Top 10 Reasons PPC is better than SEO

Posted: August 17, 2006

There is always a huge debate about which is better: Pay Per Click or Search Engine Optimization. To help fuel the fires, here’s the top 10 reasons PPC is better than SEO.

1. You optimize a page for conversions, not search engines.

2. You don’t fear ‘The Dance’.

3. You determine the point of entry for your website.

4. You can easily change positions on a search results page.

5. You only pay for visitors.

6. You can easily test multiple offers.

7. Search engines offer support to help your ads rank and preform better.

8. You can use entirely flash websites (but only if you really want to).

9. Search engines treat you as partners, not infiltrators.

10. Great Swag.

Related Information:

« Use Day Parting to Increase Your Business

Top 10 Ways One Pays For Free Traffic (i.e. SEO) »

Written by Brad Geddes aka eWhisper · Filed Under Blog

Comments

13 Responses to “Top 10 Reasons PPC is better than SEO”

» Top 11 Reasons SEO is Better Than PPC - Stuntdubl - SEO Consultant on August 17th, 2006 1:41 pm

[...] I stopped by my buddy Brad “Ewhisper” Geddes site today to send him a funny list of dumb PPC ads, and noticed his Top 10 reasons PPC is better than SEO. Of course, I had to add a little one-upsmanship. In reality, both SEO AND PPC are essential to online marketing visibility, and they complement each other nicely, but I gotta have some fun with ol’ Ewhisper, and, like him, I tend to be a little bit biased. [...]
Dan on August 18th, 2006 4:06 am

Im not so sure I agree with points 1 & 2. They certainly used to be the case but with the introduction of more quality related variables by Google I think this is no longer the case for a fair few advertisers. You certainly concentrate on conversions but now you have additional factors to consider such as perceived relevance when working with Google. Many wont have yet but I expect this to continue on a wider scale in future.
Nilhan on August 18th, 2006 7:46 am

Have to agree with Dan - you’re going to have to optimise for relevance - good ol seo
darren on August 18th, 2006 12:32 pm

nice list Brad, and especially #10. I never got a google fridge from Cutts and co.

How about easier to forecast? For large-ish companies this can be really important. Forecasting SEO changes and the extent of gain from SEO projects tends to be quite a bit more difficult than PPC.
Top 10 Ways One Pays For Free Traffic (i.e. SEO) » bgtheory.com on August 18th, 2006 12:35 pm

[...] This was originally going to be a follow up to ‘Top 10 Ways PPC is Better Than SEO‘ with my own post on how SEO is better than PPC; however, Todd beat me to it with his ‘Top 11 Reasons SEO is Better Than PPC‘. Therefore, let’s shift the focus to how one pays for SEO. [...]
Brad Geddes aka eWhisper on August 19th, 2006 9:21 am

Regarding the Fridge - what’s required to receive one is this:

Single account: 1 million clicks
MCC: 3 million clicks
Brad Geddes aka eWhisper on August 19th, 2006 9:25 am

Regarding points 1 & 2 — most people don’t fear the PPC dance. I looked through over 500 accounts under management and not a single one was touched by the quality score update.

However, they were all for legit businesses.

I did see some accounts which were hit hard, hence the AdWords Case Study writeup: http://www.bgtheory.com/blog/google-adwords-case-study-improving-landing-page-quality/ which targeted a lead gen site.
Brad Geddes aka eWhisper on August 19th, 2006 9:27 am

Darren -

That’s a great point, should have made the list. Especially with Y Panama launching a forecasting tool; it will be easier to forecast just via APIs.
twodotfive on August 19th, 2006 1:01 pm

Top 6 Reasons why PPC is Better if Used With SEO…

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Brandon Hopkins on August 20th, 2006 1:27 pm

The benefits are endless. The only downside is the fact that you do pay considerably more in the long run. I have a site ranked #1 for a large term that I used to pay between $400-800 a month to rank well and now I get twice as much traffic for about $200 a month (link development). I still agree that PPC is better than SEO in the long and short run.
PayPerClickIQ on August 20th, 2006 2:10 pm

Creating Unique Landing Pages for PPC and SEO…

When reading through Brad Geddes post about PPC vs SEO I thought I would write about the differences that I have used that have been successful for me.Obviously for SEO there are a million blogs that talk about SEO and……
The Lame PPC and SEO Debate » Online Marketing Blog on December 19th, 2006 11:05 am

[...] You don’t have to look far to find commentary about PPC vs SEO, some good humor and lively debate. [...]
The Link Baiting Playbook: Hooks Revisited - Stuntdubl - Search Engine Marketing Consultant on January 12th, 2007 8:33 pm

[...] Top 10 reasons PPC is better than SEO vs. Top 11 reasons SEO is better than PPC [...]