Did you know that 85% of internet users will use a search engine first when looking for products or services? And 95% of those users don’t look past the first three search results pages. This is why you want your business to be on the first page — and even better — on top! It’s possible to be on the front page of a search engine like Google. There’s two ways to get there: Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Pay Per Click (PPC). SEO is done organically, takes longer to see results but is longer lasting; PPC is a paid advertisement and results are seen immediately, but can disappear when the promotion ends.  

SEO	PPC
Organic, natural	Contrived
Long lasting	Lasts as long as budget
Appears slowly over time	Appears immediately
Requires a length of time for effect	Can be as short as one day and still effect

  Let’s talk about some other key differences. These include position, results and price.

Position:

SEO and PPC cause your website to land in different position on search engine result pages. Search results effected by SEO will show up in the main body of the results page. The better the webpage is optimized for SEO, the higher it will be in the rankings. SEO results can include all webpages that the search engine thinks is relatable. On the other hand, PPC listings are displayed on the top of the results page as “sponsored links.” PPC targets a certain audience based on different categories specified when building the ad.

Results:

With an SEO campaign, it may take several months for a website to show higher up in search results. However, this means that there can be continuous traffic over a longer period of time. PPC campaigns show immediately, which can result in an immediate boost in traffic. However, once the campaign is stopped and the budget is removed, the search result is removed.

Price:

For SEO campaigns, there are no associated costs. These are done organically. The only costs you’d incur are if you hired an agency or an employee to do it for you. For PPC, there is an ongoing price per click. You can set this price when building the ad. The greater your budget, the more traffic you will receive. You don’t pay anything to show the ad, you only pay whenever someone clicks your link. Both campaigns can be a great way to build your business.