Why SEO and PPC advertising should work together?

SEO promotion and contextual advertising are two of the most important tools for attracting leads through search engines. Both methods are focused on search traffic and can be very effective if your product or service is in demand on the Internet. In this article, we will compare these two tools and find out how important it is to combine them.

What is SEO and contextual advertising?

SEO (search engine optimization) is a process aimed at improving a website's ranking in organic search results, which helps increase traffic. In different countries, SEO may involve working with different search engines, such as Google and Yandex. The main thing in SEO is optimizing the site according to criteria that meet the requirements of search engines. If a site meets these requirements, it gets higher rankings in searches.

Contextual advertising is a paid display of a website in search results and on sites of partner advertising networks. In Russia and the CIS, the main platforms for contextual advertising are Yandex.Direct and Google Ads. These systems provide more options than just contextual display: retargeting, display advertising, and targeting by interests and demographics.

If you are looking for products or services with commercial queries, you will first see advertisements, and then the results of SEO promotion.

What is the difference between contextual advertising and SEO?

Although both tools are focused on generating leads, they have significant differences. Look at the table to understand the main differences.

Is it possible to accurately assess where the leads came from: contextual advertising or SEO?

Yes, it's possible! However, there is one important note. It is possible to objectively evaluate the effectiveness of SEO or contextual advertising only if one of these tools is used.

Why can't you estimate accurately if you use both tools?

Let's say you offer services in a certain niche, and you have both SEO and contextual advertising set up. When you look at analytics reports, you will see that users are accessing the site through both advertising and organic search. This makes it difficult to determine which tool ultimately generated the leads.

It rarely happens that a user, after seeing an advertisement or clicking on an organic ad, immediately leaves a request. Typically, the customer will visit the site several times, study its content and make a purchasing decision. If the last source was, for example, a click on an advertisement, then it may seem that advertising played a decisive role. However, in fact, SEO also had an impact, because it ensured that the site was mentioned more often in search results.

In order to understand exactly how each channel worked, you need to analyze site statistics in services such as Yandex.Metrica and Google Analytics.

What if advertising doesn't always work?

If you run ads for a specific period, you will likely see more leads during that period. At the same time, SEO traffic will also increase as users return to check out the offer again. However, when ads are turned off, conversions can drop, making it difficult to determine which channel generated the leads.

Sometimes users who saw an ad for the first time return to the search engine later, after the ad is no longer active. In such cases, it is difficult to determine exactly how much advertising impact and how much SEO impact.

Why SEO and PPC advertising should work together?

Definitely, you should not rely on one of these tools. Let's look at examples:

  • If you use only contextual advertising, then there is a risk that the client will not click on it or will not be able to find the site in organic results. In this case, you will lose the lead.
  • If the user clicks on the advertisement, looks around the site and leaves, then he can return through the search engine. But if your advertising is disabled or your competitors are outbid, you will lose a customer.

In both cases, if you were doing SEO, the site would be visible in organic results and it would be easier to return the client. Conversely, if only SEO optimization was used, competitors could steal the customer through advertising.

Conclusion

The ideal option is a combination of SEO and contextual advertising. Here are the main reasons:

  • More traffic means more leads. Working together, SEO and advertising can generate more traffic, which directly impacts the number of applications.
  • Competition. Most competitors already use both SEO and contextual advertising. Your visibility should be equal or better.
  • Associated conversions. Without any of the channels, the entire chain may not work.

It is best to have both instruments operated by the same contractor. If these services are provided by different agencies, there is a risk that the effectiveness of both channels will be reduced due to a lack of consistency.

If you have any questions about the comprehensive promotion of your project, you can contact the SEO studio "SEO COMPUTER" with any questions by email info@seo.computer.

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