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How PPC Can Supplement Your SEO Efforts
When deciding if Pay-Per-Click (PPC) marketing is right for you, ask yourself “will it help my practice’s visibility in search results?” To answer that question, we first need to learn more about what search engine optimization (SEO) entails and how it differs from paid advertising.
Onsite SEO is based on the foundation of your website. SEO entails optimizing the content on your website to answer questions such as “Why your practice?,” “What service do I need?,” and “Where can I receive this service?”
It also refers to modifying your website’s code to help search engines gain a greater understanding of the themes and topics you present.
The overall goal of SEO is to get your website listed in the top unpaid search engine results positions in order to drive more relevant traffic to your business.
PPC, on the other hand, entails paying on a per-click or impression basis for your ads that show up in search results. Rather than having a search engine algorithm decide where your listing ends up like with organic search, with PPC you largely decide which keyterms your ads will show up for in search results and how much you’re willing to pay.
Here is a quick overview of the benefits of PPC in relation to SEO:
Drive Additional Traffic to Your Website
All roads lead to traffic, because traffic = potential patients. By paying for relevant traffic you increase the volume of prospective new patients becoming aware of your practice leading to the likely scenario of more new patients for your practice.
Reach Outside of Your Geographic Proximity
SEO focuses primarily on hyper-local results. If you do not have a physical presence very close to where someone is performing search queries, you may not be able to reach them organically. PPC allows you to broaden your footprint to reach areas that may be a significant part of your business by targeting whichever geographic proximity you please with your ads.
Target struggling keywords
If there are terms your practice is not ranking well for in organic search results PPC can help. Because you pay for keyword positioning in search results with PPC, you can pay to show up prominently for really important terms that you may not be ranking for from an organic search perspective. In essence, you can buy visibility in search results. That’s often a good policy for ensuring prospective patients can find your website for relevant search terms that have a lot of competition from rival practices.
Bringing PPC traffic to your websites should only a single aspect of your overall digital marketing strategy. You must have a website and search presence that answers patient’s queries such as “Why your practice?,” “What service do I need?,” and “Where can I receive this service?”
Each marketing channel has its own value in your digital strategy and they all support one another. For example, without effective content, you will pay for clicks that do not result in calls. By having a great PPC presence supplemented with excellent SEO and a positive focus in other channels like social media and email you’ll generate a wholistic approach towards reaching your target audience of prospective patients.
—Rebekah McBride, Senior SEO Specialist, Sesame Communications