Online marketing – it’s complicated. You’re looking for your piece of the pie, but should you be focusing on search engine optimization (SEO), pay-per-click (PPC), or some combination of the two? The fact is that, while many companies are looking to up their online game, most look at these as two separate and distinct entities, it’s actually more complicated than that. While SEO and PPC both stand alone in their own right, they’re also incredibly interconnected, and the best path forward is generally to think of each as an important component of a whole – a whole that is greater than the sum of its parts.

The goal is to leverage your advertising data to achieve optimal organic results and to allow that organic data (generated via SEO) to guide your PPC efforts. It sounds like a lot, but working closely with digital marketing specialists will help ensure that you maximize the inherent overlap between the two while you carefully attend to the distinctions.

Keyword Enrichment

When it comes to internet campaigns, keywords obviously matter. In fact, keywords play a critical role in both your SEO and your PPC efforts. Due diligence is important – crunch the numbers and find out which keywords are driving your current campaigns for both SEO and PPC, and use the harvested information to enrich those campaigns accordingly.

Once you’ve culled your advertising data for lucrative keywords, you will have identified those words and terms that are capable of cultivating potential customers and generating revenue, which means they should be afforded prominence in your advertising strategies.

Further, there are mechanisms in place for fine-tuning your data. For example, there are tools for tracking your potential customers’ geographic locations and for tracking the kind of device that each is using to access your information.

Regardless of how you harvest your data, it can be of immense value to your business. This means that the more data you gather – from any channel – the more useful it can be for your decision-making processes and the more insight it is likely to provide. While every business is unique to its own plan and vision, there are two basic tips that universally apply, including:

If you are struggling to rank on specific keywords that you think would directly benefit your business, focus your PPC efforts on implementing these words to help increase your ranking. In general, experimentation in SEO should guide your efforts in the paid PPC arena.

Checking out your competitors’ SEO and PPC decisions can help guide your own. What keywords are they using effectively that might also benefit you? Do the math to determine if further investment in those keywords is a good bet for your company.

The fact is that there are pro tools that can help you investigate and identify your rivals’ keywords and their rankings – for both organic and paid endeavors. With this info, you can proceed to test the results for your own campaigns. Further, there are advanced filters to help you decipher when your competitors are ranking on the first page, and when they’re not. Remember that mining the keywords that your competitors have paid for is not only fair game but is also a great SEO strategy.

Strike a Balance with Branded Keywords

If you have keywords that are branded, that’s great – for those potential customers who’re already aware of what you have on offer, but they often do little to cultivate new traffic.

Ultimately, however, it’s often not a good idea to leave your branded keywords open for a hostile takeover by competitors. On the flip side, of course, if those competitors are sloppy with their branded keywords, it provides you with a unique opportunity to swoop in and cash in on that brand awareness for your own company’s benefit. It’s important to consider the ramifications of this brand hijacking, however. Some customers find it both disruptive and misleading. Again, balance is key.

Before bidding on your branded keywords – or anyone else’s – however, there are several preliminary steps you should take to help ensure that your investment is sound, including:

Carefully examine your click-through rates and conversions. How much business do you stand to lose if you fail to bid on your branded terms? Are potential customers actually searching for these terms, and is the purchase price relatively low? If so, it could be a solid purchase. If your customers intentionally seek you out and find you organically, however, you’ll need to balance the bidding cost against the likelihood that your competition is swiping clicks that are rightfully yours.

Monitor whether your competitors are bidding on your branded keywords. This valuable information can help you determine just how deeply competitive you want to be. If your rival is very interested in your branded keywords, it’s time to redouble your efforts to secure them for yourself.

Location, Location, Location

If you’re looking to up your local presence and attract local patronage, it can be difficult to do so in the organic SEO market. Patience, however, can pay off in this space. While patiently building your local ranking is an important process, you don’t want to lose business in the meantime. This makes PPC a great option. There are new tools available that will allow you to promote your company according to proximity and location. Spending some advertising money early on can help you cut to the front of the line when it comes to building a local presence, and this expenditure can broaden your reach across a multitude of advertising platforms.

Allow Our Digital Marketing Gurus to Help You Maximize Your Marketing Strategy

When it comes to online marketing, it’s all about balancing your organic hits with your paid advertising efforts – and maximizing the results in the process. The Web Guys have been helping clients like you perform balancing acts since 2005. Now more than ever, your online presence is paramount, and the best way to maintain a robust presence is with the expert guidance of our vibrant digital marketing team. To find out more, contact us online or give us a call at 317-805-4933 today!