2 Ways PPC and SEO Work Together for Conversion Rate Optimization

Reading Time: 6 minutes
Martin Andrews
By Martin Andrews

August 3, 2018

Whether you currently invest in paid media and SEO, or you are about to pull the trigger but have yet to vet the best agencies, you may be wondering how these marketing services work together to optimize conversion rates. When working together, SEO and paid media can attract additional visitors, boost leads and increase revenue.

In order to know how these two marketing services can work together to hit those high-revenue goals, you will need to discover how paid media and SEO work together, affect each other and understand the best practices for aligning the two. The purpose of this article is to help people understand how these marketing services can be combined to improve your digital marketing performance and usher in better results.

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Do SEO and PPC Directly Affect One Another?

Digital marketing agencies get asked these questions all the time: “do PPC ads impact my website’s SEO?” and “does my SEO affect my PPC ad performance?” Technically, no. Your SEO will have zero direct impact on how your PPC adverts run, nor will paid Google ads have a direct impact on your rankings. However, there are a number of ways that PPC and SEO can work together and leverage one another to encourage better results across the board.

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1. Consult the Growth Stack: PPC and SEO Indirectly improve Click-Through Rates

Digital marketing agencies that focus on providing growth stacks and that are known for their expert PPC management services know how pay-per-click and SEO can improve each other’s CTR. Agencies that solely focus on a solo service like SEO or paid media typically don’t have a deep well of knowledge for leveraging services off of one another. This is why true growth marketing agencies offering multiple services always provide more to savvy businesses with clear-cut goals.

According to multiple studies, people are significantly more likely to click on a company that ranks in multiple places on page one of Google. By organically ranking well for the same keywords that register your paid ads, you are doubling down on your exposure and playing into the searcher’s psyche. Simply appearing in both paid and organic results can give people the impression that you are the leader in your industry, provide superior services and products, and you can be trusted.  But in order to rank for paid and organic results, an agile strategy must be set in place, and once the strategy is up and running, expect to see your CTR blow up alongside a boost in conversions.

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2. PPC Negative Keywords Improve Rankings and Get Clicks that Matter

First, let’s get a clear understanding for what PPC negative keywords are. These are a cohort of keywords that prevent your ad from being clicked on for a certain phrase or keyword. In other words, people searching for that phrase won’t see your ad. For example, if a negative keyword is “free”, then people searching for free goods won’t click on your ad. If you have an apparel business and you carry XS t-shirts but not sweaters in size XS, you can include “XS sweater”.

Content strategists with an SEO mindset can take negative keywords from a PPC campaign, and use them for organic optimization. Remember, Google’s algorithm runs on AI and machine learning; it can read search intentions and know what people are and aren’t looking for. By writing content that shows how two products are different yet similar, and (back to one of our examples) demonstrating why paid versions of something offer more value and meet greater needs than a free format, you can improve rankings, increase CTRs, and target specific buyers with content that resonates and garners greater conversion.

Ready to Align Your PPC and SEO?

There are many more ways that PPC and SEO work together to garner higher conversions. If you found value in these tips and want to learn more, we invite you to download our FREE guide on growth marketing stacks. Our set of customized strategies and tools are designed to work together according to every organization’s unique needs and goals. SEO and PPC are just two pieces of the answer to hitting high-revenue targets! Give the guide a read, and give us a call so we can get to better understand your growth goals.
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