Monday, September 27, 2010

Pay-per-Click and SEO

Pay-per-Click and SEO
Pay-per-click (PPC) is one of those terms that you hear connected to
keywords so often you might think they were the conjoined twins of
SEO. They’re not, really. Keywords and PPC do go hand in hand, but it
is possible to have keywords without PPC. It’s not always advisable, however.
Hundreds of PPC services are available, but they are not all created equal.
Some PPC services work with actual search rankings, whereas others are
more about text advertisements. Then there are the category-specific PPC
programs, such as those for keywords, products, and services.
The main goal of a PPC program is to drive traffic to your site, but ideally
you want more out of PPC results than just visits. What’s most important is
traffic that reaches some conversion goal that you’ve set for your web site.
To achieve these goal conversions, you may have to experiment with different
techniques, keywords, and even PPC services.
PPC programs have numerous advantages over traditional search engine
optimization:
No changes to a current site design are required. You don’t have
to change any code or add any other elements to your site. All you
have to do is bid on and pay for the keywords you’d like to target.
PPC implementation is quick and easy. After signing up for a PPC
program, it might only take a few minutes to start getting targeted
traffic to your web site. With SEO campaigns that don’t include
PPC, it could take months for you to build the traffic levels that PPC
can build in hours (assuming your PPC campaign is well targeted).
PPC implementation is also quick and easy, and it doesn’t require any
specialized knowledge. Your PPC campaigns will be much better targeted,
however, if you understand keywords and how they work.
As with any SEO strategy, there are limitations. Bidding for keywords can be fierce, with each competitor
bidding higher and higher to reach and maintain the top search results position. Many organizations
have a person or team that’s responsible for monitoring the company’s position in search
results and amending bids accordingly. Monitoring positions is crucial to maintaining good placement,
however, because you do have to fight for your ranking, and PPC programs can become prohibitively
expensive. The competitiveness of the keywords or phrases and the aggressiveness of the competition
determine how much you’ll ultimately end up spending to rank well.
One issue with PPC programs is that many search engines recognize PPC ads as just
that — paid advertisements. Therefore, although your ranking with the search engine
for which you’re purchasing placement might be good, that doesn’t mean your ranking in other
search engines will be good. Sometimes, it’s necessary to run multiple PPC campaigns if you want
to rank high in multiple search engines.
Before you even begin to use a PPC program, you should consider some basics. A very important
point to keep in mind is that just because you’re paying for placement or advertising space associated
with your keywords, you’re not necessarily going to get the best results with all of the keywords
or phrases that you choose. With PPC services you must test, test, and test some more. Begin small,
with a minimum number of keywords, to see how the search engine you’ve selected performs in
terms of the amount of traffic it delivers and how well that traffic converts into paying customers.
An essential part of your testing is having a method in place that allows you to track your return on
investment. For example, if your goal is to bring new subscribers to your newsletter, you’ll want to
track conversions, perhaps by directing the visitors funneled to your site by your PPC link to a subscription
page set up just for them. You can then monitor how many clicks actually result in a goal
conversion (in this case a new subscription). This helps you to quickly track your return on investment
and to determine how much you’re paying for each new subscriber.
Before investing in a PPC service, you may want to review a few different services to determine
which is the best one for you. When doing your preliminary research, take the time to ask the
following questions:
How many searches are conducted each month through the search engine for which
you’re considering a PPC program?
Does the search engine have major partners or affiliates that could contribute to the
volume of traffic you’re likely to receive through the PPC program?
How many searches are generated each month by those partners and affiliates?
What exactly are the terms of service for search partners or affiliates?
How does the search engine or PPC program prevent fraudulent activity?
How difficult is it to file a report about fraudulent activity and how quickly is the issue
addressed (and by whom)?
What recourse do you have if fraudulent activity is discovered?
Do you have control over where your listing does appear? For example, can you choose
not to have your listing appear in search results for other countries where your site is not
relevant? Or can you choose to have your listing withheld from affiliate searches?
When you’re looking at different PPC programs, look for those that have strict guidelines about
how sites appear in listings, how partners and affiliates calculate visits, and how fraud is handled.
These are important issues, because in each case, you could be stuck paying for clicks that didn’t
actually happen. Be sure to monitor any service that you decide to use to ensure that your PPC
advertisements are both working properly and that they seem to be targeted well.
It often takes a lot of testing, monitoring, and redirection to find the PPC program that works well
for you. Don’t be discouraged or surprised if you find that you must try several different programs
or many different keywords before you find the right combination. But through a system of trial
and error and diligent effort, you’ll find that PPC programs can help build your site traffic and goal
conversions faster than you could without the program.

1 comment:

  1. Wow, this detailed about Search Engine Optimization and PPC Management is just so amazing. I agree that with the help of online marketing tactics, any business can grow easily but it is not easy to work on any strategies without proper analysis. I would like to hire a professional for all of the research work so that we can plan appropriate strategies accordingly.

    ReplyDelete