Pay Per Click (PPC) advertising is becoming an increasingly popular way of ranking at the top of the search engines. How it works is an advertiser selects specific keywords/phrases and then creates a listing that will show up when someone searches for that phrase. This advertiser will pay a certain amount for each click on their listing. Obviously there are other advertisers that have selected the same keywords/phrases, so whoever is willing to spend the most per click will have the highest rankings.
This might seem like an easy way to get to the top, and it is. However, it PPC will not improve your organic search results. With PPC, your site will show up in the “Sponsored” or “Featured” area. Although that may not seem to matter, there are many people out there that do not click on those sites.
PPC also does not optimize your site. So, when you stop paying for PPC, your site will disappear from the top of the search engines and the traffic it brought in will stop! Also, it’s important to mention that competition is growing, so the cost per click is going to increase over time.
A long-term SEO plan is a better option for most advertisers. You can optimize your site to reflect who you are, and it will improve your position in the regular, organic search results. If you keep up with a powerful SEO plan, your site can get to the top of the search engines and you will have higher credibility. That being said, adding PPC on top of your SEO plan is great way to get some instant exposure.
