In an ideal world, you would use both strategically to maximize your
site's profile. However, budgetary constraints often make this
impossible,
and trying to do both on a limited budget or with minimal
resources can
result in neither campaign producing ideal results. In this
case, it's
usually better to focus on one or the other. But which is best
for you?
Organic Search Engine Optimization
Organic search engine optimization campaigns offer several
distinct advantages
over pay-per-click advertising campaigns, as many recent studies
have
shown. What follows is a brief listing of some of the findings.
Propensity to Click
Study after study indicates people are less likely to click on
paid search
ads rather than on results from organic search engine
optimization. For
example, one study found that search users are up to six times
more likely
to click on the first few organic results than they are to
choose any
of the paid results[1], while an eye tracking study[2] showed
that 50
percent of users begin their search by scanning the top organic
results.
Other studies have shown that only 30 percent of search engine
users click
on paid listings, leaving an overwhelming 70 percent who are
clicking
the organic listings.[3] And a 2003 study found that 85 percent
of searchers
report clicking on paid links in less than 40 percent of all of
their
searches, and 78 percent of all respondents claim that they
found the
information they we searching for through sponsored links just
40 percent
of the time.[4]
Trust
Studies are beginning to indicate that the trust level for
organic results
is much higher than that of paid results, and that paid results
are looked
upon as a nuisance by some searchers. One study found that only
14 percent
of searchers trust paid listings, and 29 percent report being
"annoyed"
by them.[5] Another study found that 66 percent of customers
distrust
paid ads.[6] Clearly, it's not generally a good idea to upset
potential
customers before they even click on your link.
Value of Visitors
Organic search engine results tend to be seen as non-biased,
and they
therefore are able to provide visitors that are more valuable.
The overall
conversion rate, or the rate at which searchers take a desired
action
on a site, is 17 percent higher for unpaid search results than
the rate
for paid (4.2% vs. 3.6%).[7] Trends also have shown that more of
the sales
that result from search engines originated in organic search
listings.[8]
Visitors Becoming More Aware of
Pay-Per-Click as Advertising
As more and more people turn to the Internet for research and
information,
more searchers are becoming aware of paid results as a marketing
tool.
One study showed that not only are 38 percent of searchers aware
of the
distinction between paid and unpaid results, 54 percent are
aware of the
distinction on Google, which is widely recognized as the most
popular
search engine.[9]
Pay-Per-Click Costs Rising
Meanwhile, pay-per-click costs are rising steadily. Between
October 2004
and December 2005, average keyword prices rose from around $25
to just
under $55.[10] And the cost of keywords can increase by as much
as 100
percent during the holiday season.[11] These costs aren't going
unnoticed
either; one study of problems experienced by U.S. companies
found that
57 percent of respondents felt that their desired keywords were
"too expensive,"
while 51 percent expressed concern that they are overpaying for
certain
keywords.[12] On the other hand, when you outsource to an
organic search
engine optimization firm, your costs will likely remain more
stable than
the prices for pay-per-click advertising.
Long Term Results
While a pay-per-click campaign may produce results more quickly
than an
organic search engine optimization campaign, organic search engine
optimization campaigns can give you results that last. When the
budget
runs out for a pay-per-click campaign, or when your company decides
that
the pay-per-click campaign should be terminated, the results end as
well.
With organic search engine optimization, the optimized site content
and
other changes made to your site can have an impact on your search
results
until the next change in a search engine's algorithm, or possibly
even beyond.
Relevance
Users also have rated organic search engine results as more
relevant
than paid results. On Google, 72.3 percent felt that organic
results were
more relevant, while only 27.7 percent rated paid results as
more relevant.
Yahoo offered similar results, with 60.8 calling organic results
relevant
compared to only 39.2 percent for paid.[13]
Pay-Per-Click
While the above statistics may make organic search engine
optimization
seem the clear choice in all cases, in certain situations it
actually
can make more sense to do pay-per-click advertising. For those
looking
for fast results on a small budget, a pay-per-click campaign may
be the
answer.
Results
As previously stated, the results from pay-per-click
advertising are immediate.
On the other hand, an organic search engine optimization campaign may
take up to
three months or more for results to be apparent. In this case,
pay-per-click is
advantageous for those who are looking to promote an initiative that
will go live
in a short amount of time, or whose business is seasonal in nature
and who only
do promotion during certain months of the year.
Budget
Small businesses with extremely tight budgets may find that
pay-per-click
is a better investment than organic search engine optimization
because a
pay-per-click campaign will almost always cost less - good search
engine
optimization companies simply do not work for $100 per month. By
limiting
a campaign's keyphrases to highly specific terms relevant to a
company's
business, there will not be a large amount of traffic generated, but
the
traffic that is generated will be specific to the desired result.
Plus,
choosing such specific phrases can make them less expensive on a per
click basis. Moreover, in niche markets with a high average dollar sale,
where there's not a great amount of search activity because the
prospect pool is limited, it may not make sense to engage a quality
organic search engine optimization firm at several thousand dollars per
month when you can instead buy varying niche-specific keyphrases and
generate traffic in that way.
Easier to Handle In-House
Non-complicated pay-per-click campaigns can be handled much
more easily
in-house than an organic search engine optimization campaign.
Such campaigns
generally involve business to business and high-end, service
oriented
companies, not those geared toward a large consumer base. Since
organic
search engine optimization requires a steep learning curve and
since there
are so many questionable tactics that can put a site at risk of
penalization
(the tactics that neophytes to search engine optimization are
likely to
use), it may make more sense to run a pay-per-click campaign.
Since you
are dealing directly with the engine, i.e., Yahoo Search
Marketing and
Google AdWords, you don't need to pay a middleman, and these
sites offer
helpful tutorials on how to use pay-per-click marketing. Perhaps
most
importantly, the concept of pay-per-click is much easier to
grasp and
understand at the outset.
No Contracts
Most organic search engine optimization campaigns require a
contract
of a certain length because SEO companies know that meaningful
results
will rarely happen overnight. When dealing with an in-house
pay-per-click
campaign, obviously a contract is not an issue. But in general,
even when
you are dealing with an agency, you will not tend to need to
sign a contract
because the agency instead makes money on a percentage of the
spend, although
there may be a setup fee. Without a contract, you are free to
reallocate
marketing dollars elsewhere if you discover that the
pay-per-click campaign
is not providing the desired results.
Conclusion
Clearly, organic search engine optimization has some distinct
advantages
over pay-per-click advertising. However, there are undoubtedly
certain
situations and scenarios where pay-per-click advertising makes
more sense
fiscally and strategically. With a high enough budget, you would
be able
to have an effective organic search engine optimization campaign
running
in tandem with an effective pay-per-click campaign. But if you
have to
choose one, look into your unique situation before you decide.
Citations
[1] Oneupweb study
[2] Enquiro, July 2005
[3], [8]
Are Corporate Web Sites Optimized for SEO?
by Paul Bruemmer, August
2005
[4] WebAdvantage.net 2003 Survey
[5] eMarketer, April 2003
[6] eMarketer 2003
[7] Marketing Sherpa, August 2005
[9] Pew Internet and American Life Project, 2005
[10] Performics, 2005
[11] Ibid
[12] Jupiter Media, June 2003
[13] iProspect, Survey Sampling International, WebSurveyor, and
Stratagem
Research, April 2004
