I’ve lived in the SEO bubble for a couple of years now but the world of paid search has always interested me. A couple of months ago, our PPC Team Leader asked if there were any keen beans who wanted to study for the Google AdWords qualification, so what better way of finding out more about paid search? I spent a few weeks studying for the Google AdWords qualification, which I’ve now passed, and I’m happy to say I have a much better understanding of PPC now.
An introduction
A lot has already been said about the differences between the two search siblings so I won’t go into that, but what about the similarities and learnings we can take from each other?
Working together on landing pages
Many PPC campaigns have specific landing pages, and these aren’t indexed for organic search. For SEO, your key landing pages tend to be the homepage or a core page, such as a location page for a hotel chain. There’s going to be navigation menus, images and copy all vying for the user’s attention, but that doesn’t mean your traffic won’t convert. Speak to your PPC team to gain insights into their landing pages, as they’re constantly testing them. What works? What doesn’t work? What can we incorporate into our organic landing pages? And so on.
Some clients won’t have specific landing pages, so your PPC team will use an appropriate web page instead. This is where the two search channels should work closely together on the copy, overall messaging and placement of the CTAs to help guide users through the conversion funnel.
Consider your messaging
If you’re running both an SEO and PPC campaign, make sure that your ad copy and meta data are aligned, along with the actual site content. Your PPC team will be regularly adjusting ad copy and comparing which ads drive the highest conversion and click-throughs, so there’s always learnings that can be applied to your meta data.
We’re actually not that different
As search experts, it’s up to us to be present within the SERPs and send customers to our client’s sites. Our goals are the same (for the most part), and that needs to be reflected in our marketing activity. It’s easy to see something unrelated to your channel and think, “well, that’s nothing to do with me, so what’s the point?” – but if there are opportunities for your client, you should be proactive in introducing them.