by Milind Mody, Chief Executive Officer - eBrandz Inc.

In 2006, advertisers in North America spent USD 1 billion on Search Engine Optimization. On other hand USD 8 billion was spent on Pay Per Click. No wonder there has been a global buzz about Search Engine Marketing (SEM). However, many people confuse SEM with paid advertising or Pay Per Click (PPC). SEM actually includes Pay Per Click and Search Engine Optimization.

According to the 2006 Search Engine Marketing survey by SEMPO (Search Engine Marketing Professional Organization) SEO is still the most popular form of SEM, with almost three-quarters of advertisers using this method, with paid placement a very close second at 71 percent.

This statistic should reflect how important a Search Engine Optimization campaign really is. There are lots of myths surrounding Search Engine Optimization (SEO). Many people believe that SEO is too complex and cost inhibitive for small businesses. This is clearly not the case. People new to SEO also believe that results can be achieved within few days or weeks. This is not true as SEO generally takes anywhere from 4 to 8 months to demonstrate results.

A fact about SEO is that there is no guarantee that your website will rank well (even after paying your agency). Having said that, there are some really good reasons why you should think about investing in SEO.

SEO delivers FREE traffic

Agreed that you pay your agency a setup fee, but after that the agency does not charge you on a per click basis even if you get tons of traffic. Depending on the industry even a one time SEO effort can continue to get you the traffic after you stop work. This is clearly not the case for PPC, where traffic stops as soon as you stop paying search engines.

SEO pulls more traffic than PPC

Users often perceive natural rankings as ‘independent,’ thus increasing the click-through rate. SEO results are normally long lasting. Generally once you rank well for a search term it isn’t too difficult to maintain the ranking. And the longer you keep at it, the more likely you can win that elusive but all-valuable number one spot. Search engine optimization, thus delivers long-term value.

SEO gives an advantage to small companies over big businesses

SEO requires changes to website design or code. These changes are normally very small and easy to implement on a simple website. On other hand, if the website is heavy in graphics or “Flash”, then optimizing it is a tough task. This is where small businesses have a distinct advantage over big businesses as they are able to move so much more quickly than bigger companies. Big companies are very sensitive to changes to either their website design or the code. Even if they do, the decision is a long drawn process thus giving small companies the first mover advantage.

SEO helps in accessibility and usability

Search engine spiders cannot understand video or audio formats. They can be compared to blind and deaf users. While doing SEO, you have to address accessibility to search spiders and different browsers. This in effect also makes the website viewable to larger audiences with accessibility problems or use non-popular browsers.

SEO helps your company build an online Brand

High natural search engine rankings have a very positive effect on Branding. There are numerous online companies that have great branding purely because of their natural search engine rankings.

SEO costs less in the long term

Any decent SEO company will charge Rs 40,000 (for six months) for their beginner SEO service. Whereas for PPC you need to have a budget of at least Rs 15,000 per month before any reasonable agency will be interested in your project. Additionally, the agency would charge you to manage your campaign. If you cannot spend Rs 40,000 (for six months) on SEO or wish to spend less than Rs 15,000 per month on PPC then you might have to manage these campaigns yourself (or internally within your company). Although the initial cost for SEO is high, if you compare Return on Investment over a two-year (or more) period, SEO definitely costs less than PPC. This has been our experience managing both SEO and PPC campaigns for last three and half years.

No bidding wars or click fraud in SEO

In PPC, it’s pretty common for two companies to get into bidding wars over important keywords. Another major worry for PPC advertisers is Click Fraud. Both these instances increase the cost per visitor and decrease overall profitability. There are no such problems in SEO. However, you have to keep updating your website according to the latest algorithm changes in search engines.

That’s why it’s pretty important that you spend some time researching your SEO Company. Ensure that they can show you a few case studies or provide references of existing clients. Talk to few references to try and understand their experience of working with the SEO Company. Also check their experience to see if they have been able to cope with the search engine algorithm changes.

Which is best?

If you have the time, then search engine optimization works and goes on working. It gives you free traffic and high volumes of traffic. And, while the big spend is in the beginning, it decreases later on. However, there is no guarantee of results for SEO.

But if you need leads today - and sales results tomorrow - then pay per click is the only option. But with this option expect to pay and pay. And there’s nothing left afterwards, if you stop paying (except the new customers you gained while you were paying).

Importantly, both SEO and pay per click work. Any company already advertising through pay per click, newspapers, magazines or television should seriously consider investing in SEO.

My advice? Get a combination of both SEO and PPC!