When it comes to Digital Brands are always confused about which is better: Search Engine Optimization (SEO) or Pay-per-click (PPC)? One is not better than the other but still, all businesses tend to compare the two when trying to determine their digital marketing strategy. Now the way to decide which is better for your brand is based on your goals and KPIs. Let’s look at the differences between the two and most importantly which has more weightage and benefit for company-specific goals. SEO is the process by which your website’s visibility can be enhanced and help to rank higher on search engines (Google, Bing, Yahoo, and )  through organic traffic. PPC is a type of search engine marketing (SEM) where the organization pays a platform like Google or Facebook for each click that a visitor makes on an ad. 

The difference between organic and paid search is the cost. The organic search focuses on rankings that are unpaid whereas PPC is related to paid ranking. Companies tend to use SEO to optimize the visibility of their site or rankings when searched for. Whereas paid search allows users to pay for a spot in the search results. Investing in SEO is a smart decision as it increases the likelihood of your brand being ranked higher on any search engine. There are several benefits of SEO such as; being less expensive for the long term, keeping the traffic consistent, building trust and credibility, helping with higher ROI in the long term and so many more benefits. However, there are downsides to organic search such as longer time to produce results, not effective for time-limited content, and less control over performance. 

On the other hand, we have PPC ads and each company has different strategies for how they implement these PPC in their digital marketing efforts. For example, several companies only run these paid search ads for time-sensitive marketing campaigns that have a start and end date. The cost of these ads varies based on the industry and the amount the keyword that you are bidding on has been searched. This method of digital marketing can help a business quickly stay on top of this competitive market and in front of its target consumers. Other advantages of PPC include these ads appearing above organic search ads, and they allow you to choose your target audience. But like any strategy, there are disadvantages for PPC ads too such as, being expensive, lower profit margins, and more. 

Now coming back to the main question as to which is better for your brand and marketing efforts, then it solely depends on the situation and goals of your brand. Both marketing strategies are important for your brand and a combination of both should be implemented. It’s all about choosing when.