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Social Networks

Insight Into Technology: Organic vs Pay Per Click

by Ernie Martin

June 1, 2008

A ccording to comScore Inc., more than 113 billion core online searches were conducted in the United States in 2007. The primary vehicles were Google, Yahoo! and MSN. These statistics fuel the competition between companies hoping to attract Web users searching for their product or service online.

As a result, companies invest billions in search engine optimization (SEO) to improve search engine rankings.

Marketers use two primary strategies for increasing traffic to their site. Organic SEO is the process of configuring a Web site with proper content and Meta Tags in a way that drives traffic based on studying a search engine’s algorithms and placement techniques.

Pay per click (PPC) is a pay-for- performance model in which the advertiser bids on keywords and then pays the search engine based on the number of click-throughs each sponsored link generates.

Factors to consider when determining if organic or PPC is for you include goals, budget and the quality of your site. By evaluating the advantages and disadvantages of both, you can determine which online advertising strategy is best.

Goals
Companies desiring immediate (within a day) results should think twice about organic SEO. It can take between three to six months to achieve high rankings. But while results are not immediate, they are long lasting and worth the wait. Conversely, once a PPC campaign is launched, results nearly are instantaneous. Based on the quality of your keywords, your site can be highly ranked within minutes.

Budget
According to Jupiter Research, marketers will spend $7 billion on PPC advertising by 2010. Because competition for keywords drives up costs and PPC requires companies to pay for every visitor that clicks through to the Web site, PPC advertising can be expensive. While organic undoubtedly is more cost-effective, the cost of an organic campaign will depend largely on the level of competition within your industry in addition to the time spent optimizing the site to ensure higher rankings.

Quality Of Your Site
Marketers often are attracted to PPC advertising because it doesn’t require changes to the site. But while they may see a rise in visitors, if their site can’t turn them into customers, they won’t have a return on their investment.

Organic SEO forces marketers to develop a site that’s full of premium content. While it does take time to redevelop your Web site and make continual improvements, you’re sure to develop a solid site.

Whether you decide to invest in organic or PPC, invest for the long-term. Companies opting for an organic strategy should be diligent about continually adding new content to maintain high rankings. Those that choose PPC should be mindful of rising accounts of click fraud, which rose to 16.6 percent during fourth quarter 2007, according to Click Forensics Inc. Click fraud occurs when a person, program or automated script generates a charge per click without having an interest in the target of the ad’s link.

Be Competitive
Bolstering your online presence is critical to increasing brand awareness and competing in the global marketplace. Based on budget, most companies must choose between organic or PPC.

Organic SEO tends to have a higher return on investment because the clicks are free, they carry more credibility and a high ranking through organic SEO tends to get more clicks.

Ernie Martin is founder and principal of Persuasion Communications Group.

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