The pandemic has changed how customers shop, both offline and online. The Annual Retail Trade Survey (ARTS) of the Census Bureau, which among other things, generates national estimates of total annual sales, e-commerce sales, and gross margins of U.S. retail businesses, revealed that e-commerce sales increased by 43% in 2020 compared to 2019, underscoring the growing significance of an online presence for retailers in their capacity to generate revenue.
The success of a retailer’s website’s paid search strategy, and search engine optimization (SEO) initiatives can significantly impact this capability. SEO and pay-per-click (PPC) strategies collect traffic and clicks when targeting keywords to show up in search results, which helps to enhance conversions and boost return on investment (ROI). Why do these crucial components of a website’s marketing plan frequently function independently and in silos from one another?
A comprehensive approach to your online marketing plan has several advantages. Let’s look at the distinctions between SEO and PPC and the potential outcomes of combining organic and paid search.
SEO Vs PPC
A search engine results page (SERP) shows paid search advertising sponsored by websites vying for the targeted keywords and organic page results derived from SEO tactics. Although they all have the same end, their strategies and gauging success differ.
Paid Search Strategy
Due to their placement at the top of the page, paid search results are frequently the first items seen on a SERP. In PPC advertising, marketers set bid amounts representing the maximum amount of money they are ready to spend each time one of their advertisements is clicked. Paid search advertisements on a website are ranked and shown in the ad area of the SERP based on these sums and bids from rival advertisers.
It is possible to immediately examine ad spending results, which provides strategic keyword performance data that can be utilised to modify your paid search strategy. It’s crucial to remember that PPC effectiveness is correlated with ad expenditure and that when ad campaigns are not active, data and paid search benefits are disabled.
Organic Search Performance
SEO performance is producing high-quality content and optimising web pages to build page and domain authority. To increase a page’s organic ranking and clicks, competitive on-page optimization and effective technical SEO best practices are necessary.
Additionally, this implies that, unlike PPC, organic search strategy is impacted by Google search algorithm updates, which can occur frequently and without notice. A website may need to adjust its SEO content strategy somewhat or significantly in response to an algorithm update to keep organic traffic.
The benefits of using SEO best practices are usually substantial and long-lasting once they exhibit high organic performance, even though their effects may be less noticeable and may take weeks to years to establish a page.
How to Incorporate Organic & Paid Search
The various ways that organic and paid search can complement one another are highlighted by understanding some of the effects that SEO and PPC can have on one another. Both channels can share information and tactics to maximise a website’s online presence and marketing plan.
Dominating the SERP
Having paid and organic search results on the same SERP is advantageous. The importance of competing for the top ranking positions has increased as rich result features like featured snippets, fast answers, People Also Ask, map packs, and more take up more real estate on the SERP. In some cases, dominating a SERP with ads and high organic rank positions will expose your site more often and push rival sites farther down the page while maintaining your listing above the fold, where a user can view more results without having to scroll.
Utilising Keyword Synchronisation to Save Money
The relevancy of the content for PPC can be increased by optimising it for organic search, which can lower ad costs and boost ROI.
As was already indicated, PPC campaigns can receive immediate feedback on keyword performance, which is impossible with organic search initiatives. High-performing keywords from the paid search channel can be shared with SEO to help optimise the target pages for those keywords and help raise their exposure and organic ranks.
If everything goes according to plan and organic performance for those keywords increases, paid search can be informed of this information and scale the ad campaign accordingly for optimal effectiveness.
Remarketing
Session data and increasing user traffic are key performance indicators (KPIs) for organic search. Compared to new visitors, it is known that there is a correlation between returning visits and the possibility of conversions. It is not within the purview of SEO to directly appeal to those people and lure them back if those first new visits do not result in conversions.
Remarketing, a sponsored search tactic that involves showing targeted advertisements to users who have already visited or done action on your site, can be used to target those visitors at this point—promoting these visitors who have already expressed interest in your website has increased conversion and clickthrough rates.
Improved Page Speed Performance Can Yield Better Paid Search Performance
Google has introduced algorithm adjustments that make mobile speed score a ranking component to incentivize website owners to speed up their page loads. Even while this is outside the purview of what a paid search team does, they are undoubtedly impacted.
Although SEO does place a strong emphasis on on-page content optimization and techniques, it also works to enhance a site’s technical functionality, including elements that have an impact on metrics related to page speed. The organic search team can collaborate with the development team to create technological changes that favour the effectiveness of sponsored search campaigns by reducing page load times utilising Google’s tools and reports, such as Core Web Vitals.
Using Paid & Organic Search Together for Success
Right now is the ideal time to combine SEO and PPC efforts. The objective should be to recognize the distinctive benefits of each and discover ways to integrate both channels rather than asking which of the two is superior.
Combining Organic and Paid Search has an impact that is more than the sum of its parts, and we should keep aiming for comprehensive approaches to online marketing tactics. When SEO and PPC work together, our site performs better, and the never-ending effort to provide users with the finest search experience is improved.
Small businesses like yours may improve every aspect of their search engine optimization with D’Marketing Agency assistance in order to rank better on search engines.
Wondering what we do? To find out more about our approach to search engine optimization, Contact D’Marketing Agency. When you’re ready, contact us so we can help with your SEO.
