Why SEO Gives the Biggest Return on Your Investment

With the advent of social media, the battle between SEO and PPC for advertising dollars has intensified. Some point to the ability to easily use a PPC campaign with emerging social media to declare that the need for SEO best practices is an outdated concept, but research overwhelmingly shows that PPC campaigns derive the most value by playing a supportive role to SEO. For any brand that is seeking long term, dependable results, SEO will continue to take the lead over PPC.

The price tag for SEO sites and their content is greatest in terms of time rather than up front, monetary cost. It takes time to develop a site with best SEO practices that will help to establish a business’s brand and search engine ranking. Because the monetary cost is often low in comparison to PPC, SEO will often give the biggest return on investment.

Not only is the initial cost outlay lower for SEO, but when SEO is done organically, the results are long lasting and research continues to show that most users still utilize search to find the products and services that they need and want. While there are some benefits to PPC, such as the ease with which a PPC campaign can be used to quickly test a given new market strategy for a particular brand, it’s been proven that this strategy usually works only for companies with an established brand and presence and provides limited value as far as traffic and conversion for smaller, lesser known brands and businesses.  Any traffic also ends once the PPC campaign comes to an end.

PPC campaigns are also notoriously expensive, and have a habit of eating through the ad budget of even those brands with deep corporate pockets. Once the budget is spent, the ads and related traffic cease to exist unless there is an established, SEO site for visitors to continue to visit after the PPC campaign has ended. Combining a PPC campaign with an established SEO site can then work to augment the results of both strategies.

One analogy that makes it easier to visualize the difference between SEO and PPC is that of the romantic relationship. Websites created with SEO best practices are like a marriage or other long term relationship where both partners have known one another a long time, and due to this familiarity they work together to support one another, even during a downturn or lean time. They are always there for one another. As with any long term relationship, the partners often become comfortable with one another and show their true selves to one another, with all of their blemishes and faults, but can be relied upon to always be there to help the other.

A PPC campaign on the other hand is like a mad crush or whirlwind romance one might have had over the summer when one is on vacation. The relationship is often exciting because it is new and seems otherworldly, but the allure soon vanishes once the object of affection returns to their real home and life when the vacation comes to an end.

If you are seeking dependable, reliable results that keep on giving, even during times of a lean advertising budget, your best choice is obviously the partner that offers long term security over short term excitement. While PPC can complement the results that you can achieve with SEO alone, it can never take its place in a successful and comprehensive internet marketing campaign.