SEO or PPC? Tough question. However, it isn’t a new question, as the SEO vs PPC debate has been going on for years. That means that if ever you are confused between the two, you’re not alone. If you’re torn between the two for your digital marketing strategy, the best way to come up with a decision is to weigh the pros and cons.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

SEO is known as an organic lead generation strategy that involves web page optimization to boost site rankings on the SERPs. This digital marketing tactic ensures that search engines can understand and crawl your site. 

SEO all helps websites provide helpful and valuable content to crawlers and site visitors. The marketing method ensures the site is in good shape by using clean codes and SEO-friendly content that appeals to online users and search engine crawlers. In addition to that, SEO also cultivates inbound links from other sites that dictate link authority and improve site rankings. 

Pros: 

• SEO is cost-effective: The labor costs of setting up and managing a PPC campaign are often the same but could be more than SEO. 
• SEO is long-lasting: a properly optimized site can ensure high rankings for your site; in turn, this will lead to more traffic and leads. 
• SEO stabilizes search engine positioning: With SEO, you get an optimized site with excellent link authority and content that can hold its search engine position. 

Cons: 

• SEO is slow: It can take months to optimize a site to start seeing results. With PPC, however, you can get leads almost immediately.
• SEO is ongoing: Your site will never be fully optimized. The good news is that your site rankings will be better in the future and you will be reaping the rewards of SEO. 
• SEO is time-consuming: SEO is time-consuming, but you can buy some tools or hire someone to do it for you if your time is better spent elsewhere.

Pay-Per-Click Advertising (PPC) 

PPC lets you leverage search engine traffic by bidding and paying for keywords that are relevant to your brand. 

Pros: 

• No waiting: Once the campaign starts, you’ll immediately see more traffic. 
• Scalable & controllable: With PPC, you can set your budget, and from there, you can get a general idea of the number of leads you get in return through that amount. With that, you get to estimate an accurate budget for your digital marketing. 
• There’s no need to worry about the latest search engine algorithm: When using PPC, you don’t need to worry about the algorithm influencing your position. This is because you will bid on the top spots, which means that your organic site ranking will not matter. 

Cons: 

• Can get expensive: The thing about PPC is that you need to pay to get good results. Here, the more you pay, the better the results you get. 
• Time-consuming: What’s time-consuming about PPC is keyword research. Aside from that, you need to measure returns, adjust how much you spend, and play the PPC game. That alone can be it’s a full-time job! 

Which is Which? 

Now that you know the pros and cons of SEO and PPC, which do you choose? This will depend on your industry and budget. For example, if you have the budget and you want immediate results, PPC is the way to go. On the other hand, if you’re not rushing to see results, SEO will do. 

Discover My Business is a digital marketing agency that provides PPC advertising and other services. Contact us today.