PPC is an effective way to get leeway for the launch of a web business. For a startup strategy, it clearly has the edge over SEO, as evidenced by these facts:

  • PPC traffic has the ability to convert at 2.03%, as opposed to natural traffic, which converts at 1.26%
  • PPC visitors have been recognized to spend about 10% more money on sites than natural visitors.
  • PPC visitors remained on sites 29% longer than those who came to the site organically.

However, as it can be costly in the long run, one must consider implementing more SEO strategies later on to offset such costs. In this article we discuss the factors that can drive the transition from the position-establishing and trailblazing concept of website PPC to more inexpensive but trickier website SEO.

— Not All Keywords You Use Will Be Worth It —
Keyword tools are very useful when trying to identify terms that will make a website stand out. You will, at first, incorporate the keywords shown by these tools. However, you have to realize that you face stiff competition, if you try to bid for certain terms immediately and without planning.

Identifying PPC metrics for keywords will go hand in hand with your corresponding SEO campaign. There will come a point wherein you will curb spending for PPC and focus instead on organic metrics to get your site noticed. In that case, you would select the high converting keywords on PPC and include them in the organic content of the website so that the website will have more clicks without you having to spend for them this time around.

— Long Tail Keywords —
In a way, the idea of long tail keywords has something common with the above mentioned element. Initially and ideally, you will start with a PPC keyword campaign employing the broad match type. But further on, as you research the search engines, you will see that your campaign will be ranking for certain long tail keywords. You must then take these keywords in account for your strategy, in order to have other options for SEO exposure.

For example, you entered a broad match campaign in Adwords for “cheap cycle parts”. After a month, you then either or Google, or lookup your domain on a keyword tool, and notice that your ads are getting high traffic for “cheap polaris atv parts”. This could only mean that this keyword phrase is getting search traffic to your site. Therefore, you could use it to organically optimize your site through strategic inclusion in the site’s content.

In other words, after undertaking broad match PPC strategy, you are able to narrow down the long tail searches you can possibly use for your campaign, by showing you the long-tail keywords that have converted for your advertising campaign.

— Meta Descriptions —
If done creatively, meta descriptions will not only place your website high in the rankings of search engines, but it will also get your website a high clickthrough rate no matter your position. While the first result will usually grab the most attention, the corresponding results can be viewed too if they have a description that can grab the attention of the searching party.

Indeed, running and testing your PPC campaign will eventually help you find out the ad-keyword combinations that are driving traffic to your site. And identifying them will make you later incorporate them in the meta description for your page, to be able to help it be located in the search engines while lowering your overall spending for PPC.

— SEO by Quality Score —
With PPC you also later get to know the quality score for keywords that you use. Quality Score would be the metric linking a website to the relevancy of the keywords and ads used for it, and its clickthrough rate (CTR), or the clicks a site gets per impression of its ad. This metric, while subjective, can still give you a healthy opinion on what keywords are relevant to you site; and with this idea, you can target the people who you want your site marketed to.

In the end, a successfully converted campaign from mostly-paid to eventually-free will pay off when the transitional factors are attended to. It’s a concept steeped in logic, really; but many aspirants tend to overlook it and end up putting out more or less effort in doing their campaigns. So make sure you know your campaign inside out and pay special attention to the factors that you think can be less paid-for in the course of your marketing/optimization quest.

Peter Zmijewski is the founder and CEO of KeywordSpy.com . You can find more information about him at PeterZmijewski.com