Selecting keywords for PPC or SEO: is there a difference?

In the last article the differences between Pay Per Click (PPC) and Search Engine Optimization (SEO) were discussed. That article was a direct result of many people’s comments related to keyword selection and some possible confusion between the two types of search medium. This article takes the difference to a further dimension and studies whether there is a difference between the keyword selection processes themselves.

The underlying concept of keyword selection, regardless of the type of search, is relevance. It doesn’t matter if the keyword is being bought via PPC or being optimized for within code changes of a website - if it’s not relevant to the subject matter of the website it is, to be blunt, worthless. Even if the goal of the search marketing strategy is to only drive traffic, selecting keywords that are searched for a great deal but aren’t relevant to the site will result in a number of impressions and clicks, but little value derived, as those searchers will be frustrated by not finding a relevant answer to their query. The trick, therefore, is to match your strategy with the ‘voice’ of your audience, which, in the search marketing industry, are relevant keywords.

PPC is the most flexible medium as it allows for guaranteed placement without requiring any website changes. The disadvantage is cost, each click has a monetary cost associated with it and as a result finding the right relevant terms is crucial to return on investment (ROI) success. And the clue to successful selection with PPC is right there: can the cost of the keyword selected be justified? Keyword selection should match objective. For example, if a keyword or selection of keywords in a group or (portfolio) produces the right return then they work well equaling good selection. However, if a keyword or group produces poor results this is most probably a result of poor keyword selection. One caveat to use is that this last statement takes into account that the all ‘other’ elements resulting in justifiable conversion, such as a well performing website or a sound offer, are strong. The conclusion is that any keyword can be selected if it performs to the desired level (based upon your objective).

With SEO the selection of keywords involves a different process. The inherent benefit of SEO is that clicks are free and the click potential, as discussed in the last article, is almost double that of PPC. The challenge is that there isn’t a clear-cut mechanism to rank No.1 on an important keyword. A general rule to follow is that the search engines are trying to determine which website is the most relevant answer for a query. For example, if you search on the term Cadillac, you will find that Google rightly returns the official Cadillac Website in position one. As a small dealership, you may wish to optimize your website so that you overtake the lead position. However, it is very unlikely that the search engines will ever list you highly for that term.. It is fair to say that the most generic or highly searched for phrases are most probably the most desired keywords for any company. Your goal should be to choose the most generic and highly searched on terms for which your website might in fact been the most relevant for. Often, these keywords are relevant to the subject matter of the website page and will drive a great deal of traffic if a high ranking is obtained. Similarly, specific low volume search terms are often so detailed and relevant to a topic that fewer companies are optimizing for that term, as it often has no contextual relevance. The final variable is to understand that it takes a great deal of resource to optimize a website for particular phrases. It would make no sense to spend countless hours to change the code on a website for very specific keywords that are searched for less than 10 times a month; there just wouldn’t be enough volume for success. As a result the selection process is done with all of these variables in mind.

Keywords must have a decent amount of search volume, yet at the same time, can’t be the most competitive terms as the probability of getting a good ranking is very low. For savvy search marketers the analysis of this data is done by referring to what is known as a Keyword Efficiency Indicator (KEI) score. The KEI score evaluates the value of searched keywords in relation to the number of companies that are listed in the search results, hence, the better the KEI score the more attractive the word. Explaining this in slightly more detail; if a keyword is searched for 100 times and has 100,000 companies listed then the KEI score will be very low and the keyword unattractive; there are just too many companies competing for the same searcher. If, however, the keyword is searched for 100,000 times and there are 100 companies with listings then the KEI score will be high and the keyword attractive. Finding a good selection of relevant keywords with a good KEI score is the most probable way of selecting good keywords for SEO.

The last question to address is often the most common one; when implementing a search marketing strategy should PPC be used, SEO, both or a selection from each? The answer, as always, it depends. Using both and optimizing for the same keywords in PPC and SEO can lift Click Through Rates (CTR) by 3x. For the majority of users who can’t afford or don’t have the resource to do both it really depends upon objective. If a remit from management, or for branding purposes has demanded a No.1 position on a keyword, no matter what, then PPC is the answer as it’s guaranteed. If good rankings on relevant keywords, that matches a driven objective to increase rankings and the performance of the website, then SEO could be the way. In most instances a good combination of both SEO and PPC is the most efficient way forward, with substitutions on some keywords being made by each search discipline to give an overall coverage.

Special thanks go to Vic Odryna, CEO of Inceptor and Bill Weylman, SEO Expert for Inceptor, for their help in writing this article.

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