SEO, PPC, SEM – What the …?

By Carly

by Valerie

If you’re like most organizations, you have a Web site. But is your audience visiting your site? If you’re not properly marketing it, probably not. In addition to promoting your site in your traditional marketing mix, you should consider online promotion as well.

Two popular ways of marketing your site online are search engine optimization (SEO) and pay-per-click (PPC).

SEO includes a number of activities such as improving site content and getting other sites to link to your site. These strategies help your site appear naturally higher in search engine results. Appearing high in search engine results is important, as iProspect’s Search Engine User Attitudes Study (April 2004) found that 80 percent of search engine users don’t look past the first three pages. Forty percent don’t look past the first page of results.

An ongoing maintenance program is highly recommended as search engine algorithms are constantly changing, so SEO can ebb and flow. Continual link building, refreshing of content, submission of articles to directories, and other strategies help keep your site ranking high on search engines.

Effective SEO takes time to implement and improving natural search engine results is usually gradual. Thus, this is a process that requires an ongoing effort.

PPC brings your site to the top of a page when a user searches for specific keywords or phrases that you have selected. You agree to an amount you’re willing to pay each time a user clicks on your listing that results in a visit to your site.

If one of your competitors selects the same keyword or phrase, you compete against each other for the highest position. Whoever spends the most shows up first.

PPC does not improve natural positioning in the regular editorial search results, but instead, advertisers are normally featured at the top or side of regular search results in a “Sponsored or Featured” area.

While research shows most companies receive a higher return on investment from SEO, and the Search Engine User Attitudes study found users are more likely to click on natural search results instead of paid results, PPC can help you instantly move to a first page. SEO requires a longer time to accomplish this.

Using both strategies thoughtfully will help more of your audience find your site.