The recurring question is: should I use PPC or SEO to gain visibility on the web? The obvious answer is that you need to deploy both PPC and SEO strategies to achieve that goal — and even more so these days.
Google Eye Tracking Comparison 2014 vs 2005
At the end of last year, SEO experts at Moz wrote that “where scanning was once more horizontal, the adoption of mobile devices over the past 9 years has habitually conditioned searchers to now scan more vertically—they are looking for the fastest path to the desired content, and, compared to 9 years ago, they are viewing more search results listings during a single session and spending less time viewing each one.”
Source: MOZ.COM
To cut a long story short, it has become less important to be at the top of the rankings.
Based on these elements, SEO & PPC together allow to:
- maximise site visibility in the SERPs
- refine site keywords and content strategy
- target users based on location, devices and other variables
However, it’s worth considering that if your budget is limited and you are looking for long-term results, PPC will provide very little help. In fact, PPC campaigns could turn out to be incredibly expensive (due to the media spend and constant optimisation required to the paid account) and the contribution in terms of traffic will only last during the campaign.
In this case, SEO alone is a possible, alternative solution.