{"id":2872,"date":"2017-05-16T11:39:38","date_gmt":"2017-05-16T18:39:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.canirank.com\/blog\/?p=2872"},"modified":"2020-11-25T10:49:59","modified_gmt":"2020-11-25T18:49:59","slug":"startup-seo-vs-ppc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.canirank.com\/blog\/startup-seo-vs-ppc\/","title":{"rendered":"Startups and Search Engines: SEO vs PPC"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Being found easily online is critical for a startup. With over 40,000 searches per second on Google, high search engine rankings are especially important to generating website traffic. Startups have two options available to take advantage of keywords related to their product or service, either <\/span><b>pay per click advertising<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> or <\/span><b>search engine optimization<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. Let\u2019s take a look at the differences between SEO and PPC of these possibilities and how to choose the best one.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2>The Difference Between SEO and PPC<\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It can often be difficult for startups to balance out the pros and cons of SEO vs PPC, and to choose where to focus their budget and energy.<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Which one gives a better return on investment?<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Which gives faster results?<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Do consumers trust one over the other?<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>What is Pay-Per-Click (PPC)?<\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Pay-Per-Click advertising, or PPC, is any type of online marketing where advertisers pay each time a user clicks on their ad. This can be in the form of Search Engine Marketing, or SEM, which involves placing ads at the top of the Google, Bing, or Yahoo search results pages. Another popular type of PPC is Social Media Advertising, which involves placing ads in users\u2019 Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram feeds.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">By paying a fee each time an ad is clicked, advertisers essentially purchase visits to their website. This can be a useful tool for attracting new customers, but the expenses can exhaust a startup\u2019s budget very quickly, especially in competitive industries.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3>What is Search Engine Optimization (SEO)?<\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Search Engine Optimization, or SEO, involves any activities aimed at improving the organic rankings of a website on the search engine results pages. SEO placements are ranked by <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.canirank.com\/blog\/proper-keyword-research\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">relevancy and authority to the keyword<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, and cannot be purchased. By using specific strategies, techniques, and tactics, websites are able to rank highly on search engines like Google, Bing, and Yahoo and generate free website traffic from the search results page.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In contrast, paid ads on the search results page typically appear at the top and bottom of the page, and are marked with an \u201cAd\u201d icon. This is the key difference between organic search vs. PPC, as shown in these search results for the keyword \u201cWeb design.\u201d. Marketers often call SEO \u201cearned\u201d and PPC \u201cpaid\u201d when talking about SEO vs. PPC.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-7053 size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/blog.canirank.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/seo-vs-ppc-in-google-search-results.gif\" alt=\"\" width=\"1000\" height=\"1180\" \/><\/p>\n<h2>SEO vs. PPC &#8211; How Do You Choose?<\/h2>\n<p>It can often be difficult for startups to balance out the pros and cons of SEO vs PPC, and to choose where to focus their budget and energy.<\/p>\n<div class=\"fusion-fullwidth fullwidth-box fusion-builder-row-1 hundred-percent-fullwidth non-hundred-percent-height-scrolling\" style=\"background-color: rgba(255,255,255,0);background-position: center center;background-repeat: no-repeat;padding-top:0px;padding-right:0px;padding-bottom:0px;padding-left:0px;margin-bottom: 0px;margin-top: 0px;border-width: 0px 0px 0px 0px;border-color:#eae9e9;border-style:solid;\" ><div class=\"fusion-builder-row fusion-row\"><div class=\"fusion-layout-column fusion_builder_column fusion-builder-column-0 fusion_builder_column_1_1 1_1 fusion-one-full fusion-column-first fusion-column-last fusion-column-no-min-height\" style=\"margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;\"><div class=\"fusion-column-wrapper fusion-flex-column-wrapper-legacy\" style=\"background-position:left top;background-repeat:no-repeat;-webkit-background-size:cover;-moz-background-size:cover;-o-background-size:cover;background-size:cover;padding: 0px 0px 0px 0px;\"><ul class=\"fusion-checklist fusion-checklist-1\" style=\"font-size:15px;line-height:25.5px;\">\n<li class=\"fusion-li-item\"><span style=\"height:25.5px;width:25.5px;margin-right:10.5px;\" class=\"icon-wrapper circle-no\"><i class=\"fusion-li-icon fa fa-caret-right\" style=\"color:#43a4db;\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/i><\/span><div class=\"fusion-li-item-content\" style=\"margin-left:36px;\">Which one gives a better return on investment?<\/div><\/li>\n<li class=\"fusion-li-item\"><span style=\"height:25.5px;width:25.5px;margin-right:10.5px;\" class=\"icon-wrapper circle-no\"><i class=\"fusion-li-icon fa fa-caret-right\" style=\"color:#43a4db;\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/i><\/span><div class=\"fusion-li-item-content\" style=\"margin-left:36px;\">Which gives faster results?<\/div><\/li>\n<li class=\"fusion-li-item\"><span style=\"height:25.5px;width:25.5px;margin-right:10.5px;\" class=\"icon-wrapper circle-no\"><i class=\"fusion-li-icon fa fa-caret-right\" style=\"color:#43a4db;\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/i><\/span><div class=\"fusion-li-item-content\" style=\"margin-left:36px;\">Do consumers trust one over the other?<\/div><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div class=\"fusion-clearfix\"><\/div><\/div><\/div><div class=\"fusion-layout-column fusion_builder_column fusion-builder-column-1 fusion_builder_column_1_1 1_1 fusion-one-full fusion-column-first fusion-column-last fusion-column-no-min-height\" style=\"margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;\"><div class=\"fusion-column-wrapper fusion-flex-column-wrapper-legacy\" style=\"background-position:left top;background-repeat:no-repeat;-webkit-background-size:cover;-moz-background-size:cover;-o-background-size:cover;background-size:cover;padding: 0px 0px 0px 0px;\"><span class='bctt-click-to-tweet'><span class='bctt-ctt-text'><a href='https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.canirank.com%2Fblog%2Fstartup-seo-vs-ppc%2F&#038;text=Startup%20SEO%20vs%20PPC%20Which%20do%20you%20think%20is%20better%3F&#038;via=canirank&#038;related=canirank' target='_blank'rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Startup SEO vs PPC Which do you think is better? <\/a><\/span><a href='https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.canirank.com%2Fblog%2Fstartup-seo-vs-ppc%2F&#038;text=Startup%20SEO%20vs%20PPC%20Which%20do%20you%20think%20is%20better%3F&#038;via=canirank&#038;related=canirank' target='_blank' class='bctt-ctt-btn'rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Click To Tweet<\/a><\/span>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">When determining whether SEO or PPC is a better option for your startup, there are many factors to consider, such as: time required, costs, ease of setup, short-term value, long-term value, and consumer trust. The SEO vs. PPC comparison table below addresses each of these factors and will help you decide which option is best for your startup.<\/span><div class=\"fusion-sep-clear\"><\/div><div class=\"fusion-separator fusion-full-width-sep\" style=\"margin-left: auto;margin-right: auto;margin-top:40px;margin-bottom:40px;width:100%;\"><div class=\"fusion-separator-border sep-single sep-solid\" style=\"border-color:#43a4db;border-top-width:3px;\"><\/div><\/div><div class=\"fusion-sep-clear\"><\/div>\n<table>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td><\/td>\n<td style=\"padding: 5px;\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold; color: #2b487b;\">SEO<\/span><\/td>\n<td style=\"padding: 5px;\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold; color: #2b487b;\">PPC<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"padding: 5px;\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold; color: #ef6548;\">Time required<\/span><\/td>\n<td style=\"padding: 5px;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">1-3 months<\/span><\/td>\n<td style=\"padding: 5px;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Immediately<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"padding: 5px;\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold; color: #ef6548;\">Ease of setup<\/span><\/td>\n<td style=\"padding: 5px;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Many associated variables and involved steps.<\/span><\/td>\n<td style=\"padding: 5px;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Simple. Can be setup within a few hours by a first-time user.<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"padding: 5px;\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold; color: #ef6548;\">Costs<\/span><\/td>\n<td style=\"padding: 5px;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Low, if SEO actions are completed in-house. Medium to High, if using a full-service agency.<\/span><\/td>\n<td style=\"padding: 5px;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">High, especially for competitive keywords. Costs = bid amount per click x number of clicks<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"padding: 5px;\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold; color: #ef6548;\">Short-term value<\/span><\/td>\n<td style=\"padding: 5px;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Low-Medium. Short gains and little traffic in the beginning stages.<\/span><\/td>\n<td style=\"padding: 5px;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">High. The site continues to receive traffic while the ad runs.<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"padding: 5px;\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold; color: #ef6548;\">Long-term value<\/span><\/td>\n<td style=\"padding: 5px;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">High. Each step strengthens the larger picture. Success is gained by implementing effective techniques, consistently, and over time.<\/span><\/td>\n<td style=\"padding: 5px;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Low. Although ads can be optimized for better performance in the long term, budgets must be recycled each week\/month to create new traffic.<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"padding: 5px;\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold; color: #ef6548;\">Consumer trust<\/span><\/td>\n<td style=\"padding: 5px;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">High. Consumers trust that high organic rankings are relevant, earned,\u00a0and trustworthy.<\/span><\/td>\n<td style=\"padding: 5px;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Low. Consumers usually consider these ads to be purely commercial, less personal, and less trustworthy &#8211; especially for brands that they are unfamiliar with.<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<div class=\"fusion-sep-clear\"><\/div><div class=\"fusion-separator fusion-full-width-sep\" style=\"margin-left: auto;margin-right: auto;margin-top:40px;margin-bottom:40px;width:100%;\"><div class=\"fusion-separator-border sep-single sep-solid\" style=\"border-color:#43a4db;border-top-width:3px;\"><\/div><\/div><div class=\"fusion-sep-clear\"><\/div>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Here\u2019s another fact to consider in organic vs. PPC. A large study by <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.brightedge.com\/resources\/research-reports\/content-optimization\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">BrightEdge<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> found that \u201c51% of all website traffic comes from organic search\u201d, while paid search only accounts for 10%.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">By the way, if you\u2019re considering using PPC as a way of testing what might work well for SEO, think again. According to <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/searchengineland.com\/study-ppc-cannot-accurately-identify-winning-organic-titles-271313\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">SearchEngineLand<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, recent data \u201csuggests that title tags that perform well in paid search don\u2019t necessarily indicate winning SEO titles.\u201d So, if you thought using PPC could help reduce SEO costs, you may be in for a surprise.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3>Traffic: Quick vs. Quality<\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">No questions asked, PPC brings new traffic <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">faster<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> than SEO. Google loves ad money, and they will send you as much traffic as you can afford, as soon as you want \u2014 as long as your bid is greater than the next highest bidder. Great, right? Well, not always. In a perfect world, every click would turn into a purchase. In reality, conversion rates for PPC ads are extremely small. They are also skewed <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">higher<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> due to the few major competitors who dominate the PPC space in each industry. Imagine being an online travel startup, setting up a new PPC campaign. According to <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.smartinsights.com\/paid-search-marketing-ppc\/paid-search-display-network\/google-adwords-conversion-rate-averages-by-industry-infographic\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Smart Insights<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, here\u2019s what you could expect:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul class=\"fusion-checklist fusion-checklist-2\" style=\"font-size:15px;line-height:25.5px;\">\n<li class=\"fusion-li-item\"><span style=\"height:25.5px;width:25.5px;margin-right:10.5px;\" class=\"icon-wrapper circle-no\"><i class=\"fusion-li-icon fa fa-caret-right\" style=\"color:#43a4db;\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/i><\/span><div class=\"fusion-li-item-content\" style=\"margin-left:36px;\">A Cost Per Click of $0.29<\/div><\/li>\n<li class=\"fusion-li-item\"><span style=\"height:25.5px;width:25.5px;margin-right:10.5px;\" class=\"icon-wrapper circle-no\"><i class=\"fusion-li-icon fa fa-caret-right\" style=\"color:#43a4db;\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/i><\/span><div class=\"fusion-li-item-content\" style=\"margin-left:36px;\">A Click Thru Rate of 4.88%<\/div><\/li>\n<li class=\"fusion-li-item\"><span style=\"height:25.5px;width:25.5px;margin-right:10.5px;\" class=\"icon-wrapper circle-no\"><i class=\"fusion-li-icon fa fa-caret-right\" style=\"color:#43a4db;\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/i><\/span><div class=\"fusion-li-item-content\" style=\"margin-left:36px;\">A Conversion Rate of 1.45%<\/div><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Ideally, a budget of $290 would yield 1,000 clicks and 4 conversions, but, we really don\u2019t live in an \u201cideal\u201d world. Although the average conversion rate is 1.45%, this percentage is skewed by established players who already dominate the paid ad space. The conversion rate for a startup in the travel industry would be much lower than that of a dominating brand like Expedia, Priceline, or Kayak. So, when considering PPC or SEO, you need to also consider how large your brand is inside your space. For many startups, this will be relatively small.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Google\u2019s process for creating and launching ads is relatively straightforward and can be completed within minutes. Once ads are submitted and approved, advertisers receive impressions immediately. For startups with short-term traffic goals, PPC can be attractive. For example:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul class=\"fusion-checklist fusion-checklist-3\" style=\"font-size:15px;line-height:25.5px;\">\n<li class=\"fusion-li-item\"><span style=\"height:25.5px;width:25.5px;margin-right:10.5px;\" class=\"icon-wrapper circle-no\"><i class=\"fusion-li-icon fa fa-caret-right\" style=\"color:#43a4db;\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/i><\/span><div class=\"fusion-li-item-content\" style=\"margin-left:36px;\">A startup offering a \u201climited time only\u201d deal may need to generate traffic immediately before the discount expires.<\/div><\/li>\n<li class=\"fusion-li-item\"><span style=\"height:25.5px;width:25.5px;margin-right:10.5px;\" class=\"icon-wrapper circle-no\"><i class=\"fusion-li-icon fa fa-caret-right\" style=\"color:#43a4db;\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/i><\/span><div class=\"fusion-li-item-content\" style=\"margin-left:36px;\">A startup that is testing a new feature on their website may need to send immediate traffic so they can quickly analyze the feature in a real-world environment.<\/div><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Unlike PPC, Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a long-term strategy that increases a brand\u2019s search engine rankings while building its reputation and authority. A decent amount of up-front work is required for a startup to generate organic traffic, and it may take several months until there are any noticeable results. So when we are evaluating SEO vs. PPC on the basis of time, PPC is the clear winner: more clicks, more quickly. But, what else is there to consider?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Organic results and paid results are not equal. <\/span><\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/moz.com\/blog\/via-enquisite-ppc-agencies-make-45x-what-seos-do-for-the-same-value\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">SEOmoz<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> published an article stating that organic results receive 8.5x more clicks than paid search results. Keep this in mind as we re-visit our online travel startup example.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This time, however, the $290 ad budget is used to access great SEO software like CanIRank. Using the software, the startup identifies several niche keywords in the online travel industry. They develop strong SEO optimized content that is valuable to their readers. Over two months, they are able to rank first for these keywords. Instead of 1,000 paid clicks, they now have the potential to receive 8,500 organic clicks! As long as they can maintain their ranking, they will generate this same traffic, over and over again, month after month.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3>Consumer Trust: Answers vs.\u00a0Ads<\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Individuals who perform Google searches aren\u2019t always looking to buy something immediately. Usually, they are looking for accurate information from a reliable source. Now according to a survey in <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.adweek.com\/digital\/consumers-dont-like-and-dont-trust-digital-advertising-infographic\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">AdWeek<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, \u201cconsumers don\u2019t like and don\u2019t trust digital advertising.\u201d In fact, only seven percent of survey respondents view ads favorably. So how do consumers respond when they see the \u201cAd\u201d stamp beside paid search results? Not very favorably. According to <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.inpwrd.com\/nielsen\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Nielsen<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, \u201cconsumers rely on trusted content to make purchase decisions 5X more today than they did five years ago.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If it\u2019s not obvious by now, paid ads don\u2019t build confidence. Yet, that is exactly what startups need most.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Why?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Consumers like to buy from brands they trust. A company that is already established and well known will likely have high conversions with PPC ads because they are already recognized as an industry leader. Startups don\u2019t have this same advantage but can level the search engine playing field with a strong content marketing plan and great SEO techniques.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">By creating in-demand and optimized content for niche keywords, startups can gain search dominance and attract valuable <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">organic<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> traffic. Consumers have questions. Brands that can display their expertise by providing answers through great content pieces often have the upper hand \u2013 if they can be found easily on search engines. These techniques build trust, which can translated into stronger PPC conversion in the future. In this case, it is not <\/span><b>SEO vs. PPC<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, or even <\/span><b>SEO or PPC<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, it is <\/span><b>SEO and PPC<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> working together.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Software like CanIRank makes it much easier for startups to increase their organic rankings, become the \u201cauthority\u201d in their niche industry, and build consumer trust. It\u2019s especially helpful for startups because it makes SEO as simple as 3 steps:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul class=\"fusion-checklist fusion-checklist-4\" style=\"font-size:15px;line-height:25.5px;\">\n<li class=\"fusion-li-item\"><span style=\"height:25.5px;width:25.5px;margin-right:10.5px;\" class=\"icon-wrapper circle-no\"><i class=\"fusion-li-icon fa fa-caret-right\" style=\"color:#43a4db;\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/i><\/span><div class=\"fusion-li-item-content\" style=\"margin-left:36px;\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Grow Your Content: <\/span>This <a href=\"https:\/\/www.canirank.com\/seo-software\/keyword-research\">keyword research app<\/a> quickly finds content ideas and keywords that have high-demand, but low competition.<\/div><\/li>\n<li class=\"fusion-li-item\"><span style=\"height:25.5px;width:25.5px;margin-right:10.5px;\" class=\"icon-wrapper circle-no\"><i class=\"fusion-li-icon fa fa-caret-right\" style=\"color:#43a4db;\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/i><\/span><div class=\"fusion-li-item-content\" style=\"margin-left:36px;\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Improve Your Rankings: <\/span>Receive actionable suggestions that you can implement to boost your rankings quickly.<\/div><\/li>\n<li class=\"fusion-li-item\"><span style=\"height:25.5px;width:25.5px;margin-right:10.5px;\" class=\"icon-wrapper circle-no\"><i class=\"fusion-li-icon fa fa-caret-right\" style=\"color:#43a4db;\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/i><\/span><div class=\"fusion-li-item-content\" style=\"margin-left:36px;\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Promote Your Content:<\/span>\u00a0Search through CanIRank\u2019s promotion suggestions; a list of opportunities you can take advantage of to link your content and establish authority within your industry.<\/div><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Other Considerations: PPC + SEO:<\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">There are ways in which <\/span><b>SEO and PPC can work together<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. One factor in PPC marketing that dictates how much an advertiser spends is <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">quality score<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. When an advertiser selects target keywords for paid search ads, ad platforms such as Google Ads and Bing Ads will scan for landing page quality and relevance and assign each ad a quality score on a scale of 1-10. Higher quality scores are weighted, resulting in a higher PPC ranking and a lower average cost-per-click.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Successfully optimizing a page for SEO helps improve the overall quality score of a paid ad. This can help lower the costs of running a PPC campaign and can save money in the long run. Call it <\/span><b>SEO-PPC marketing<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">!<\/span><\/p>\n<h2>Startup SEO Case Studies<\/h2>\n<p>Here&#8217;s a case study on <a href=\"http:\/\/www.canirank.com\/blog\/saas-startup-seo-case-study\/\">how we helped a new SaaS startup go from 0 to $50,000\/ month in free, organic SEO traffic<\/a>. In this situation, PDFPro was faced with a common startup dilemma; paid traffic was too expensive at around $3 per click, and low domain authority made ranking a challenge. Using a strategic approach to SEO, CanIRank increased PDFPro&#8217;s organic traffic by a factor of 200. All this new traffic was obtained using sustainable white hat methods, and at less than 1% of the cost to purchase the equivalent traffic via Google AdWords.<\/p>\n<p>Fieldwire is another example of <a href=\"http:\/\/www.canirank.com\/blog\/how-fieldwire-scaled-marketing-without-losing-product-focus\/\">startup SEO that works<\/a>. In this situation, they faced intense competition from larger established competitors who dominated the SERPS. Instead of spending money on PPC,\u00a0CanIRank performed on-page optimization of the company&#8217;s highest potential pages. In addition, we revised the content strategy to balance conversions with traffic.\u00a0The ranking improvements brought Fieldwire\u00a0traffic worth over $10,000\/year, had they purchased it through Google AdWords.<\/p>\n<p>Often, it comes down to targeting the right keywords for which you can realistically compete.\u00a0With <a href=\"http:\/\/www.bavarianclockworks.com\/\"><span class=\"il\">Bavarian Clockworks<\/span><\/a>, we focused on their category\/collection pages because that seemed to be the best opportunity for ranking for somewhat valuable terms. The collection pages could target the more specific terms like Hones cuckoo clocks (brand) or chalet cuckoo <span class=\"il\">clock<\/span> (category) that weren&#8217;t as competitive. These pages however only had products on them. So while the product pages themselves were quite well optimized, they were lone rangers trying to rank. By adding some category focused content to the category pages they were able to leverage all the products supporting them and we had huge results there.<\/p>\n<h2>Win with <a href=\"http:\/\/www.canirank.com\/blog\/seo-for-startups\/\">Startup SEO<\/a><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It is extremely tough for startups to compete with a PPC-focused strategy. The advantage goes to the advertiser who is willing to spend the most, and it is not unlikely for large competitors to spend over $100,000 a month on PPC ads. Smart SEO techniques, however, allow startups to take advantage of gaps in the market and succeed even with a <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.canirank.com\/blog\/how-to-do-seo-on-a-small-budget\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">low budget<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. These case studies are really to illustrate one thing: if you consider <\/span><b>SEO vs. PPC, SEO can win at a lower cost. <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This is not to say that you need a singular strategy: many companies are successful with PPC and SEO working together. It is better not to think of it as PPC vs. SEO, but SEO helping PPC and vice versa.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a long and daunting word, but the process can be simple. To win the SEO game, startups need to identify valuable opportunities and execute them successfully. Google Ads is expensive, but you can try CanIRank for free. Identify what opportunities you are missing, and receive a step-by-step actionable SEO plan to boost your rankings and make your startup the authority!<\/span><\/p>\n<span style=\"display:none\" class=\"tl-placeholder-f-type-shortcode_2940\"><\/span><div class=\"fusion-clearfix\"><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><style type=\"text\/css\">.fusion-fullwidth.fusion-builder-row-1 { overflow:visible; }<\/style><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Being found easily online is critical for a startup. With over 40,000 searches per second on Google, high search engine rankings are especially important to generating website traffic. Startups have two options available to take advantage of keywords related to their product or service, either pay per click advertising or search engine optimization. Let\u2019s take [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":2904,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[51],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2872","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-seo-knowledge"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v15.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Startups and Search Engines: SEO vs PPC &ndash; CanIRank Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Unlike PPC, smart SEO techniques allow startups to take advantage of gaps in the market and succeed even with a low budget.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/www.canirank.com\/blog\/startup-seo-vs-ppc\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Startups and Search Engines: SEO vs PPC &ndash; CanIRank Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Unlike PPC, smart SEO techniques allow startups to take advantage of gaps in the market and succeed even with a low budget.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"http:\/\/www.canirank.com\/blog\/startup-seo-vs-ppc\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"CanIRank Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-05-16T18:39:38+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-11-25T18:49:59+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/blog.canirank.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/seovsppc-fb.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"630\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:image\" content=\"http:\/\/blog.canirank.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/seovsppc-twitter.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@canirank\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@canirank\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\">\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"13 minutes\">\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.canirank.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.canirank.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"CanIRank Blog\",\"description\":\"SEO Tips for Small Businesses, Bloggers, and other Non-Spammers\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":\"https:\/\/www.canirank.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\",\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.canirank.com\/blog\/startup-seo-vs-ppc\/#primaryimage\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/blog.canirank.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/seovsppc.jpg\",\"width\":1280,\"height\":600,\"caption\":\"SEO vs. PPC\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.canirank.com\/blog\/startup-seo-vs-ppc\/#webpage\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/www.canirank.com\/blog\/startup-seo-vs-ppc\/\",\"name\":\"Startups and Search Engines: SEO vs PPC &ndash; 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