Search engine optimization (SEO) and pay-per-click advertising (PPC) are critical components of digital marketing. However, far too many businesses treat these two facets of brand building as separate strategies, not interconnected pieces of an overarching growth plan. Unfortunately, this approach can lead to many different headaches and diminish the efficacy of digital marketing efforts.
With that in mind, the team at Search Nurture has created this guide to SEO and PPC alignment. Below, we discuss how to integrate your SEO and PPC campaigns. Additionally, we shed some light on the benefits of achieving SEO and PPC synergy.
What Is SEO and PPC Integration and Why Is It Important?
Before we shift our focus to SEO and PPC synergy, let’s get a little more granular by taking a look at these two marketing modalities separately.
SEO refers to the process of making your website more visible on search engines like Google or YouTube. This work is accomplished by incorporating relevant keywords into content, acquiring backlinks, optimizing page load speed, and engaging in other proactive site optimization practices.
Conversely, PPC involves setting up paid search campaigns in which you bid for target keywords. As the name suggests, you pay for each click. If viewers do not click on your ad, you are not billed for the exposure. On a brief aside, PPC is sometimes referred to as search engine marketing or SEM.
Many times, business leaders treat PPC and SEO as “either-or” marketing solutions that should be regarded as entirely separate channels. However, as pointed out in this SEO vs. SEM article, the two should be used to complement one another. SEO and PPC synergy involves working to achieve this harmony.
How to Get PPC and SEO Working Together
Now that you know what we mean by “synergy,” the more important question is, “how can we get PPC and SEO working together?” In order to answer this question, you must first understand the nature of these two marketing tactics. Paid search is designed to generate rapid results. You can drive traffic almost instantly, provided you are targeting the right keywords and winning bids. However, advertisers can conquer more real estate in search results – and take more clicks – if they’re also ranking organically for the same terms included in their paid search campaign.
Therefore, we recommend incorporating SEO, which is a longer-term brand-building tactic. Whereas PPC works fast, climbing the search rankings through SEO takes time. We recommend using PPC to achieve immediate representation for the terms that you’re targeting in your SEO campaign.
After your SEO program has reached maturity, you should continue tocan continue to leverage PPC to focus on keywords that drive leads-bolster traffic. When PPC is used in combination with SEO keywords, you have the ability to take a greater share of voice on the page. You also have more flexibility to scale up or scale down with demand.
What Are the Benefits of SEO and PPC Integration?
From an SEO perspective
the most largest benefit is the ability to validate keywords. Thanks to (not set) data, SEOs have no way to attribute performance to a specific keyword. Sure, we can try to connect landing page performance with keyword rankings that we get from other sources (like Google Search Console, Semrush, Ahrefs), but we don’t know for sure which keyword the users came in on. That’s where PPC comes in. We can analyze Google Ads performance to see exactly which keywords are fetching the highest conversion rates. We can then prioritize high-performing keyword as the primary and secondary keyword targets for our organic landing pages.
From a PPC perspective
We can use SEO to maximize our footprint on the SERP. Studies show that combined click-through rates are higher when a paid ad and an organic listing are displayed on the SERP compared to the sum of their click-through rates when they are shown alone. This is the definition of synergy.
Want to see for yourself?
Open up the Paid-Organic Report in Google Ads. You’ll first have to connect Google Search Console to Google Ads. After collecting some data, use the filters to measure click-through rates when both organic and paid results are shown. Compare the combined click-through rate to the sum of click-through rates when organic and paid are shown separately.
When your PPC and SEO strategies are working hand in hand, both campaigns are more effective. Your PPC efforts will generate meaningful traffic on your website, which will help you climb organic rankings. Ultimately, this will allow you to take up more real estate on search engine results pages (SERPs), as users will see your paid ads and organic listings right after one another.
As you work to tap into the benefits of SEO and PPC integration, pay particular attention to your Google Quality Score. The score reveals how relevant your landing page and corresponding PPC ad are to users searching for the keywords you are targeting. These scores range from one to ten. You can also measure the quality of a given page by opening up Google Search Console. There, you can see whether the page is mobile-friendly, stable, secure and providing an overall good user experience.
What Is the Potential Impact of Failing to Integrate SEO and PPC?
Achieving synergy can have profound impacts on the efficacy of your digital marketing efforts. On the other hand, not integrating SEO and PPC can hinder your short and long-term growth.
Disjointed SEO and PPC strategies will lead to higher ad costs and reduced reach. Over time, a large portion of your marketing budget will be tied up on minimally productive advertising efforts. You will also be less visible on SERPs, which means lost opportunities to acquire more leads and attract new clients.
To summarize, you cannot afford to treat SEO and PPC as separate entities. If you hope to achieve your growth objectives, you must work toward SEO and PPC synergy.
Search Nurture Is Here to Help
As you can see, failing to achieve SEO and PPC synergy can be detrimental to your company’s growth. The good news is that you can align these two facets of your strategy by partnering with Search Nurture. We offer comprehensive online marketing for PPC and SEO.
While Search Nurture services clients in all sectors, we specialize in PPC and SEO for eCommerce and B2B SaaS companies. However, your organization can benefit from our SEO and PPC support regardless of what industry you operate within. If you are ready to take advantage of our client-centered services, contact Search Nurture today.
