Invest in SEO or SEM PPC?

What’s better for attracting customers? Optimize SEO or buy a SEM PPC campaign? Both options have their points in favor and against. Meet them here and make a better decision.

We already know that it is most important to have visitors on our website. If we have a website it is for more customers to find us. However, it is not easy for search engines to position us well in the results. We’ve already talked a lot about the importance of SEO but there are other ways to appear in searches. What about buying ads and advertising? In this post, we will see what SEM PPC is, as well as its pros and cons compared to SEO.

SEO

Person reading SEO stats

In this blog, I have already talked a lot about SEO. But let’s review some basic points.

SEO means Search Engine Optimization. It refers to the positioning of sites in search results. Search engines check various things on websites to evaluate them and know where to rank them. Here are some requirements for a well-positioned site:

  • Relevant keywords
  • Original and extensive content
  • Good meta description with keywords
  • Description alt in the images
  • Internal and external links

When we try to optimize the SEO of our page it is to appear among the first results. What will make us a good choice in the results will be our good content. Then, we will be positioning organically. If you want to know more about SEO and how to optimize your content, here are some of the posts I’ve written before:

Advantages

The truth is I am a firm believer in organic positioning. That’s one of the main reasons I started this blog. Of course, I wanted to help other developers and entrepreneurs. But I also knew that a blog could serve to introduce me to potential clients as an expert. On the other hand, I was very attracted to the idea of ranking among the first results of Google.

By covering SEO requirements you benefit your page in other ways. That’s most valuable. We all need to grow our website and improve it. If this is already part of having a quality website, it’s best to do it taking into account what search engines like.

Disadvantages

Many lists as an advantage that SEO optimization is free. And yes, you don’t have to pay to check that your content meets all of this. Unless you’re paying some content creator. But what doesn’t cost money directly costs time.

Monitoring your site’s compliance with SEO is a considerable task. It’s not difficult but it can be time-consuming. As I said before you can hire someone to do it for you, although of course, that will be another cost added to your operation. You have to consider whether in addition to time you can invest that money.

On the other hand, you can’t expect immediate results. When you’re focusing on your page’s SEO, you need to know that it’s a medium to long-term investment. You must generate enough content and take care that it meets all the requirements and then take care to turn to tools that continue to help you stay among the first options of Google.

SEM PPC

Person reading SEM PPC stats from Google

SEM means: Search Engine Marketing and PPC means Pay Per click. What does this mean? Well, it’s a marketing campaign tied to a search engine. The PPC model is where you pay the search engine that advertises you for every click users make on your ad. With SEM PPC you will appear when users have relevant searches to your site.

Almost always when you talk about SEM PPC you think about Google Ads campaigns. And how not to? It is the most popular search engine in the world with state-of-the-art algorithms. Previously, Google put ads on the right side of the search screen. However, as they were improving their algorithms they started to put them as the first results options. Who remembers when YouTube didn’t have ads before the videos but on the side of the player?

Well, all those ads are paid for. There are many packages and options to advertise with Google, but the most popular is by PPC. Although Google Ads is not the only option for this type of marketing, other search engines also offer this model.

Advantages

One of the advantages of SEM PPC is that you quickly appear among the first Google options. Unlike SEO where you have to invest a lot of time.

For example, if you have a shoe store and someone looks «Where can I buy party shoes?» You will appear as a relevant result for the campaign you paid for. Your content doesn’t have to meet SEO requirements, the search engine will already consider you a relevant result.

On the other hand with SEM PPC visits that come to your site are usually to make a purchase. That is, if your content is optimized for SEO, they may consult you as a source but not hire your services. While with SEM PPC, if someone does the search and clicks on the ad they are more likely to do business with you.

Disadvantages

Just as the disadvantage of SEO is the investment of time, the disadvantage of SEM PPC is the money. There are no free SEM PPC campaigns. For many entrepreneurs or small businesses, it is not an option to invest money at first.

Yes, it takes less time to position well, but you have to take into account how many resources you can invest in it. Of course, there are different plans, maybe one will suit your budget. You have to make a good budget distribution plan to know if it is a feasible investment.

Have a plan

Person planning SEM PPC campaign

So what’s more convenient? Well, it’s best to invest in both. The most powerful strategy is to balance the time we spend on SEO with the money we pay for SEM PPC.

Maybe at first, you can just focus on SEO, that’s fine. It can be the first step to attracting customers and improving your site. Anyway at first you can not neglect it. Then while you develop your page you can take care of the SEO.

Once you become a customer you can invest in SEM PPC. Your sales will continue to increase and it will no longer be a hard blow to your budget. You will be able to relax with the content production because you will be ensuring to appear in the searches when paying for the SEM PPC campaign.

Although it’s never convenient to completely forget about SEO. Once you’ve signed up for a SEM PPC campaign you’ll need to balance the importance you give it with SEO optimization. If you want to learn more about Google Ads you can click here.

I hope this post has helped you decide how to invest your time and money in SEO and SEM PPC. If you want to continue learning more about how to run your business online, read on:

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Full-stack developer with a good understanding of business challenges. Not only am I an expert in my field, I know what business needs in a competitive digital world. I am eager to work on all kinds of projects.

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