Does PPC come under SEO?

The short answer is no, PPC does not come under SEO. However, if you see both concepts and their roles within digital marketing, you can see why they are often discussed together and how they work great together.

Understanding SEO:

SEO helps improve a website's visibility and ranking on search engine results pages without direct payment for placement. The main goal of SEO is to attract organic traffic through high-quality content, strategic use of keywords, and various technical enhancements. Here are some core components of SEO:

1. Keyword Research: Identifying the terms and phrases that potential visitors use when searching for content related to your website.

2. On-Page SEO: Optimising each website page to rank higher and attract more traffic, especially relevant audiences. This involves working on elements like title tags, meta descriptions of HTML, headings, content optimisation, etc.

3. Technical SEO: It involves working on the backend structure of a website to build up its readability score and indexing by search engines. This includes site speed, mobile-friendliness, and secure connections (HTTPS).

4. Content Creation: Developing valuable, relevant, and consistent content to attract and retain a clearly defined audience.

5. Link Building: Getting high-quality backlinks from other websites, should be a complementary business to improve your website's authority and trustworthiness.

Understanding PPC:

PPC is very different from SEO, if you are not getting any traffic, you can post your advertisement online and get clicks. So, you actually pay your visitors to click on your website, Key elements of PPC include:

1. Keyword Bidding: Each Advertiser bids on keywords they want to put their ads on Google. If that keyword has more competition you will have to pay more for each click.

2. Ad Creation: You create very good and compelling advertisements that appear on search engine results pages, websites, or social media platforms for the keyword you decide.

3. Targeting: If you just post for everyone you might not make your advertisement effective, so it is vital to find your audience and segment them accordingly based on their demographics, location, interests, and more to ensure the ads reach the right people.

4. Budget Management: You need to pay for ads and therefore you should make your budget accordingly otherwise, you may spend more money than required.

5. Performance Tracking: Similar to all digital marketing activities, you need to monitor your advertisement performance so that you can evaluate how successful your campaign is and if necessary, adjust it accordingly.

Comparing SEO and PPC:

1. Cost: SEO aims for organic growth and generally incurs costs related to content creation, technical adjustments, and time investment. PPC involves direct payment for ad placements, where costs can quickly add up depending on the competitiveness of the keywords.

2. Time Frame: SEO is a long-term strategy that can take months to yield significant results, but its effects are more enduring. PPC provides immediate visibility and traffic, making it ideal for time-sensitive campaigns.

3. Sustainability: Once established, SEO can provide a steady stream of organic traffic with less ongoing cost. PPC requires continuous investment to maintain traffic flow.

4. Control: PPC offers more precise control over targeting and budgeting, while SEO is subject to changes in search engine algorithms and the competitive landscape.

Synergy Between SEO and PPC:

While PPC does not fall under SEO, the two strategies can work together and give really good results and improve your overall digital marketing efforts:

1. Keyword Insights: Analytics gained from PPC campaigns can indicate the contribution of each keyword and phrase used in the campaigns to the overall success of the SEO campaign.

2. Increased Visibility: A website that appears in both organic and paid search results can completely dominate the SERP, thus increasing its credibility and boosting click-through rates.

3. Testing Ground: PPC helps quick testing of ads and landing pages, which are key for SEO content and design improvements.

4. Comprehensive Coverage: PPC helps with short-term targets and SEO helps achieve long-term targets. If you merge both it becomes more feasible to reach an audience.

Conclusion:

SEO and PPC are both great and they serve the same purpose but in different ways. They are a very important part of digital marketing activities. In both ways, you can reach your audience and make them engaged through advertisement or good optimisation of the website. If you use them effectively, you can reach your target audience. Just remember to use them properly to get the intended result.