We get asked at Return whether it’s worthwhile investing in SEO or PPC. The question, however, isn’t whether to invest in SEO or PPC, it’s how to make the most and best use of both.
Together, they can create a high performing digital marketing strategy that drives traffic, boosts conversions, and maximises on investment (ROI).
At Return, we help brands do just that.
Before we dive in, let’s look at why these two seemingly different channels are better together.
Why SEO and PPC Are Better Together
Search engine optimisation (SEO) focuses on building long term visibility and authority through high quality content, strong site structure, and technical performance.
Pay-per-click (PPC) advertising, on the other hand, delivers immediate traffic and they can target customers in the buying stage of the customer journey, driving quicker conversions through paid listings on Google, Bing, and even on other platforms and websites.
While each channel has its differences and strengths, it’s when they’re aligned that you really start to see exponential growth.
Here’s how to make them work harder, together.
1. Use PPC for Short Term Wins While SEO Builds Long Term Value
SEO is a marathon, not a sprint. It takes time to build domain authority and climb the organic rankings, especially in competitive sectors. There are many strategies in SEO to help improve a websites overall organic visibility and conversions, and as many people utilise the likes of YouTube, TikTok, ChatGPT, and Instagram as forms of other search engines, it’s important that businesses try to market themselves in the right places, and channels, to traffic and sales.
Whilst ensuring you’re covered across relevant channels to reach your audience and taking time to build your SEO and organic visibility, that doesn’t mean you have to wait to start seeing results. That’s where PPC comes in.
Launching targeted paid campaigns allows you to generate traffic, test your product and brand messaging, and capture leads, all while your SEO strategy gains traction. This integrated approach ensures your business remains as visible as possible, now (PPC) and in the long term (SEO).
Looking to invest in PPC to reach your audience? Let’s talk.
2. Let PPC Performance Inform Your SEO Strategy
By leveraging both SEO and PPC, you have access to two data sources, providing a much stronger understanding of your customers and what they want.
Whilst each channel certainly requires time to set up correctly, PPC can deliver much faster, and in many cases, instant results. PPC also gives you a goldmine of real time data, including click through rates (CTR), conversion rates, and keyword level performance, which can be used to guide your SEO efforts.
This means rather than waiting months to see which organic keywords gain traction and then figuring out which ones have a higher search volume, or which ones you should be focusing on in your SEO, you can use PPC to validate keyword opportunities and content ideas before committing to them in SEO.
You’re able to get a good idea of which keywords have a stronger purchasing intent, and use that within your organic content too, improving ad relevance, ad quality score, and as a result, sees potentially lower CPC (Cost per clicks).
For example, if a paid keyword drives strong engagement or conversions, it’s worth investing in those keywords for organic optimisation too.
3. Optimise Landing Pages for Both Organic and Paid Traffic
There’s no point investing in SEO or PPC if your landing pages can’t convert.
Whether users arrive via a Google ad or a search snippet, the destination experience must be fast, relevant, persuasive, and useful for them to convert. High performing landing pages support the following:
- Ad Quality Scores.
- Organic ranking potential.
- Ad cost.
The better the ad quality score, the lower CPC your ads achieve, saving your money.
That means focusing on:
- Clear, compelling on page copy.
- Fast page load speeds.
- Mobile first design.
- Relevant keyword targeting.
- Strong calls to action.
Need help aligning your on-page content with both SEO and PPC best practices? Our specialists can support you. Give us a call on 0161 533 2790.
4. Test PPC Ad Copy to Refine SEO Meta Tags
PPC acts as a powerful testing ground for messaging. A/B testing ad headlines and descriptions can quickly show you which messages grab attention and convert better than others. You can use the insights from this testing to refine your SEO title tags and meta descriptions, giving you a head start on writing copy that gets people clicking.
From the data testing you’ll be able to figure out the following:
- Which queries are driving clicks
- Queries with higher CTRs
- Pages generating the most traffic, and pages not generating the most
- Pages with higher conversion rates
Using user insight and data this way means you’re able to generate higher organic CPCs as well, but not only that, you end up improving the relevance and intent of those target keywords across both PPC and SEO.
5. Mine PPC Search Queries to Uncover SEO Opportunities
Google Ads’ Search Terms Report shows what users typed before clicking on your ad. These real search queries can often reveal gaps in your SEO strategy, and present opportunities such as:
- High intent phrases you’re not yet targeting organically
- Question based searches to inspire blog content, or add to existing blog content
- Long-tail keywords that convert well
By using these real user insights and implementing that into your content strategy, you can build out pages, and even create brand new ones, that address real user demand and reduce reliance on paid clicks over time, spending less on PPC. Or, better yet, continue with PPC and strengthen your brand visibility.
6. Strengthen Brand Credibility with Dual Visibility
When your brand appears in both the paid and the organic search results for a keyword, it can build trust with users. Users are more likely to click and convert when they see a brand occupying multiple positions on the results page.
This double exposure increases your share of voice and reduces the chance of a competitor winning the click. However, this can become expensive, especially if the keywords you’re targeting for the spots have higher competition, and higher cost per click.
Make Your Channels Work Harder, Together
At Return, we don’t treat SEO and PPC as siloed services. We build integrated strategies designed to drive growth across the full customer journey, and we ensure we work together as one team to achieve this.
Whether you’re looking to reduce cost per acquisition (CPA), improve return on ad spend (ROAS), or simply get more from your marketing budget, our team can help you align SEO and PPC to deliver measurable results, and return on investment. 10
Want to see what we could do for your business? Book a call today on 0161 533 2790 or send us a message.