This guide is a dummies guide to what SEO is. Explaining the similarities and differences between SEO & PPC. 

What is SEO?

 
SEO, known as Search Engine Optimisation, is a type of modern marketing (digital marketing) that focuses on placing your website as high as possible in organic search suggestions for desired keywords, so as to gain clicks to your website.

SEO is one of the most misunderstood aspects of digital marketing because it gets mixed up with PPC marketing, which is also a form of search engine marketing.

So, what’s the difference between PPC & SEO if they are both search engine marketing?

The main difference is that PPC marketing is actually a form of advertising, hence Pay Per Click (PPC). Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) relies on organic clicks, (free traffic) that is not paid for as an ad click. Users usually pay an SEO agency to manage their website structure and rank them higher on the page to get natural clicks.

What do most people mean when they say SEO?

People often use the word SEO to refer to any Google search based digital marketing. When I speak to people looking to grow their brand, the ones who have heard of search based marketing reach out to me looking for a Google AdWords (the old name for Google Ads) campaign.  

In short – Most people don’t know the difference and call it all SEO, even though it is not an umbrella term. The actual umbrella term here is Search Engine Marketing (SEM), but not many people use this term, even within the biggest digital marketing agencies in Australia. 

Which one is better for you?

This is probably the most difficult question for all small businesses. 

The first question you need to ask yourself is: Do i need to increase sales this month, or does my business have 12-18 months to slowly increase our organic position?

As a PPC company, PPC Artisan will always lean towards starting with Google Ads to send traffic to your website as quickly as possible. This allows you to test keywords in real time to narrow down exactly which keywords have the highest intent for your business to make sales. You can then use these in your more long term SEO strategy to rank for these high value niche terms.

Another important thing to consider is that Google is filling up the entire first page with ads now. See here when you search for Digital Marketing Agencies In Melbourne . This means that even if you get to position 1 in the search engine results, you will still be losing to Paid Advertisers running PPC campaigns. See image below of how it looks.

Contact PPC Artisan – Digital Marketing Agency In Melbourne for a free chat!