Search marketers tend to see SEO and PPC as two completely different strategies, while in many ways they are very similar. Although they do have their differences, both strategies essentially deal with users searching for products and providing a link relevant to their search query. When SEO and PPC are used in conjunction, it can make for a very effective search strategy. Consider some of these ways to utilize both PPC and SEO for your search marketing efforts.
Enhanced Visibility
One of the greatest benefits of combining SEO and PPC efforts is the ability to dominate the search engine results page. The majority of all users tend to click either on the top search result or the top ad position, and when your link is displaying in both, the amount of traffic your site receives will increase greatly.
Keyword Data
One of the greatest features in PPC advertising is the ability to track keyword performance. AdWords gives powerful insights letting you know how much time a user is spending on your website based off the keyword they clicked on, as well as how many people are converting for each keyword. By understanding specific keyword performance, you will know what keywords to invest in most for your SEO strategy. It would be pointless to invest in a keyword where people are not engaging in your website, therefore making the keyword data you have accumulated through AdWords invaluable.
Link Building
One of the fundamental principles in SEO is link building, and when there is no one visiting your website, it is hard to get your content out there. By using PPC to drive traffic to your website, you have increased the likelihood of someone finding your website insightful and dropping a link to your website.
Meta Description Text
Your high performing PPC ad text can become a valuable resource when it comes to writing meta descriptions. By testing multiple variations of ad text you will have greater insight to what users are searching for and what they are willing to click on. Using ad text similar to your highest performing PPC ads in your meta description will let you rest assured you have an enticing snippet of text for users to click on.
Conclusion
The greatest function PPC serves when it comes to SEO is the keyword data and ad text performance. PPC allows for unparalleled performance metrics giving you the best understanding of where to utilize your time and money. PPC becomes relatively cheap when you understand the valuable insight it can give you.