The effective integration of PPC and SEO is a subject that is currently widely discussed in the industry.
According to Google blog search there are over 5,500 blog mentions of this topic!
To avoid making this post, number 5611 on the same subject, I thought I would take a slightly different view and discuss the 5 key challenges to actually integrating PPC and SEO.
1) Lack of understanding of the different ways to utilise Paid / Organic search
Organic and Paid search can be used in complimentary ways. Building an effective, holistic approach to search is reliant upon this level of understanding.
Knowing when and where you need an organic and / or paid presence is at the crux of this.
Some advertisers have just a gung ho approach; maximum visibility across SEO and PPC for any converting term.
However, what are the different ways of utilising PPC and SEO?
Some advertisers will use SEO for head terms, PPC for long-tail (or another variation of this)– this is quite a common approach.
Another approach is knowing the actual search cycle. Appearing on every term is key, but is a PPC ad on every stage of this journey the most effective use of search budget? Could SEO be used for the research focussed terms with PPC converting them on the more specific terms?
Knowing how PPC and SEO work separately and together enables you more insight into how you should be integrating both more effectively.
2) Different targets per channel
This is probably a more common challenge and it does not just apply to search.
If every channel has different targets, how can you produce the most optimised results?
Search marketing does not operate in a silo.
Nor do PPC and SEO – they are unified, or rather, they should be!
Most companies will have set targets for PPC and SEO. They may have an overriding target from online but more often than not, individual targets also.
In which case, if PPC and SEO are both operating and working to separate targets, how can you integrate them seamlessly?
For example: (i know these numbers are unlikely to be true, but you could the picture!)
If PPC needs to hit 4000 sales @ £30 CPA and SEO needs to hit 3000 sales @ £20 CPA – are you really getting the most out of search as a channel?
If search was optimised as one channel and optimised to £25 CPA – you would actually be driving more volume for the same spend.
3) Different agencies per channel
Following on from point 2 is arguably the most common challenge facing the effective integration of PPC and SEO – PPC and SEO being managed by separate agencies. Be it different agencies or one of the channels managed in house and one managed at an agency.
In these cases (particularly different agencies) managing an integrated approach to search is nigh on impossible, well at least in most cases it is.
The PPC agency will no doubt be looking to spend as much as possible whilst staying within a set CPA target.
An SEO agency will have the same focus.
Unfortunately, with all the professionalism in the world, collaborative working is easier said than done.
What response do you think the PPC agency would give when the SEO agency mentions spend should be lowered on the top 20% spending terms to fund increased investment in SEO and help to lower the overall CPA?
Although this makes perfect sense for the client, PPC agencies with spend targets to meet (and therefore revenue targets off the commission) will no doubt give some obstruction to this.
4) Technology / Tracking Systems
True integration of search requires a truly integrated approach to tracking systems and tools.
Without this, you simply can not produce a true picture of performance of PPC and SEO and a holistic approach can be based on inaccurate data.
A lot of the blue chip brands active online will have this covered. However, I would happily predict that a large proportion of advertisers use a bid management tool for PPC ad serving and management and an analytics package for SEO analytics.
Is this enough?
It obviously depends on the systems adopted and what data you are pulling through on both of them. Omniture for example has Search Centre / Site Catalyst which can provide you both.
Google analytics and DART search however does not. Although you can pull Paid search queries through on analytics and create bespoke filters to just report on PPC traffic, a PPC campaign is not managed in Google Analytics. This means that the data you are analysing, making decisions against, are fundamentally different.
Without knowing how each keyword really ‘performs’, any plans to optimise are not going to be driving the optimal volume from the channel.
5) Last click wins…
Not only does all search need to be managed and tracked via one source, the reporting capabilities of said platform need to encompass and reflect the entire user journey (I know this is a lot easier said than done!).
Most PPC agencies can provide click path analysis, showing the keywords and subsequent clicks leading to a sale / conversion.
From this data, most advertisers will know that brand term conversions are often a result of assisting generic terms.
However, what does this picture look like when overlaying SEO data as well? What is the inter-relationship between the two?
Knowing the search conversion cycle across both PPC and SEO enables you to map out and strategically optimise to garner the most return.
(This short section does not even touch the sides of the last click wins notion, something that will we be covering in more depth in a later post).
Hopefully the above gives a top line overview on why integrating PPC and SEO is not as simple to implement than it is to talk about. It is something that the industry needs to strive further towards but it is certainly making inroads.
