In this article, we’re going to focus on a solid duo of digital marketing tactics you should be using—search engine optimization (SEO) and pay-per-click advertising (PPC)—as the two main ways to get your website seen by potential customers. The distinction between the two can be summarized as follows: SEO focuses on generating traffic via organic search, while PPC focuses on generating traffic via social and paid search. They both play a crucial role in your brand awareness.
Understanding SEO
SEO is the process of improving, or optimizing, your website using HTML page tags and keywords to boost the likelihood of your company appearing prominently in a Google search engine results page (SERP). Studies show the top five names that appear during a search get nearly 70% of all clicks. Therefore, that’s where you want to appear.
While SEO sounds intimidating, it’s not difficult—it just takes time and effort. If you do the following four tactics well, you will improve your organic search ranking on a SERP.
- Keyword research and optimization: To build a strong SEO foundation, it’s critical to do your keyword research and targeting up front. To determine words that your ideal customers are searching with, start by compiling a list of broad topics related to your business in a spreadsheet. Use your website analytics data to identify the words that landed customers to your site already. Then, choose a tool such as Semrush or Moz’s Keyword Explorer to add more depth. The key, though, is to pay attention to what keywords are working and what ones aren’t and adjust your use of them accordingly.
- On-page optimization: Also called on-site optimization, this is the process of tweaking content (inserting your defined keywords), tags, and internal links to improve search visibility. It’s important to remember, we don’t create content around what we want to tell people, we create it around what they want to know. “People-first content” creates valuable information that matches user intent, and in today’s high-stakes competition for engagement, it’s more important than ever.
- Link building: This strategy is where the effort comes in. The key is to create a backlink that comes from a high-domain-authority website, one that is trusted by search engines—and real people. Three characteristics tend to be present in quality backlinks: 1) the anchor text integrates naturally into the original page’s context, 2) the linked page is reputable, and 3) your page’s content aligns with the source of the link. You may be tempted to purchase backlinks but doing so is against Google’s Webmaster Guidelines and the resulting penalty can dramatically lower your search engine rankings. Instead, consider embracing organic strategies like editorial links, brand mentions, links from downloadable assets, and backlinks earned through webinars—all free.
- Technical SEO: Everything listed above to optimize your website for search engines is considered on-page or off-page SEO. Additionally, technical SEO includes tactics aimed at improving user experience, such as improving page speed, using responsive design to be mobile-friendly, structuring your site architecture effectively, and then submitting it to Google. Site architecture plays a vital role as search engines crawl by following links from familiar pages to new ones. Therefore, an SEO-friendly site architecture is crucial; i.e., watch out for those orphan pages that have no internal links pointing to them.
Exploring PPC
PPC is a form of digital advertising where you pay a fee each time one of your ads is clicked. Essentially, you’re paying for a visit to your site. When PPC is working correctly, the fee is negligible because that visitor, a possible customer, is more important than what you paid for the click. If you paid $3 for a click, but made a $1,000 sale, you begin to see what we mean. But this is where targeting comes in.
A major benefit of PPC is having the ability to target audiences actively researching products or services in your industry. This is beneficial for attracting new customers who otherwise may not have found your website through organic search efforts. The three types of PPC ads we want to focus on for manufacturing companies are:
- Paid search ads: This is one of the most popular forms of PPC where a company pays via an auction-based model to have its ad displayed on a SERP when certain search keywords are searched. How often the search ads appear, their rankings, and the cost-per-click (CPC) depend on the bid created and its Google Ads quality score, which evaluates the ad’s relevance and performance.
- Display ads: Unlike search ads where the ad is only triggered by search queries, display ads are paid placements that appear on websites based on various target parameters. They consist of visuals like images and videos and are linked to your designated landing page. Advertisers pay either on a CPC basis or a cost-per-thousand impressions (CPM).
- Remarketing campaigns: This form of online advertising enables companies to display ads to users who have already visited their sites but left before doing anything. Remarketing encourages them to sign up, purchase, or engage further with the brand. These subsequent actions are known as conversions.
PPC ads are a great way to grow your business in a short amount of time. But there are a few things you should get in place before you begin. Probably the single most impactful tip for an effective PPC campaign is to choose your keywords wisely. Do your research.
Next on your list should be to optimize your website. Many companies create separate landing pages to use in their campaigns. That’s a great way to start, but don’t ignore the rest of your site. You’ll also need to choose a bidding strategy, whether manual, automatic, or smart. There are pros and cons to all three and you’ll want to do your homework before you choose one. And, of course, create a compelling ad that includes a strong call to action (CTA). Without a CTA, there’s no point in running an ad campaign at all. It should be short, clear, concise, and link to a relevant landing page. Lastly, regularly test and optimize your ads. Consider using A/B testing, which basically means you’ll be running two very similar versions of your ad at the same time. After monitoring the two ads, you’ll begin to see what brings in better results and can adjust accordingly.
Finding the right balance
Think of SEO and PPC as yin and yang, the Chinese philosophical concept that describes opposite but interconnected forces. You need to do both, but how do you know how much effort to put into each at any given time to be sure you’re working in the most effective way? PPC is great for the quick wins to drive traffic, while SEO is playing the long game. Done correctly, SEO will serve as an effective strategy many months later. With SEO, you can rank on a SERP for dozens of keywords in a single article, whereas with PPC, you have a single focus.
There are three main factors to consider when determining the ideal balance between SEO and PPC.
- Budget: In general, you will find that PPC takes an ongoing investment and can be expensive for competitive keywords. SEO is less expensive in the long run, but consider the cost of time to create content and build links.
- Timeframe: SEO takes time. It may take months for your site to rank for competitive keywords. Creating content can take time. Employing A/B testing on your PPC campaign is far quicker. You’ll know right away what’s working—and what isn’t. It generates traffic quickly.
- Competitive landscape: If you’re in a highly competitive industry, the cost of keywords you’re using to display your ad will be high. But compelling design and copywriting can put your ads above the fray.
Your overall business goals combined with the resources (both financial and man hours) at hand will determine what customized digital marketing strategy you should develop.
6 tips for implementing SEO + PPC strategies
Now that you know that SEO and PPC complement each other, here are a few tactics to get started.
- Align campaign goals with company objectives. (SEO and PPC)
- Develop a robust spreadsheet with well-researched keywords. (SEO and PPC)
- Optimize your landing page by adding keywords and reworded variations in your content and header tags. (SEO)
- Lean into A/B testing and remarketing campaigns. (PPC)
- Localize a campaign with geotargeting. (PPC)
- Use ranking data to find opportunities, i.e., what are your customers seeking? (SEO)
After you put the work into developing your SEO and PPC strategies, we can’t emphasize enough that ongoing monitoring, optimization, and adaptation are crucial to effective digital marketing campaigns. Knowing what works, fixing what doesn’t, and trying out new keywords will keep you busy, but it also allows you to reach your target audience quickly and sustainably while maximizing your ROI.
Final thoughts
We’ve given you a lot to think about and the rules keep changing. In fact, you may be one of the 62% of manufacturing marketers who say changes to SEO/search algorithms are top-of-mind as the content marketing-related area that is most important to them.
But, like the key to so many things in life, finding the perfect balance is also important. If you take away anything from this article, it’s that both SEO and PPC—your company’s marketing yin and yang—are needed. As you delve in and start to gather keywords, optimize, and develop your campaigns, keep in mind they will be serving seemingly opposite forces but all for the greater good of your brand awareness.
At ddm, our in-house media experts collaborate with website developers and designers for hard hitting and compelling campaigns. Talk to us about your goals. We promise there won’t be a test on knowing all the terms.