Estimated reading time: 6 minutes

We get asked a lot by clients which they should invest in – SEO or PPC – for better results. And, my answer is always the same: Both, depending on your timeline, budget, current marketing results, and needs.

An analogy I’ve always used to help explain this is the BMW vs. the Suped-Up Honda Civic. I’m a car gal, so this just makes sense to me.

BMW vs Suped-Up Honda Civic

BMW to SEO Comparison

The BMW is a high-end luxury machine, built for speed and longevity, among many other things. They last forever. The engineering and technology behind building them are incredible. Because it’s a high-quality heavy car, it might take a few seconds to get going. But, once it’s going, it’s GONE. There’s very little on the road that can keep up with a well-tuned BMW. If you’re floating down the highway and take your foot off the gas, it keeps on cruising… much like SEO.

SEO-driven content, proper on-site SEO, competitive SEO… even Local SEO and Technical SEO. They all have the same thing in common. They set your business up for long-term success. Even if you were to skip blogging or creating high-quality content for a few weeks (which we totally don’t recommend), you’d keep on cruising. Google will still crawl your site and blogs. People will still search and find them. SEO is an ongoing process that, when done correctly, will provide long-term results.

Suped-Up Honda Civic to PPC Comparison

Now, let’s talk about the Suped-Up Honda Civic. It’s not as luxurious as the BMW. It doesn’t have all the bells and whistles. It’s not as long-lasting, or high-quality. But, it will get you from point A to point B – pretty quickly. If you put your foot down on the gas, that Civic will take off… just like PPC. But, once you take your foot off the gas, it’s not much of a cruiser and stops pretty quickly. It’s not a great long-term solution.

PPC is fast. Like, really fast. You can set up a campaign today and be driving targeted traffic to your website within a week or two. It’s a much faster way to see results and get in front of people who are searching for what you offer. And, the best part is that you can set up your ads so that you only pay when someone clicks on them. So, if no one clicks, you don’t spend a dime.

It’s important to note that Google Ad Campaigns can take months, even up to a full year, to be 100% tuned and running like a well-oiled sports car. Read more about how long it takes Google Ads to work.

PPC is also great for testing – whether it’s testing different ad copy, or different keywords. You can quickly and easily see what’s working and what’s not, then adjust your campaign accordingly. And, if you’re running a seasonal business or promotion, PPC is a great way to get in front of people right when they’re searching for what you offer.

To help you decide between the two (if you must), let’s dig in a bit further.

SEO is a Growth Strategy

The goal of search engine optimization (SEO) is to appear on the organic (or natural) results page of a search engine results page (SERP). The example below highlights organic results, won by great SEO and site authority.

The “organic listings” refers to the non-paid search results on Google that come after any ads or shopping results. These are known as the “10 blue links”.

SEO is all about obtaining the greatest web results for searches to attract a lot of visitors, using high-quality content, a lot of keyword research, and proper website optimization.

Google’s algorithm uses over 250 ranking factors and growing. On top of that, in 2020 alone, Google made over 4,500 updates. The number of updates historically goes up every year. It takes a seasoned marketer – or, more realistically, a marketing team – to master the success of:

• Technical SEO
• On-Page SEO
• Link Building
• Content Marketing
• UX
• and… there’s a lot more.

SEO is complex and frustrating, susceptible to changes in Google’s algorithm with little notice. To rank well, you need a careful balance of many different factors on your website. But, the long-term wins are worth it. Ultimately, SEO is an absolute must if you want your business to rank online.

PPC is a Quick Results Strategy

PPC stands for pay-per-click, which relates to sponsored, paid advertising on search engines such as Google and Bing.

The SERP example below showcases paid ad listings, won by marketing budgets and skilled PPC experts.

You’ll notice a few different ad formats. The text ads are “search ads” and the image ads are “shopping ads.” With PPC, you can advertise on YouTube, Gmail, and Google network sites. You can also use PPC to remarket to specific audiences.

SEO provides clicks for free, and PPC makes you pay for clicks. Depending on the cost of the keywords you’re targeting, how broad your audience is, and how great your competitors are at marketing, you could find yourself paying hundreds or even thousands of dollars EACH DAY to bring traffic to your website. But, it can get up and running, providing results, much more quickly than SEO.

So, which is better – SEO or PPC?

The answer really is both. They each have their own unique benefits that can help you achieve your business goals, depending on what those goals are. If you need immediate results and have the budget for it, PPC is a great option. If you’re looking for long-term, sustainable results, SEO is the way to go.

The solution is to do both if you have the budget for it. While your PPC is bringing in fast but temporary results, your SEO content could be researched, written, and submitted to Google for indexing. The best part is that they can work together to create a well-rounded digital marketing strategy that will help you achieve even better results.

If you’re looking for an SEO agency or a PPC agency, the award-winning team at ThinkPod has you covered. We’ll make sure your SEO and Ad campaigns are setup for success. Contact us today for a quote.