Many marketing strategies employ both search engine optimization and pay-per-click tactics. While they may seem entirely distinct at first glance, SEO and PPC marketing can actually complement each other. Together, these two valuable tools can offer more robust insights when integrated than when operating separately.
If you’re looking to make the most of your SEO and PPC campaigns, follow this advice from the experts of Forbes Agency Council. Below, 15 members share how the two strategies go hand in hand, and how you can best capitalize on the strengths of both.
Forbes Agency Council members share smart ways to integrate SEO And PPC marketing strategies.
Photos courtesy of the individual members.1. Test And Identify Target Keywords With PPC
Search users have great intent, so using PPC to test and measure in the short term to identify keyword opportunities and SEO to optimize content for those high-value keywords in the long term can reduce your overall cost-per-acquisition over time. - Douglas Karr, Highbridge
2. Use PPC To Control Your SEO Narrative
Proper SEO has a structural responsibility to provide relevant and accurate information about your brand with a long-term strategy for organizing and categorizing your information sitewide. PPC is a great complement to SEO to control the narrative about your brand from every angle and in a much more aggressive and headline-based manner. - Patrick Haddad, Oopgo, Inc.
3. Identify Top Keywords For PPC Bidding
We believe SEO and PPC tactics need to work hand in hand. Search engine visibility audit and keyword research sessions can identify the top searches for your industry, which can then be used for bidding in your PPC campaigns—and vice versa when you can use your paid search data to identify topics to write more SEO content about. - Dean Trevelino, Trevelino/Keller
4. Combine Tactics To Increase Site Visibility
Combining SEO and PPC tactics can help you rank better on Google and thus improve your site’s visibility. Here’s one simple example: PPC ads appear at the top of search results, so when you run them, people see them first whenever they search for your product or service. And if you rank high for the same keyword already, users will also see your company in the organic search results. - Solomon Thimothy, OneIMS
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5. Explore Both Channels To Maximize Keyword Success
SEO insights can be used to build out search engine marketing campaigns, especially for first-time advertisers. Keyword Hero unlocks SEO keyword conversion data that helps us avoid poorly converting keywords. We also use SEO to target keywords that offer volume but are unprofitable for paid search. And, conversely, PPC can be used for terms that are profitable but rank poorly in organic results. Both channels matter! - Antonella Pisani, Eyeful Media
6. Claim Expensive PPC Keywords Via Organic SEO
The keyword metrics from both SEO and PPC can be very helpful to help inform potential success in the other platforms. If you have high-value keywords in PPC that are also very expensive, work on your organic SEO to claim those terms. - Jason Wilson, Strategy, LLC
7. Strive For Keyword Symbiosis
Keep identifying the keywords that have provided profitable results in conversions (not leads). Sharing that information between SEO and PPC teams will directly impact ROI positively for both of the marketing channels. - Ajay Prasad, GMR Web Team
8. Preserve PPC Rankings With SEO Strategy
While SEO and PPC are very different, and even rivals at times, the goal is the same: be found in Google search for specific search terms. SEO and PPC complement each other to maximize your online visibility. PPC placement is lost the moment ads are turned off, so to preserve a successful PPC keyword ranking, work on ranking for those same keywords with your SEO strategy. - Chelimar Miranda, Medical Advantage
9. Execute A Singular Strategy Across Multiple Channels
While SEO and PPC require different skill sets and can sit with separate teams, they need to be driven by the same strategy. Have one strategy executed across multiple channels: a clear objective (month, quarter, etc.) carried into strategy (key words, ideas, etc.) and review of the consolidated results. Start at the top, align reporting to the top and then adjust tactically across channels. - Mark Skroch, BCV Social
10. Analyze Google Search Console To Inform Both Strategies
Google Search Console is one way to inform your PPC strategy and ensure the SEO strategies you’re already employing are working. We start with an analysis of the GSC results as part of our onboarding audit—most clients discover words and phrases they don’t realize are associated with their brand. We use this to set a benchmark and to gauge success over time. - Vix Reitano, Agency 6B
11. Build Your SEO And Quality Score To Lower PPC Costs
Both PPC and SEO are targeting people who are searching for answers to their questions. If you are in both places, you own more of the real estate on that question. Making sure your website has the information for that subject matter builds the SEO and helps with the quality score, which lowers the PPC costs. - Chris Siebeneck, SEO Werkz
12. Use Data From One To Enhance The Quality Of The Other
SEO and PPC are two sides of the same coin—they both measure up to the quality of the client’s website, content and UX. We use data collected via PPC campaigns to enhance content optimization and relevance. On the flip side, SEO improvements boost the quality of ads, thereby decreasing ad spending. - Dejan Popovic, PopArt Studio
13. Identify SEO Keywords, Then Target Them Via PPC
A solid SEO campaign will help you identify the best keywords and keyword phrases, which you can use to target your audience via your PPC ads with laser precision. Keywords are a key link. - Christopher Tompkins, The Go! Agency
14. Assess SEO Trends To Identify (And Exclude) PPC Keywords
Together, SEO and PPC help websites climb to the top of SERPs. Both rely on keyword research that reveals profitable keywords. Use your SEO trends to identify keywords for advertisers to target, while noting unhelpful ones to exclude from your PPC campaign. - Hannah Trivette, NUVEW Web Solutions
15. Use Technical SEO To Optimize And Support PPC
Technical SEO optimizations are often the most powerful optimizations an advertiser can make to support a PPC campaign. Often, improving site speed is thought of as an SEO tactic to increase ranking, but it’s also a huge factor in quality score and conversion rates for paid campaigns. Users aren’t willing to wait around for a page to load just because they came through a paid ad. - Donna Robinson, Collective Measures
