PPC Or SEO: Which Is Best For Your Website?

There are many marketing strategies, and many more opinions on which of these strategies are best for business. Because of this, there are constant debates about the 'right' approach. Within the digital marketing world, one such question often asked of affordable SEO company UK representatives is whether or not a pay-per-click (PPC) model or an SEO approach is the most effective way of driving traffic.

The problem with this comparison is that it's like pitting a sprinter against a marathon runner in a 10-mile run. PPC sees the advertiser pay the host of their advert for every click on the ad. The advantage of this approach is that it brings instant results and can be perceived as cost-effective. After all, you're only paying for click-throughs on your adverts. Perhaps the best example of the pay per click model is a sponsored link appearing at the top of search results in Google. While this may seem like the easiest and quickest way to achieve results, it can still take a lot of work to obtain success. Google's sponsored links require you to enter an auction for one of the sponsored placements for a keyword – and your chances of success in this auction isn't just dependent on the size of your wallet, but the quality score of your website for the relevant keyword. So in order to have a chance of already having a Google sponsored link, your site will need to have the best SEO – such as good SEO link building practices – in place.

By contrast, SEO can stand on its two legs without the need for PPC approaches. Coming back to our analogy of the sprinter and the marathon runner, SEO is undoubtedly the marathon runner of the two. In this fast-moving world, the sprinter (PPC) can seem more appealing – gaining ground in the short-term over the marathon runner. But by that first mile in our imaginary 10-mile race, the sprinter will be struggling, and the marathon runner will just be hitting their stride. SEO may not deliver results overnight, but it will always win the race in the long run over short-term PPC. According to research from GroupM UK and Nielsen, 94% of clicks on search engine pages are on organic search results. That means that just 6% of clicks are on sponsored (or PPC) adverts. This clearly shows that while PPC can get you to the top of the pile without doing much in the way of groundwork, it's the long-term services provided by a quality, affordable SEO company UK rep that will drive that traffic to your site. While some companies do require results overnight, PPC should never be enacted without a proper SEO strategy. By contrast, SEO can exist with any PPC investment. That should be reason enough for why you should seek out the best SEO UK consultancy company on the market.

PPC undoubtedly has its place in the world of online marketing, but generating traffic over a sustained period of time requires the usage of SEO packages from affordable SEO company UK businesses. The initial investment in SEO will pay off when your website appears on the first page of search engine results without having to make daily payments for ad space.