Pay per click advertising has a limited value when used on its own, but when incorporated into an optimisation strategy or used to target a specific event it can produce some great results. The key to using PPC is knowing when, how and where it should be placed to set off your optimised site.

Paid search results can be easier to control and predict, but they are costly and get more so each year. This means that your PPC campaign is under more pressure to produce results. At the same time, simply optimising your site for search engines may cost less, but is harder to control. This can present problems when you’re featuring a special event or promotion and really want to draw traffic.

Both pay per click and SEO have their advantages as marketing strategies. PPC ads can go live within a few minutes and begin to direct customers straight to the appropriate page for the campaign. The organic results of search engine optimisation draw in continuous traffic over time, and allow viewers to control the experience a little bit more.

The two can be used together to great effect. Many companies waste their marketing budgets paying for year-round pay per click advertising on search engines, when such exposure really doesn’t draw in the traffic to be worth it. Companies who focus more on search engine optimisation sometimes feel the lag between optimisation and results is lost time. Strategic use of pay per click ads to support your search engine optimisation is the smartest way to go.

‘Tactical’ is the word to keep in mind when using PPC with SEO. Tactical use of PPC campaigns can direct traffic specifically. For example, say your site sells toys and you feature special stock for Halloween. The site will be optimised with keywords and tags that draw in toy buyers year-round, but a tactical PPC ad placed shortly before Halloween will draw in customers who are specifically looking for items related to this holiday. Another good example is if you decide to have a limited-time sale. SEO has the limitation that such time-specific marketing strategies don’t work as well with organic search.

PPC can also be used strategically draw attention away from any negative or undesirable results on the first page of the natural SERPs. There are times for every business when traffic is affected by bad press or a bad review that tarnishes their brand. There are a few strategies you can use to place links that are more positive within the first ten results on the search engine results page, but sponsoring a pay per click ad is a straightforward way that many companies often fail to think of.

Pay per click advertisements can also be used to get your site listed on pages your keywords would never appear. When using Adwords, it is possible to organise for Google to feature your ad on a search for your competitor’s brand. This is due to Google changing their policy on trademarks last year. Sneaky, but sound.

There are many ways in which PPC can benefit your SEO strategy. The mistake most companies make is in thinking that the two have to be separate. A PPC campaign could greatly benefit your site if used to target specific traffic. Talk to SEO Consult to find out the best way this tool can be used to support your site’s traffic.

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