Paid search has its place and so does SEO. Therefore to answer this question, we should really examine each channel’s pros and cons with respect to where to focus your marketing efforts first.

First, before any talk of where you are going to invest the money is to determine what your goals are and precisely how you are going to measure these goals. SEO and PPC are both extremely measureable marketing communication tools and it is vitally important to be able to measure ROI on both. ROI can be a sales-based metric or even a more loosely applied value-based metric based on conversions; however, both can be used to measure the effectiveness of your efforts. Now with this caveat out of the way, let’s launch into the debate between Paid Search and SEO.

The pros of paid search are its ability to target, very precisely, your target market with a customized communications message over which you have 100% control. This channel also allows you to choose where you are positioned on the Search Engine Results Page (SERP) and for what keywords you will be found for. Paid search also allows you the ability to drive the user to a precise page on the site where you are effectively able to drive the user into a conversion. (Assuming, of course, you are following all of PPC’s best practices) Paid search also allows for the ability to drive traffic almost immediately. Within several hours it is possible to set up an entire PPC campaign, launch it, and begin seeing traffic.

Sounds too good to be true? It is. The cons of paid search are the associated costs. I have run keyword targeted campaigns where the cost-per-click (CPC) can range between several cents to over $75. The major and unavoidable con of paid search is that with every visitor there is a cost and coaxing the conversion is vital or bankruptcy maybe looming on the horizon. With thinking about the costs of PPC campaigns and the fact that the conversion rate should be between 2-5%, if your landing pages are well optimized, a decision must be made as to whether PPC is an affordable option to drive positive ROI. The other unavoidable fact of PPC is that if your budget runs out, so does your traffic. Although we have conducted studies showing the positive correlation between PPC and SEO, eventually your traffic will vanish if your SEO campaign isn’t up to snuff.

So what are the pros and cons of SEO?

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is often overlooked in favor of sponsored campaigns, but the fact is results from SEO are longer lasting than sponsored results. If you can gain a top ranking for a key phrase, you do not have to worry about somebody else outbidding you for this term. If you are ranking well organically then barring any major algorithm shift or drastic change to your website, you should remain in the same spot until a more relevant result with adequate quality link inventory knocks you off. Just how important is SEO/organic search? Well, you’ve probably heard about the 70% organic vs. 30% sponsored rule re: organic click through vs. sponsored click through. While the percentages may have changed, the fact of the matter is most users are more prone to click on an organic result vs. a sponsored listing. A number of times the sponsored results are often ignored or simply interpreted as “advertising” and as a result, users will click on the more trusted organic result.

There are definite benefits to using SEO:

• Organic search is cost efficient and rather inexpensive. Organic campaigns are often cheaper than sponsored campaigns. The only costs associated may be incurred as a result of outsourcing an SEO firm or training staff internally to perform search engine optimization.
  
• Organic listings tend to generate more click throughs as they offer unbiased product information. FACT: More people click on organic listings than sponsored listings.
  
• Organic results tend to be longer lasting. Unlike a sponsored campaign where a competitor can outbid you for top spot, a well-optimized site can remain in top position for weeks, months and even years. I have clients who have ranked in the top position for their main key phrases for years. In fact, I have a client who has ranked in the top spot in Google and Yahoo for a couple of very competitive key words for nearly four or five years. It easy to see how these top organic rankings help contribute to their achieving average online sales of 150-200K per month.
  
• Organic search can offer a better ROI. With the limited expense of using an organic campaign, the return can be great.
  

Personally speaking, the benefits of using organic search outweigh the cons. Having said that, strong SEO results are not always easy to obtain. SEO return is not always easy to calculate as it is with sponsored campaigns. With SEO, you are often at the mercy of the Search Engine algorithms. With a major change to the algorithm, sites that have been ranking well can suddenly drop forcing site owners to buy back that traffic through PPC efforts. Some of the issues pertaining to SEO include:

• The return from SEO/Organic search can be difficult to measure. Without sound goals, key performance indicators, and analytics to measure your success, organic search efforts can be hard to associate a dollar value with.
  
• Organic results take time. There is something to be said in the world of search engine marketing for being patient. Unlike a paid campaign where results are immediate, organic rankings can take some time to generate. In some cases, (due to various factors such as competitiveness of key words, online competitors with larger budgets etc) you may never achieve top organic ranking for a key phrase.
  
• With organic search taking longer and being harder to measure, organic search can often be a tough sell to management and decision makers in your organization. Search in general is a new media and many executives still do not think search is credible.
  

The benefits of SEO and organic search engine optimization do outweigh the cons, but the fact of the matter is that SEO and PPC work together quite well. The better you are at SEO, the less you may have to worry about PPC. It depends on your industry and on your business. Depending on your budget you may be in favor of a strong SEO campaign. Depending on your level of patience, a sponsored campaign may be the only way to drive traffic to your site. It’s what you do with that traffic that counts.


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