The Benefits Of Running Google Ads With SEO
By now, most business owners are aware of the power of search engine optimization (SEO) and pay-per-click (PPC) advertising. But have you ever stopped to think about what would happen if you combined the powers of these two marketing strategies?
By integrating Google Ads with SEO, you can unlock a wealth of benefits that can take your online marketing efforts to the next level. From better keyword targeting to increased revenue, the advantages of combining these two channels are undeniable. In this article, we’ll investigate the six key benefits of integrating Google Ads with SEO and explore how you can start seeing results for yourself.
Key Takeaways:
Here are the top 5 benefits of integrating Google Ads with SEO:
- Better Keyword Targeting: Exchanging keyword data between SEO and SEM teams can lead to identifying new, untapped opportunities and improve keyword performance.
- Increased Understanding of Keyword Intent: Combining insights from SEO and SEM teams can help build a solid picture of unique phrases that carry the strongest relevance to the target audience, leading to better ad copy and meta descriptions.
- Improved Landing Page Relevancy for SEM: SEO insights can contribute to improving landing page quality, which affects Adwords ads’ success, including ad rankings and cost per click.
- Enhanced Relevancy of SEO Content: Integrating SEO and SEM teams can lead to more strategic content creation, resulting in higher-quality content that resonates with the target audience.
- A More Strategic Allocation of Digital Marketing Costs: By combining forces, SEO and SEM teams can optimize their budget allocation, leading to increased revenue and a better return on investment.
By breaking down the silos between SEO and SEM teams, you can unlock the full potential of your digital marketing efforts and drive optimal ROI.
The Differences Between Paid Search and Organic Search
For digital marketers, understanding the differences between paid search and organic search is crucial to creating a comprehensive online marketing strategy.
Presentation in the SERPS
Any query you enter into a search engine will return organic results, but PPC ads will only appear if an ad has been bought as part of a PPC campaign. Organic search results can appear as a link or as a SERP feature, such as the Answer Box, images, news, etc. The placement of an organic listing depends on the search engine’s algorithm, whereas paid search listings always appear at the top of the search results.
The Cost of PPC vs SEO
Between paid search and organic search, there’s a significant difference in cost. SEO is “free” in that no direct payment is made to appear on the SERP – only optimization efforts can get you there. Paid search listings, as the name suggests, only appear in search results if someone made a direct payment.
Differences in cost lead to differences in investment and control. With paid search, you have full control over when to turn on or off the tap of spending, guaranteeing visibility and traffic. On the flip side, SEO is influenced by external factors that can affect your rankings and organic traffic, making it a more complex and less controllable marketing strategy.
Level of Control and Investment
Presentation is everything in digital marketing, and when it comes to paid search and organic search, the level of control and investment varies greatly. Paid search typically gets much more investment because it’s like a faucet that you can turn on or off, guaranteeing visibility and traffic. SEO, on the other hand, is influenced by external factors, making it a more complex and less controllable marketing strategy.
Paid search provides a level of control that makes it easier to demonstrate clear ROI, which is why most digital marketing investment often goes there. However, by integrating paid search and organic search, you can create a more comprehensive online marketing strategy that drives optimal ROI and improves both channels.
The Challenges of Using PPC and SEO Together
Even though both PPC and SEO teams share the same goal of attracting more visitors and sales, there are several challenges that prevent them from working together effectively.
Lack of Understanding of Shared Goals
On the surface, it seems like PPC and SEO teams are working towards different objectives. However, when you dig deeper, you’ll realize that they’re actually targeting the same user behavior, search visibility, and clicks. Despite this, the separation between the two teams still exists, and organizations fail to fully understand the opportunities behind optimizing between both channels.
Budget Allocation Issues
Allocation of budget is another significant challenge that hinders the integration of PPC and SEO teams. What people may not realize is how little investment is given to organic compared to PPC, despite the fact that SEO efforts drive a significant amount of traffic and influence the paid search channel.
Another issue is that the investment in SEO is often not proportional to its impact on the business. In research across 500 of our clients, we found that organic search drives 75% of traffic, yet receives only 5% of investment. This disparity in budget allocation can lead to missed opportunities and suboptimal ROI.
Opportunities in Aligning Both Teams
On the flip side, aligning both PPC and SEO teams offers incredible opportunities to boost online visibility and achieve business objectives. By combining their efforts, organizations can optimize results for both channels, leading to increased revenue and better ROI.
For instance, exchanging keyword data across SEO and SEM teams can quickly lead to identifying new, untapped opportunities. Insights from each team can reveal specific phrases that engage audiences in distinct locations or markets, leading to an even further boost in keyword performance. By working together, PPC and SEO teams can create a powerful incremental lift that exceeds what they can achieve individually.
The Benefits of Using SEO and PPC Together
After understanding the differences and challenges of using PPC and SEO separately, it’s imperative to explore the benefits of integrating both channels. By combining their efforts, you can unlock a powerful incremental lift in your digital marketing strategy.
Overview of the Benefits
For instance, by sharing keyword data, you can identify new opportunities, improve keyword performance, and enhance the relevance of your SEO content. Moreover, combining PPC and SEO insights can lead to a more strategic allocation of digital marketing costs, resulting in increased revenue.
Contribution to Traffic and Conversions
Together, SEO and PPC contribute to 65% of traffic for most clients and more than 50% of conversions. When working together, organic drives huge long-term improvements for paid and vice versa.
Traffic and conversions are crucial metrics for any digital marketing strategy. By integrating SEO and PPC, you can increase your online visibility, drive more traffic, and ultimately, boost conversions. According to research, organic search drives 75% of traffic, yet receives only 5% of investment. By allocating resources more effectively, you can optimize your digital marketing strategy and achieve better results.
#1. Better Keyword Targeting
Now, when it comes to integrating Google Ads with SEO, one of the most significant benefits is better keyword targeting. By combining forces, you can identify new opportunities, exchange keyword data, and improve keyword performance.
Exchanging Keyword Data
Swapping keyword data between SEO and SEM teams can lead to a treasure trove of new opportunities. Phrases that work well for one channel will often deliver similar results for the other. This exchange of data can reveal specific phrases that engage audiences in distinct locations or markets, leading to a further boost in keyword performance.
Identifying New Opportunities
For instance, insights from each team can help you identify new, untapped opportunities. By analyzing keyword performance data, you can pinpoint areas where you can improve your keyword strategy, leading to increased conversions and revenue.
A deeper examine keyword data can also reveal patterns and trends that may not have been apparent before. By examining the performance of specific keywords across both channels, you can identify areas where you can optimize your keyword strategy to maximize ROI.
Improving Keyword Performance
Data from both channels can help you refine your keyword strategy, leading to improved keyword performance. By analyzing the performance of specific keywords, you can identify areas where you can optimize your ad copy, landing pages, and content to better match user intent.
Keyword performance data can also help you identify areas where you can improve your quality score, leading to lower costs per click and higher ad rankings. By optimizing your keyword strategy, you can increase conversions, revenue, and ultimately, ROI.
#2. Increased Understanding of Keyword Intent
Once again, the integration of Google Ads and SEO can bring about a wealth of benefits, one of which is a deeper understanding of keyword intent. By combining the insights from both channels, you can gain a better grasp of how users interact with your brand and what they’re looking for when they search for specific keywords.
Click-through Rate and Relevance
Clickthrough rates are a crucial factor in both SEO and Google Ads, as they indicate the relevance between target keywords and the copy used in ads or search engine listings. By analyzing click-through rates, you can identify which keywords are most relevant to your target audience and optimize your ad copy and meta descriptions accordingly.
Building a Solid Picture of Keyword Intent
Understanding user intent is critical in creating effective keyword strategies. By combining insights from Google Ads and SEO, you can build a solid picture of unique phrases that carry the strongest relevance to your target audience. This, in turn, allows you to create more targeted ad copy and meta descriptions that resonate with your audience.
Solid keyword intent understanding enables you to identify specific phrases that engage audiences in distinct locations or markets, leading to an even further boost in keyword performance. For instance, you may find that certain keywords perform better in specific regions or demographics, allowing you to tailor your ad copy and content to those specific groups.
Example of IT Governance’s Approach
On the same note, IT Governance’s approach to keyword intent is a great example of how combining SEO and Google Ads insights can lead to success. By using similar copy in their AdWords ads and meta-tags on a page targeting the same commercial keyword, they’re able to present their target audience with twice as many touch points per keyword, both of which reference a specific customer problem and offer a selling point.
With this approach, IT Governance is able to influence their approach to writing the perfect meta description for both paid and organic, resulting in a more cohesive and effective keyword strategy. By following a similar approach, you can create a more unified and effective keyword strategy that drives better results for both your SEO and Google Ads efforts.
#3. Improved Landing Page Relevancy for SEM
Your landing page is a crucial element in your SEM campaign, and its quality can significantly impact your ad’s performance. By integrating SEO and PPC, you can improve the relevance of your landing page, leading to better ad rankings and lower costs.
Quality Score and Adwords Ads Success
With a high-quality score, your ads can appear in higher positions, and you’ll pay less per click. A major part of the quality score relates to landing page quality, which SEOs can contribute valuable insights to.
Impact on Ad Rankings and Cost
To achieve better ad rankings and lower costs, it’s important to focus on improving your landing page quality. A higher quality score means lower cost per conversion (CPC), which can significantly impact your ROI.
The impact of quality score on cost per conversion is undeniable. According to Google, a high-quality score can lead to a lower CPC. In fact, a study by WordStream found that a quality score of 6-8 can lead to a 30% lower CPC, while a score of 9-10 can result in a 50% lower CPC.
Landing Page Quality Factors
Quality landing page factors include:
- Relevant and unique content
- Fast page loading speed
- Mobile-friendliness
- Secure browsing (HTTPS)
- Transparent and easy-to-find contact information
The better you optimize your landing page for SEO, the greater the quality score it will help you achieve for SEM.
Improving Landing Page Quality for Both SEO and PPC
Landing page quality is crucial for both SEO and PPC. By improving your landing page quality, you can enhance the user experience, increase conversions, and boost your ROI.
Rankings and ad performance are closely tied to landing page quality. By focusing on improving your landing page quality, you can increase your ad rankings, lower your costs, and drive more conversions.
Summing up
On the whole, integrating Google Ads with SEO can bring about a significant incremental lift in your digital marketing efforts. By breaking down the silos between paid search and organic search teams, you can enjoy benefits such as better keyword targeting, increased understanding of keyword intent, improved landing page relevancy for SEM, enhanced relevancy of SEO content, a more strategic allocation of digital marketing costs, and ultimately, increased revenue. By combining forces, you can drive optimal ROI and improve both channels, leading to a more effective and efficient digital marketing strategy.
Cliff Tillery, MBA is the Chief Operating Officer and SEO Director at Make It Loud which is a digital marketing firm located outside of Atlanta Georgia. More than 14 years ago, he started search engine optimization at this award-winning agency and has taught digital marketing skills to business owners at the Gwinnett Chamber of Commerce, the Gwinnett Entrepreneur Center, and other groups.
