It’s a well-known fact that doing SEO and PPC simultaneously can bolster both efforts.
While SEO works to increase relevancy in the eyes of search engines, boosting your organic ranking over time, PPC provides immediate visibility to increase traffic. These complementary strategies provide short-term and long-term benefits as well as increased competitiveness throughout the lifecycle of the business. In fact, studies have shown that focused SEO efforts continue to increase traffic long after they’ve been implemented, which is why SEO is such a lucrative investment.
But if you’re just counting on merely running PPC to diversify your overall online marketing strategy, you’re squandering a valuable opportunity. You can (and should) use your PPC data to improve your SEO efforts. The result will be a more informed organic search approach that’s poised to succeed.
Your SEO efforts need this cross-over PPC data:
While SEO works to increase relevancy in the eyes of search engines, boosting your organic ranking over time, PPC provides immediate visibility to increase traffic. These complementary strategies provide short-term and long-term benefits as well as increased competitiveness throughout the lifecycle of the business. In fact, studies have shown that focused SEO efforts continue to increase traffic long after they’ve been implemented, which is why SEO is such a lucrative investment.
But if you’re just counting on merely running PPC to diversify your overall online marketing strategy, you’re squandering a valuable opportunity. You can (and should) use your PPC data to improve your SEO efforts. The result will be a more informed organic search approach that’s poised to succeed.
Your SEO efforts need this cross-over PPC data:
Top-Performing Keywords
Selecting keywords to use in your SEO efforts is difficult because you must walk the fine line between finding words that are popular enough to justify your efforts but not so popular that you can’t make any headway. Using keyword tools to estimate search volume and competitiveness is your best bet for determining which keyword phrases to use. But these tools just provide generalized information, not real-world data. This is worrisome because unlike PPC, where you can change keyword choices frequently, SEO keywords require a commitment. You don’t want to choose the wrong keywords and then be stuck with them or end up having to change your keywords and lose the time you’ve invested into optimizing for them.
Your top-performing PPC keywords provide a valuable opportunity to utilize phrases that you hard data for already. Choosing high converting keywords and keywords with strong CTRs provides a solid basis for your SEO efforts.
Location-Based Information
Geographically-based marketing strategies work for both SEO and PPC, which means that pulling location data from your PPC efforts to use with your SEO is a helpful way to bolster existing efforts. Understanding where ads are getting more clicks and which areas are frequently included in search queries provides a basis for building SEO relevancy around location-based terms.
While your entire SEO strategy doesn’t need a geographical focus, using some locally driven search terms is a good way to diversify your strategy with terms that are less competitive. While keywords like “widgets in grand rapids” have a narrower focus than simply “widgets,” they also have much higher engagement rates. This means it’s easier to make headway online building authority for these types of search phrases.
Cost Data
Most people don’t think much of PPC cost information, but cost data can help inform your SEO efforts. Identifying inexpensive PPC keywords allows you to isolate terms that are less competitive. Sorting these keywords by impressions and clicks will often provide a few keywords that should be included in your SEO strategy. These keyword phrases have the real-world data to prove that they definitively hit the sweet spot that you’re looking for when you use keyword tool estimators.
To use this strategy, however, you must ensure that your keyword bids are in line with search engine recommendations. Otherwise, you may base your keyword selection on flawed data. Keywords with bids that are set substantially below their suggested first page bid estimates will result in data that’s hampered by cost constraints.
Value Propositions
There are numerous places in your PPC account where you can test value propositions to determine what resonates best with searchers. Top-performing ad extensions like callouts indicate what works best with your audience. Weaving these value propositions into your keywords allows you to take a long-tail approach to go after keywords that are less competitive. For instance, turning “widgets” into “affordable widgets” or “top rated widgets” gives you a firm direction to pursue with your keywords. Using value-based keywords also provides more context when writing content. Keywords that indicate search intent tend to perform better while being less expensive.
If you’re looking for assistance with your online marketing, we’d be happy to discuss your needs. We’ll develop a customized approach that fits your budget to help you achieve your goals. Contact us today to find out more!
Kate Pierce is the owner of LionShark Digital Marketing LLC, a West Michigan internet marketing company. Her areas of expertise include Paid Search, Search Engine Optimization, Business Blogging and Web Copywriting. She lives in the Grand Rapids area with her husband and two children and enjoys cooking, watching sports, and spending time together as a family. Like a true digital marketing expert (i.e. geek), she loves talking about current marketing trends… so don’t say you weren’t warned!
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