence how those ads are “served” or displayed on the page.

Organic results appear under paid ads. Getting your website or listing to appear in the coveted first and second positions of a SERP (search engine results page) depends on how optimized your website is for search engines.

So, what’s the best strategy to use for your organization and when? Here are the main factors to consider.

In order to determine what to invest in PPC vs. SEO, consider your total budget for search marketing. If you have no budget to commit to paid ads, you’ll need to stick to SEO optimization.

If you do have some budget to dedicate to paid ads, it’s worth incorporating it into your SEM strategy. Some benefits of PPC advertising include:

Testing: If you want to test a new layout, UX, or product on your website, you’re going to need a lot of A-B testing traffic to get the results you’re looking for. PPC ads are a great way to drive that traffic immediately. If you’re just implementing SEO, it takes a lot of time and resources to drive the same volume of traffic.

Immunity: Search companies are constantly thinking up ways to update their algorithms so that searchers are getting the content most relevant to their needs. While SEO strategies, which rely on the algorithms already in place, must adapt and change with these search engine updates, PPC campaigns are totally immune.

If you’re interested in implementing PPC as well as SEO, consider how much the competition in your industry spends on these ads, too.
PPC platforms hinge not on fixed prices, but on bids. Marketers bid for what they’re willing to pay for a single keyword click. Some industry words are much more expensive than others. The more expensive the word, the more likely you should rely on SEO to deliver traffic and leads to your organization. To find average industry CPCs, you can use Google’s keyword planner tool.

Competition for keywords in hot industries can be fierce, and is often dominated by leaders in the space. Trying to displace these big fish through your SEO efforts alone will require significant resources and strategy, and may, in the end, be impossible.
To understand SEO competition for your target keywords, refer back to Google’s keyword planner tool. This tool not only helps you research competition for your target keywords, but gives you ideas for terms that are relevant to your product or services.

When deciding whether to use PPC, SEO, or a mixture of both for a search marketing campaign, first consider your goals. Are they mainly short-term goals like increasing traffic immediately? Or are they long-term goals like building a consistent body of traffic over time?
For the short-term, PPC is generally your best bet. The minute your ad runs, it delivers results. But when the budget stops, so do the benefits. Because SEO relies on your website’s content, linking structure, and meta data, developing a thorough strategy that delivers real results takes more time than setting up a PPC campaign. However, SEO’s results may be more valuable to you and your organization in the long run.

PPC campaigns and SEO campaigns drive different kinds of traffic to your website. Which way you lean depends on what your traffic goals are.
Are you primarily interested in short-term conversions, testing, and/or product sales? PPC is the way to go. 50% of people arriving at a retailer’s site from paid ads are more likely to buy than visitors who came from an organic link.
Are you more interested in building a lot of traffic over time and establishing trust with your visitors? A solid SEO strategy should be your go-to strategy

Bottom line: In general, SEO promotes more valuable long-term relationships and trust with visitors, while PPC drives more traffic and immediate conversions