Making SEO and Pay Per Click Work Together

Web site owners may work on SEO to rank organically or they may purchase ads, but they often don’t do both at the same time. The fact is, it’s not an either/or proposition. PPC ads can work in conjunction with SEO to complement and strengthen your search marketing plan.

Remember that with SEO, ranking is not the end goal — what you’re really after is traffic to your site that leads to conversions. And PPC ads provide another way to lay out a welcome mat that brings many new visitors to your site. At this point, it’s a good idea to evaluate your home front. You need to make sure your web site is prepared to receive those visitors.

As we mention in the preceding section, pay careful attention to your landing pages. They provide the first impression of your site for everyone who clicks one of your ads. Each landing page needs to look appropriately clean and professional (for your subject and industry). Every industry is different, so make sure you adhere to your industry’s standards. What might look professional in one company might be inappropriate for another. More importantly, your landing page needs to meet the visitor’s expectations because that person is going to decide in about two seconds whether your web page has what they’re looking for. Put yourself in the user’s shoes, and make sure that the page delivers what the user is after, based on the search query a....