SEO and PPC: two of the most powerful search marketing strategies for driving traffic to your website and growing revenue. But in the battle for first position in the SERPs, can these two approaches actually work together?
After all, one focuses on building long-term organic visibility, while the other uses paid advertising to put your business right at the top of relevant search results. The truth is, it’s not an either/or situation.
Despite their differences, both are designed to drive real results for your brand and your bottom line. So, if you’ve been treating SEO and PPC as separate silos, you’re missing out on a golden opportunity.
In this post, we’re going to unpack how they complement each other, how you can integrate them into your marketing plan, and why doing so could be the best move your business makes.
An overview of SEO and PPC
Before we explore how these two strategies can work in harmony, let’s break them down individually.
What is SEO?
SEO stands for ‘Search Engine Optimisation’ and is the process of improving your website’s visibility in organic search engine results. The goal? To appear on the first page of Google, ideally in the very top positions, when someone searches for keywords related to your business offerings.
It involves a mix of on-page SEO tactics (keyword optimisation, meta-data, content creation) and off-page SEO efforts (backlinks, domain authority building, and social sharing). It also includes technical SEO aspects such as speed, mobile responsiveness, and site architecture to ensure search engines crawl, index and rank your site.
The advantages of SEO
- Increased organic traffic: Once your site ranks well, you can continue attracting organic traffic without constantly paying for clicks. Think of it as planting a seed that keeps growing.
- Builds trust and credibility: If you rank high in the organic search results (especially on page one), this signals to users that your brand is reputable, authoritative, and worth their time.
- Cost-effective over time: While there’s an upfront investment in high-quality content, optimisation, and strategy, SEO doesn’t require ongoing ad spend, making it more budget-friendly.
- Greater visibility for a wide range of keywords: With a solid SEO strategy, your site can rank for multiple relevant search terms, increasing the chances of reaching different segments of your target audience.
The challenges of SEO
- Results take time (3–6 months on average): Improving rankings, authority, and organic traffic doesn’t happen overnight. SEO is a long game that requires patience and consistency to see meaningful results.
- High competition: Depending on your industry and target keywords, the competition for top rankings can be fierce, especially if you’re up against big players with established websites and strong backlink profiles.
- Constant algorithm updates from search engines: Google, Bing, and other search engines are always tweaking their algorithms, which means what worked last year (or even last month) might not be effective today. Staying on top of these changes is essential for continuous improvement.
What’s trending in SEO?
Today, the way people search online is becoming more diverse than ever before. It’s not just about typing a query into Google anymore. Users are turning to platforms like TikTok, Instagram, and even voice assistants to discover information, products, and services, which now makes up 20% of all mobile queries.
At the same time, search engines themselves are evolving. With the rise of Google’s AI Overviews, people are now getting quick, summarised answers right at the top of the results page, often without needing to click through to a website at all. It’s certainly a challenge, but also an exciting opportunity to get creative with your marketing strategy.
What is PPC?
On the flip side, PPC (pay-per-click) advertising is a model where advertisers pay a fee each time their ad is clicked. The most common platform is Google Ads, where businesses bid on keywords to appear in the sponsored results section at the top of the SERPs.
To create an ad campaign, you can target specific keywords. Then, set your bid objectives and limitations (including how much you’re willing to pay per click), define your audience, write your ad copy, and launch. Your ad goes live almost immediately and can start generating clicks and leads within hours. PPC ads can take various forms, including text ads, image ads, video ads, and more.
The advantages of PPC
- Get immediate results: PPC can deliver traffic and visibility instantly once a campaign goes live. This allows for quick learnings while driving potential customers to your website.
- Full control over budget and targeting: You set the budget, choose your audience (including their demographics, interests, location, device, etc.) and decide where and when your ads appear, giving you total control over how your money is spent.
- Highly measurable: With robust analytics capabilities, you can easily track everything, from impressions and clicks to conversions and cost per acquisition, making it easy to see what’s working and adjust in real-time.
- Ideal for time-sensitive campaigns: If you’re running a promotion, product launch, or event, PPC is perfect for ensuring your message reaches your desired audience when time is of the essence.
The challenges of PPC
- Can be expensive: Clicks can add up fast, and in high-demand niches, bidding wars can drive costs through the roof! As a result, it can be difficult to stay within budget and potentially lead to lower ROI if not managed properly.
- Requires constant monitoring: To ensure your PPC campaign is performing effectively, advertisers need to regularly tweak keywords, ad copy, bids, and targeting, based on key performance indicators.
- Potential for click fraud: Competitors or bots may click your ads without genuine interest, which wastes your ad spend and skews performance data. This can lead to a poor customer experience and harm your reputation.
What’s trending in PPC?
Just like SEO, PPC is evolving fast. One major trend is the growing use of automation and AI to optimise ads—think smart bidding, responsive search ads, and predictive targeting. Google’s Performance Max campaigns are a big part of this shift, using audience signals instead of traditional keyword bidding to show ads across Search, YouTube, Gmail, and more.
What’s more, improved performance max tools like negative keywords and asset group insights are streamlining campaign management. In fact, 16% of marketers say managing PPC is easier today than two years ago as a result. Overall, it means less guesswork and more time to focus on creating smarter, more cohesive campaigns.
The benefits of combining SEO and PPC
Clearly, SEO and PPC each bring their own unique strengths to the table, but the real question is: “Why combine these two strategies?” From improved visibility and targeting to increased brand awareness and stronger content performance, there are plenty of reasons why a holistic marketing approach is the way to go.
Increased visibility in search results
Firstly, combining SEO and PPC gives you double the exposure in both the paid and organic sections of the SERPs. For example, if your business appears in the top paid ad spot and the first page of the organic search results for a popular keyword, users are more likely to notice and click on your brand, leading to higher click-through rates.
Improved brand awareness
Consequently, appearing in both organic and paid listings makes your brand look more authoritative and trustworthy in the eyes of users. It signals to customers that you’re not just a fleeting presence, but a well-established business and thought-leader in the space.
Shared keyword and conversion data
In marketing, data is our bread and butter. One major benefit of integrating SEO and PPC is the ability to identify which keywords convert best. If certain phrases are generating leads in PPC, you can focus on those in your SEO strategy to boost organic traffic (and vice versa) and discover untapped opportunities across both channels.
Better targeting and remarketing
With PPC, you can test headlines, ad copy, and calls to action (CTAs) in real time. SEO doesn’t offer that luxury. But combining the two allows for better audience understanding, remarketing campaigns, and content optimisation based on user behaviour and search trends.
Filling gaps across the funnel
SEO and PPC complement each other by covering gaps that the other can’t. Paid excels at targeting broad, competitive keywords early in the customer’s journey, even in crowded spaces where organic rankings are difficult to achieve. Meanwhile, SEO focuses on niche, lower-competition terms that are costly to bid on. Together, they maximise visibility and minimise wasted spend across different stages of the funnel.
Enhanced content strategy
Finally, a combined SEO and PPC strategy allows you to create more effective content. Let’s say your PPC ads for “eco-friendly skincare” are driving conversions. With these insights, you can then refine your SEO content strategy by optimising your product pages and create in-depth blog posts about sustainable beauty, all while ensuring they’re SEO-friendly.
How to integrate SEO and PPC successfully
In theory, having SEO and PPC work together is a fantastic idea, but now it’s time to put it into practice. Here are six ways to successfully integrate SEO and PPC to maximise your results and make the most out of both worlds.
1. Align your goals
Are you focused on brand awareness, lead generation, or sales? These are the kind of questions you need to think about beforehand. Whether you’re running a local SEO campaign or a nationwide product launch, aligning your goals ensures that your SEO and PPC strategies/teams are working toward the same outcome.
For instance, if your aim is to drive more traffic to a specific product page, both SEO and PPC efforts should work together to make that page as visible as possible through keyword targeting, high-quality content, and optimised ad placements.
2. Identify and target high-value keywords
Speaking of, use PPC to test a wide range of keywords, especially for competitive terms that are harder to rank for organically. This gives you quick insights into what’s driving CTR and conversions in the short term, increasing your chances of capturing traffic from all angles.
For example, if “best vegan protein powder” performs well in PPC, it’s worth incorporating that keyword into your SEO strategy for long-term visibility. On the other hand, if your SEO tools uncover new low-cost, valuable keywords, you can run targeted PPC campaigns to validate them.
3. Optimise landing pages for both channels
Your landing pages should be optimised to work seamlessly with both SEO and PPC. Whether you’re running ads for a special promotion on luxury watches or last-minute city break deals, the corresponding landing page needs to contain keyword-rich content, fast-loading times and clear calls to action.
In other words, don’t send paid traffic to weak pages, as it will cost you through higher bounce rates, lower Quality Scores, and ultimately, wasted ad spend that could’ve driven better results with stronger, optimised content.
4. Use technical SEO to support PPC efforts
Technical SEO plays a huge role in supporting your PPC campaigns. Clean URLs, fast load times, and a mobile-friendly experience, all these elements can improve your Quality Score in Google Ads, potentially lowering your cost-per-click.
Additionally, having structured data and well-optimised meta-data can make your site more crawlable. By addressing technical SEO issues, you can enhance the overall effectiveness of both your paid and organic efforts, providing a smoother experience for both users and search engines.
5. Run A/B tests
Let’s face it, SEO and PPC often involve a bit of trial and error. What works brilliantly for one business might fall flat for another. That’s where A/B testing comes in. It’s an excellent way to continuously improve both your SEO and PPC campaigns.
Try testing different ad copy, headlines, or landing page layouts to see which variations lead to higher engagement and conversions. Over time, these insights help you fine-tune your brand messaging and make more informed decisions, leading to stronger performance in both SEO and PPC.
6. Perform cross-channel reporting and share results
Finally, to truly integrate SEO and PPC successfully, it’s important to understand how they impact each other through cross-channel reporting. Paid traffic might boost organic rankings, whereas organic traffic can help lower your ad spend.
Use tools like Google Analytics and Search Console for a fuller picture. and share these insights across your marketing team. When done right, positive results show that your SEO and PPC efforts are aligned, and the insights you gather will help shape future campaigns, driving even better performance overall.
Two strategies, one powerful campaign!
In a nutshell, SEO and PPC are teammates. When you bring them together, you create a full-funnel marketing strategy that’s almost impossible to beat.
SEO is the marathon runner which builds a strong foundation and pays off in the long run. Meanwhile, PPC is the sprinter, delivering quicker wins and gathering valuable data in real time.
Integrating SEO and PPC doesn’t just increase traffic; it improves the quality of your traffic, reduces wasted spend, and gives you a competitive edge.
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