No matter what role you play in your business, you’ve likely heard that it is critically important to invest in search engine optimization (SEO) and pay-per-click (PPC) advertising in order to improve visibility, drive traffic, and ultimately, increase conversions. And while many might consider these to be two separate strategic components of a brand’s marketing mix, SEO and PPC are significantly more impactful when they work together.

From optimizing landing pages in an effort to lower your PPC costs, to utilizing insights from your advertising efforts in order to better your organic site traffic, here are some ways you can substantiate the importance of SEO and PPC synergy.

Some SEO/PPC Basics

SEO is an umbrella term that encompasses the variety of techniques used to increase the visibility of your content online through search engines, including on-site SEO, off-site SEO, local SEO, and technical SEO. SEO deals with organic content, unlike PPC, which is a form of advertising where the business runs an ad through a publisher and pays the publisher once the ad is clicked. PPC can apply to any channel that uses this type of advertising model, but it’s most often used to describe search engine ads that are set up through platforms like Google Ads.

While some view SEO and PPC as distinct because only PPC is technically a paid vehicle for visibility, both live securely within the realm of search engine marketing, and each can offer insights into the other, creating a synergistic relationship that betters both in the long run.

Tips For Creating Synergy

SEO and PPC cannot work together unless you have an individual or team creating strategies and tactics for the two to interact. That’s why we’ve rounded up the best tips we’ve learned through experience with our clients.

How SEO Helps PPC

When you’re optimizing your site by building quality landing pages that address common inquiries about your products or services, you are simultaneously improving the Quality Score—the overall user experience rating—of each of those pages. This, in turn, benefits your PPC efforts that lead to these landing pages. The higher the quality and relevance of the content you link out to in your advertising efforts, the higher the position these pages will reach naturally, and the less cost-per-click you’ll end up paying overall. And as you build out your site architecture to improve SEO, and utilize Google search console to evaluate keywords, you can use this information to structure your PPC campaigns.

By implementing technical SEO best practices—such as improving page speed, building a navigable sitemap, and eliminating crawl errors—into your overall SEO strategy, you’re again improving the quality of your visitor’s experience on your website. All search engines value the user experience when delivering search results, so the more you work to address any technical issues that could hinder your landing pages, the more you’ll be rewarded both organically and via your PPC ads. Naturally, it will take several weeks to begin to realize the results of your SEO efforts, but they’re well worth it for the overall impact they can have on your site visibility. 

If you’re limited on budget to create and manage a robust assortment of PPC campaigns, but you have valuable insights coming in from your SEO results, consider bidding on keywords that you already receive strong organic results for. Research shows that users are more likely to click on the organic result for a site if they see that there is also a paid ad for the site. This is a huge win on all ends for your business, as the increased visibility from the ad inspires the click to the organic result, without prompting the payment that would occur if they were to have clicked the ad.

Using PPC to Inform SEO

Just as your SEO efforts can help improve your PPC costs and quality, your PPC results can provide valuable insights that inform your ongoing SEO work. A/B testing can help you identify top-performing descriptions, imagery, and calls to action in a timely manner, which you can then use to enhance your organic visibility by way of updating your metadata to reflect these results.

Additionally, paid campaigns can offer real time results on keyword relevance and performance, which you can use to inform your landing page descriptions and overall site content. If you’re narrowing down your options, you can even think of these ads as a tool to jumpstart your organic keyword strategy because they’ll deliver results in days rather than weeks.

Remember, too, that PPC marketing doesn’t have to just be about getting new users to click in on your landing pages. In fact, one of the most effective forms of PPC advertising is the use of search engines’ remarketing features, which allow you to target individuals who have already visited your site with paid ads. This is a fantastic way to make use of a limited budget because it’s a vehicle for which to further engage visitors who have already expressed some form of interest in your offerings.

Seeing SEO/PPC Synergy

Once you begin viewing SEO and PPC as partners that can work together, rather than two separate strategies, planning your campaigns and ongoing initiatives will become more and more intuitive over time. And it’s well worth the initial investment in brainstorming synergies! 

Whether you’d like support with developing a strategy for your digital optimization and advertising efforts, could use another set of eyes on your existing campaigns, or need help with ongoing management, the team at Doukas Media is here to advance your goals. Contact us today to learn more about our full array of our PPC and SEO services.