Organic vs. Paid Search
There are two ways to get your content on the search engine result pages: organically or paying.
There are two ways to get your content on the search engine result pages: naturally or with paid ads. Organic search results are the links that appear under the ads when you search for a term. These results are shown based off of a ranking score derived from the search engine’s algorithm. To increase your site’s organic search ranking, use our post on SEO best practices. The second way to get your site shown on the first page of a search engine results page is to pay. This is called Pay-Per-Click Advertising, or PPC.
What is PPC?
Pay-Per-Click advertising is a form of Search Engine Marketing, or SEM, in which paid ads are placed on organic search pages and marked with “Ad.” In this ad model, you don’t pay when the advertisement is shown (also called and impression), but when the ad is clicked. Hence, Pay-per-click. These ads are great because the searcher has already expressed intent of finding something, so you know your ads will be relevant to their needs.
PPC and Keywords
Much like organic search, pay-per-click relies heavily on keywords. You need to create a list of keywords that you think are relevant to your ad campaign to attract potential customers who search for those terms. Every time a keyword is entered into a search, campaigns tagged with that keyword enter into a bidding war and are chosen through a quality score. The ads with the highest budgets aren’t necessarily chosen, you still must be relevant. With PPC marketing you also must be aware of how popular a search term is; the higher the search volume, the more advertisers need to pay.
The Bottom Line
Remember that you pay only when someone clicks your ad, but if your site isn’t exactly what they’re looking for they’ll return to their search. Sometimes more popular search keywords are not worth your money, and you’ll see your budget disappear quickly with little return.
If your business isn’t ranking highly through organic searches, PPC might be a good option to get your website in front of an interested audience. Try to choose key words that are specific and relevant to your audience and stay away from highly competitive search terms until you’re confident in your campaigns.