Category Archives: SEO

ppc vs seo

PPC vs SEO: What Are They & How Can They Work Together?

Are you finding it hard to wrap your head around PPC and SEO? Wondering what the pros and cons of both are? Looking for someone to tell you if you should be focusing on PPC or SEO? Well, look no further, we break it all down for you in our PPC vs SEO showdown!

 

what is ppc

What is PPC?

 

PPC is the advertising which features at the top and sides of SERPs on the likes of Google and Bing. It’s called pay-per-click as you pay each time the ad is clicked on. PPC involves bidding on specific words or phrases known as keywords. For example, if you sell women’s shoes you may bid on the keyword ‘Women’s sandals’ to advertise your range of sandals. The amount you pay for a click on this ad will depend on the competition of the keyword (i.e. how many other companies are bidding on it) as well as other factors including seasonality and page quality score. Some keywords are affordable. Other keywords cost much more due to a larger number of companies bidding on them.

ppc ads

 

seo dublin

What is SEO?

 

SEO, or Search Engine Optimisation, encapsulates the many practices to increase the visibility of a website in a search engine’s unpaid results. It helps to increase the quality and quantity of traffic that reaches the website organically. SEO includes creating high-quality content that is appealing to prospective customers and using keywords related to your website in content, headings and tags. It also involves receiving external links to your website and improving technical elements including page speed, website architecture and URLs. Search engines have algorithms that determine the quality and relevance of a webpage which leads it to rank accordingly. It is important to uncover what is deemed important by search engines, keep on top of updates in algorithms and to optimise your website according to this.

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The Difference Between SEO & PPC

 

There are some clear differences between SEO & PPC.

 

  • PPC ads appear at the top of SERPs above the organic listings. Traffic from these ads have a cost per click.
  • SEO influences the positioning of organic results. Traffic that reaches your website through these organic results is technically* free. *We say technically as we must consider the cost of the work that has gone into SEO to ensure that the web page ranked high organically so that potential customers would click on the result. The traffic is free but SEO itself is not. However, in simple terms, for SEO you do not pay per click received.

 

What are the Similarities between SEO & PPC

 

Although, PPC and SEO have many differences they also share some common elements.

 

  • Both aim to drive traffic to a website, PPC does so through paid means while SEO does so through a series of practices to increase organic ranking.
  • Both PPC and SEO are driven by keywords. Keyword research is vital in a PPC strategy to identify and bid on words and phrases that have the greatest chance of leading to clicks and ultimately conversions. This is carried out by considering the search volume, competition and intent of keywords. For example ‘women’s sandals for sale’ displays a higher purchase intent than ‘reviews of women’s sandals.’ For SEO, keyword research is important to discover which words and phrases to use in titles, alt text and content to increase organic ranking. What keywords are relevant to the website and which keywords will attract a high quality and quantity of visitors. Keywords selected for both PPC and SEO help to get a targeted audience through the search engine to your website. Both PPC and SEO require careful keyword consideration and penalise ‘keyword stuffing.’

 

So, now you know what PPC and SEO are but what are their pros and cons?

 

The Pros & Cons of PPC

 

PPC Benefits:

 

  • Targeted: You can advertise directly to people who are actively seeking out the products and/or services you offer. You can also target specific languages, locations, devices and audiences through Google Ads & PPC
  • Measurable ROI: PPC has a measurable ROI, with metrics such as impressions, reach, clicks and conversions trackable through the ad platform where the PPC ad was created e.g. Google Ads.
  • Payment: You only pay when people click on the ad, hence the term pay-per-click.
  • Ad extensions: Ad extensions can be added to PPC ads including links to other relevant webpages on your site or to the phone number of your company. These increase click-through-rates, pushes competitors further down the SERPs and provides greater visibility and prominence on the SERPs.
  • Position: PPC ads most often feature above the fold so a user can see the ads at the top or to the right of the SERPs.
  • Budget: With PPC, you can decide how much you want to spend daily on your ads, leading to great budget control.

 

Pitfalls of PPC:

 

  • Expense: PPC can be expensive in some cases, for example when targeting high search volume, high competition keywords or targeting large areas.
  • Time investment: PPC will need considerable investment of time. It’s not just as easy as setting up the campaigns and leaving them to run. Bids, keywords and ad copy will require constant optimisation.
  • Skills required: successful PPC advertising requires practice. Therefore, many companies choose to use a specialist agency.

 

seo services

Pros and Cons of SEO

 

Benefits of Search Engine Optimisation (SEO):

 

  • Brand awareness: SEO practices help improve visibility in search engines for relevant, targeted keywords, increasing brand awareness among potential customers.
  • Credibility: Featuring in the organic results on SERPs can increase your credibility among potential customers. Some searchers skip PPC ads and place greater credibility on organic results.
  • No Cost Per Click: SEO is not entirely free as ranking high organically will require time and effort but there is no cost per click on a result when compared to PPC advertising. This can make SEO more cost-effective for attracting relevant traffic.
  • Customer Centric: SEO is an inbound marketing strategy. It focuses on providing relevant content to customers and considers customer’s intent and needs.

 

Pitfalls of SEO:

 

  • Time: SEO takes time and achieving high organic ranking will not happen overnight. 
  • ROI is more difficult to quantify: ROI is more difficult to calculate for SEO than PPC as the time and effort put into SEO is often not quantifiable as a monetary value.
  • Constant changes: Search engines such as Google constantly release new algorithm updates which change the ways in which they rank organic results. One change in ranking guidelines and a website which was ranking highly one day could be demoted the next day!

 

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PPC or SEO: Which one should I use?

 

This is a difficult question to answer and depends on the requirements and situation of a specific business. For example, a newly founded ecommerce store which will be competing with larger, more established retailers will likely struggle if it just relies on organic search initially. In this instance, serious consideration would need to be given to PPC advertising to drive immediate traffic. However, a more local based, small business which is specific to one area may gain greater benefit from SEO. Barrell (2019) found 72% of consumers who conducted a local search went on to visit a store within five miles of them. In order to make the decision if choosing between PPC or SEO, clear goals and a long-term strategy is needed.

 

PPC & SEO Working Together – a Match Made in Heaven!

 

Although PPC ads won’t effect a website’s organic ranking and SEO won’t impact on your PPC ads, there are many ways in which PPC and SEO can work together.

Here at Evolution Digital we would ideally recommend implementing both PPC and SEO. It is clear that both have their pros and cons but where one falls short, the other excels. Utilising PPC and SEO alongside each other allows your website to reach its full potential on the SERPs. By running PPC and implementing SEO efforts, your website will appear at the top of the SERPs as a paid ad being the first or one of the first brands seen by the searcher and then again if a searcher skips the ad section and looks at the organic rankings. Having PPC and SEO efforts running in tandem affords a brand the potential to take up a large section of the SERPs, giving you double the exposure and double the chance of clicks.

As mentioned already, keyword research and optimisation are common elements of both PPC and SEO. If PPC was implemented first, then successful keywords from this can be used for SEO purposes. If a company has been optimising their site through SEO prior to implementing PPC then they will have vast keyword data that can help inform their PPC campaign. High performing PPC ad copy can be used to inform organic content on your website. The combined use of PPC and SEO practices helps increase brand awareness. If a person has previously interacted with your PPC advertisement then they will likely remember this experience, if it was a positive one then they will be more likely to click your organic results for similar products/services they are interested in. Even if a searcher doesn’t interact with the PPC ad the ad still helps to create brand awareness. 

 

ppc and seo

 

Google found that even when companies who utilise PPC appear as the first organic result for a keyword, 50% of the clicks they get on their ads were not replaced by clicks on their organic results when the ads were not present. Showing both a PPC ad and an organic result will double the chances of clicks and conversions (Parker, 2012). 

Finally, PPC and SEO can be combined through the practice of remarketing. If a visitor to your site is gained through SEO where they consume top-of-the-funnel content or browse items but do not make a purchase, then SEO can be combined with a form of PPC advertising – remarketing. Remarketing can bring these visitors back to complete their purchase through advertising on Google’s Display network, Facebook or other third-party advertising service with specific information relevant to their previous visit to your website. As you will be specifically targeting warm leads with these ads, there is a greater chance of gaining revenue from your investment.

 

digital strategy

 

Start Your PPC and SEO with Evolution Digital

An integrated strategy using both PPC and SEO has numerous benefits and is an approach we recommend here at Evolution Digital. However, we acknowledge that the use of both strategies will not be ideal for every business. For those who want high-growth and have optimal time and resources then an integrated approach will provide faster growth and greater exposure than just using PPC or SEO in isolation.

PPC brings immediate results while SEO is a longer term strategy requiring website optimisation and content planning. If you require immediate results then start with PPC but as you scale and grow, SEO is an excellent way to grow even more and capture greater market share. At the end of the day, all digital marketing strategies are focused on what works best for you. 

Why not speak to us today so we can help you discover the digital marketing strategy that works best for your business.

 

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Google May 2020 Core Update: What You Need To Know

On May 4th, 2020, Google turned out the latest in its chain of Google Search Broad Core Updates. This is the first core update to be announced since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic. So much has changed since the outbreak of coronavirus took hold here in Ireland and beyond, including major changes in consumer & search behaviour, which is why this core update may have an even more prevalent effect on rankings than most. Some rankings may have changed already, so now is the time to check in on your analytics, and continue to monitor and note the changes with your keyword positions. Going forward, Google has suggested those with depleted rankings to “fix” & improve their content based on previous guidelines, so when the next Google Core Update is announced, you’ll hopefully find your way back up.

core update

 

What Is A Broad Core Update?

Google is constantly changing, evolving & adapting its algorithms to provide the best possible results for searchers. Minor tweaks are performed daily, but every few months or so Google releases a ‘broad core update’. This is a larger update that may noticeably change where your page ranks on the SERPs. Google ever so kindly informs us when they make these updates so that us content creators can prepare for a ‘Judgement Day’, of sorts. Essentially, Google’s goal is to give credit where credit is due. This means a reassessment of old and new content, every few months, to decide who deserves those top search spots the most. They call these reassessments – ‘Broad Core Updates’.

 

What Does This Mean For My Website? – A Content Reassessment

This means the content that you worked super hard, (or maybe not so hard?) creating, is going to be analysed by Google’s shiny, freshly-updated algorithm, and it could potentially move up or down in search results. In the blog version of the official update, Google has informed us that if you’ve dropped in the rankings, it doesn’t mean there is necessarily anything wrong with your content, you’re still following the guidelines and offering a fine piece of work. What it does mean is that the latest algorithm has assessed all the content for a particular search keyword and decided that certain results are better and deserve those tops spots.

 

Why? What Kind Of Content Should You Be Producing?

Google rewards original, informative & valuable content. Make sure that your content offers more than your competitors’. There needs to be freshness and uniqueness. Google’s core updates favour engaging, shareworthy publications. So make sure anything you release on your website is of the highest quality. Be sure to take your time and perfect your work. SEO experts should now be taking the time to inspect analytics and follow guidelines from Google based on previous outputs around topics such as BERT. Covid-19 has taken search queries and spun them like a top, with a lot of topics that were once highly sought after becoming almost irrelevant, and many others seeing a surge in search relevancy. 

 

search update google

 

 

Content Creation Tips for Core Updates

Whether you have been immediately affected or not, the best way t prepare and recover is to produce or alter old content to adhere to Google’s advice. 

 

  • Keep it quality

 

Make sure your content serves a purpose and informs. Keep it engaging and ask yourself if your content is share-worthy? 

 

  • Keep it original

 

We all know that Google is not fond of duplicate content. Keep it original and fresh. If you’re writing about something that’s already been written about, that’s fine. Ensure you write it in a personalised way and offer something extra to the table. 

 

  • Keep it tidy

 

Grammatical errors will deplete your content quality ranking. Keep headlines and content descriptions to the point and informative.

 

  • Keep it classy

 

Make sure you’re not writing content for the sole purpose of ranking in search results. Don’t keyword-stuff, write with the good intentions of informing/ educating/ assisting your readers. 

 

If you would like a more detailed list of factors that Google’s algorithm is assessing, the full Google blog-style update  includes that and more on their latest core update.

 

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6 Ways to Optimise Your Youtube Practices

Billions of people watch videos on YouTube everyday. This makes the platform the second largest search engine after Google. Videos have risen as an important part of online marketing. While many companies have come to realize the power behind videos, they don’t necessarily know how to optimize their YouTube practices or content. How can you make sure that you and your brand capture this traffic? Taking just a few extra steps to optimize your videos will give you an online advantage, making your content easier to find and to share.

1. Name Your Video with a Target Keyword

The title of your YouTube video is important as it serves as a meta tag, which tells the search engines what the web page and your video is about. Just as it is important to optimize your written content for your website, it is important to identify keywords that help to identify your video. For this reason, it is important to use keywords in your video title. When people browse or search videos on YouTube, one of the first things that they notice is the video title. The title is what determines whether or not the viewer will actually click to watch your video. As long as your keyword fits naturally in your video title, it will serve you well to optimize your title.

2. Write Your Description with SEO in Mind

The description boxes on YouTube videos can also be helpful for search engines and viewers. Description boxes can be up to 1,000 characters, however, many viewers do not read past what YouTube automatically displays for description boxes, which would be only the first two or three lines of text. Despite this, it is still beneficial to optimize your description box with keywords and phrases. An optimized description allows your video to show up in the suggested videos sidebar on the website, which helps to expose your video to more users.

3. Tag Your Video with Related Keywords

Using tags on your video allows both YouTube and your viewers to know what the content and context of your video is. By using relevant tags, YouTube can place your video in the suggested videos sidebar as a similar video, in turn, broadening the reach of your video. Tags should be a mix of the most important keywords and more general keywords. However, it is important to avoid using irrelevant tags as Google may penalize users who do.

4. Track the Right Metrics

YouTube Analytics allows you to see your greatest areas of success as well as areas that need improvement. The three main reports that YouTube provides are Revenue Reports, Watch Time Reports, and Interaction Reports. Other important analytics to keep track of include audience retention, demographics, playback locations, traffic sources and devices. These analytics will

allow you to see everything from what location and devices people are watching your videos from, to how people discover your videos and when they stop watching them.

5. Encourage Embedding

If someone embeds your video on their site, it allows your video’s rating to be boosted in search engine results. If you embed your video on your own website, you also give your site the opportunity for increased traffic by giving search engines added content to rank. Embedding your videos on a website acts like a back link, enabling your videos to be placed in search engine results, resulting in more views. It also helps you reach a wider, more diverse audience apart from just your usual YouTube audience.

6. Encourage Your Viewers to Like and Share Your Videos

The most important interaction metrics that YouTube shows you on your interaction reports include Subscriber numbers, Likes and Dislikes, Comments and Sharing. These metrics show you how viewers feel about your videos and give you the opportunity to interact and form relationships with your subscribers. It is beneficial to promote your videos on your other social media platforms, like Facebook or Twitter, if you have any. It is also important to encourage your viewers to comment, share and leave a Like on your video. Similar to Views, the more Likes that you have on your video, the better your YouTube SEO ranking will be.

Having a strong YouTube presence can have a huge impact on your brand reach by giving you the opportunity to engage with the billions of users on the platform. Once people watch your video, you have the chance to expand your communication with them by encouraging them to go to your company website, ultimately leading to conversions. By optimizing your YouTube practices, you can take full advantage of the branding power that the platform provides.

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The 2016 SEO Checklist for small businesses

SEO checklist for small businesses

We all know small businesses cannot waste time and budget. This short 2016 SEO checklist can help any small business by improving your website optimisation and drive leads from organic traffic. Download the SEO checklist for small businesses in PDF here.

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Digital Marketing

Your Website – What NOT to do!

Anyone who knows anything about digital marketing will be well aware that keeping Google HAPPY is one of the main things that your day-to-day work will revolve around. One type of traffic that every website owner wants more of is Organic Traffic. Why? Because it’s free!! However, getting Organic Traffic is not as simple as ticking a few of Google’s rules off your fingers…if it was our lives would be a lot easier!

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