Natural (Organic) SEO vs Managed PPC (Pay-per-click)

What is the difference between Pay-Per-Click (PPC) and Organic SEO?

Pay-Per-Click (PPC) - When you pay a search engine for visitors sent to your site, this is called pay per click (PPC). Pay-per-click (PPC) listings are usually marked as advertisements or “Sponsored Links” (on Google) and appear above or beside the search engine’s organic listings (dependant on where you are positioned).

Organic search engine optimisation is done by optimising on-page factors such as Site Infrastructure, Code and Content, and off-page factors such as contextual linking.

Organic Search Engine Optimization

There is a widespread belief that organic search engine optimisation is the cheap option. If you want to do well on a competitive term, you will probably have to pay a significant amount of money to get to the top, not least in terms of man hours.

Organic search engine placement often involves an intensive link building campaign, whose benefits are not solely limited to increasing your search engine rankings, but can also drive significant qualified traffic to your site as a result.

One of the main disadvantages of organic search engine placement is the time it takes to get your website to the top, particularly on the Google Search Engine. Many of the major search engines (such as Google, MSN, Yahoo) do not update their indices daily or even weekly, and it can two months or more to see the full effects of a professional optimisation job.

Pay Per Click - PPC

The primary benefit of pay per click is the immediate results and complete control it offers the advertiser, both in terms of keyword control and the flexibility in terms of targetted marketing it offers. Financially you can commit £20, or £200,000. You may target one set of keywords today, and if they don’t work out you may target an entirely different set of keywords tomorrow, targetted to a specific country or targetted to a global audience.

As a short term strategy, pay per click is ideal, especially in the formative months of a websites existance. The primary drawback of PPC is the cost. A top position for some search very competitive terms can cost thousands or tens of thousands of pounds each day.

Conclusion

Over the long term, organic search engine optimisation is far more cost effective.

There is a saying in advertising. It says that if a campaign achieves full Return on Investment (ROI), then it's worth doing. In short, if the cost of the advertising is recouped as a result of the ad, then the campaign has been a sucess. Accordingly, you may often justify the cost of PPC. But the fact remains that it often leaves you with little or no margin.

The purpose of organic search engine optimisation is to iincrease the return on investment of your online marketing