Organic Search Vs. Paid Search (PPC)

Diane Vautier April 5, 2010

“Which is better, organic search marketing or pay-per-click marketing?”

It’s a common question that I hear from clients quite a bit. And just as you’d expect marketers are taking sides with equally compelling arguments for and against both options.

Here are some things to think about when considering your search marketing.  It will help you not only understand the pro’s and con’s of each, but determine which is right for your business.

First some facts:

• Organic: People prefer and trust organic search results more
  • Organic search is 8.5x more likely to be clicked on than paid search results (study by Jupiter research, a Forrester company)
• Paid: Paid search converts more
  • Paid search results are 1.5x more likely to convert from search engines (study by Jupiter research, a Forrester company)

Conclusion: The opportunity from organic search is 5.66x that of paid search.

• Organic: Search Marketing is a slow and steady investment in the website
  • Creating new and interesting content for visitors and search engines
  • Improving placement on search engine results pages
  • Builds credibility with visitors
• Paid: Paid search offers temporary preferred exposure
  • Yields more immediate results
  • Exposure is guaranteed but not lasting
  • More effective for products than services

Conclusion: Paid search returns a more immediate return but is fleeting.

What does this mean for your company?

According to SEMPO, the Search Engine Marketing Professionals Organization, more companies take the quick route and spend most of their money in paid search.  In The State of Search Engine Marketing 2008 report they estimated that 88% of all search engine dollars are spent on PPC vs. 10% spent on SEO efforts.  (2009 results to be released this month).

If you want results right away, then PPC may be a good choice for you to guarantee exposure.  If you’re more interested in continuing to build long-term credibility or gain favorable organic placement, you may want to participate in organic search.

Although organic and paid search each have their benefits, the best choice may be to include both in your marketing mix.  Admittedly, I’d lean more toward organic than paid search since the majority of companies are heavily invested in the paid space, making competition stiff.  Organic on the other hand offers a longer term investment and remains with the site rather than disappearing once the paid placement budget is spent.

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Other Links to this Post

1. Top 10 ActiveEdge Blog Posts of 2010 | ActiveEdge Blog — December 21, 2010 @ 10:14 am

2. Where can you find research demonstrating that organic searchers are more engaged than paid searchers? - Quora — January 5, 2011 @ 5:59 pm

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