PAID SEARCH :

SEO/PPC Strategy

Once you have learned about how to start a PPC program such as Google™ AdWords, you can follow some of the following tips to help maintain a balance between your SEO and PPC efforts.

Many companies choose to maintain paid search (PPC) listings even after they have achieved organic (free) positions for the same keywords. This allows for two things: an increase in traffic, and multiple listings within the search engine result pages (SERPs).

Since organic rankings are achieved partially thanks to the amount of traffic a website experiences, it is very important to increase visits. In the keyword research phase of most SEO packages, highly-desired keywords are identified. If some of these keyword phrases are particularly popular, and there are a large number of sites appearing within the SERP for the particular terms, PPC can be the only way to appear anywhere near the top.

Once organic rankings have been achieved, however, it may be wise to consider continuing with the PPC campaign. For example, if the site comes in at number 3 organically, perhaps the bid for that term should be adjusted so that the PPC listing appears at number 6 or 7 of the sponsored listings. This is valuable because it allows a “second chance” for someone to click on the website.

Another important point about mixing SEO and PPC is that a website owner or marketing expert can actually write the Title and Description of the PPC listings. Organic Titles and descriptions are based on a sort of search engine “chef’s choice” of content available within the site. A good idea is to monitor how the organic result description is worded, and adjust the PPC title and description accordingly.

Click here for more information about Search Engine Optimization (SEO).

Click here to see a list of paid search providers.

PPC Campaign Management Tips

Keep checking back here to see a new campaign tip every few weeks.

Campaign Tip #1: If you are experiencing a high CTR (click-through-rate) for a particular term, experiment by lowering your bid for the term. You may end up with the same average position based on the strength of your CTR…and cut your cost-thereby freeing up part of the budget to target costlier terms with currently lower CTR’s (and average positions).

Campaign Tip #2: Use a variety of landing pages as well as Titles and Descriptions when creating your paid search listings. Take advantage of the ability to land visitors on a page that is most specific to the search term bidded-upon. Use "calls to action," and provide easy methods for the site's visitors to contact you for more information.

Instant Position can perform an analysis of any PPC campaign. Please email a report with one month’s data from any campaign, and we will provide our thoughts. All information will be kept strictly confidential. For more information or with any questions, please email us.

Interested in outsourcing PPC management? The G3 Group offers professional paid search management services.