SEO vs PPC in 2021

[rb77]

Hi all,

What’s the general consensus of opinion when it comes to SEO vs PPC for an eCom site (fitness niche) going into 2021.

I’m posting this after a conversation with a friend who’s site it is. He believes PPC is the way forward with regards to ROI, I’m not so sure.

As a rough estimate, is it still ~8 to 11 clicks to organic over PP?

I’d be interested in getting the opinions of WebmasterWorld.

[goodroi]

Do what is profitable. For some, that means to do both PPC & SEO. For others, that means only one or none is viable. Each keyword, industry, country/location is different so it really depends on the specific situation.

Google has been adding more PPC listings to the top of the page for some popular keywords pushing organic SEO below the page fold. For this type of situation, it is shifting more clicks to PPC. That doesn't guarantee the clicks will convert or convert at a profitable rate. Google is a for-profit business, so they are doing everything they can to grow PPC because it makes them money.

For many niche keywords, there are no PPC listings so it is easy to gain a large volume of traffic with pure SEO & not paying Google anything. Even if you don't have to use PPC, you can still use it for research and testing purposes to make your SEO even better.

For total Google traffic, there are more organic clicks than PPC clicks but that is because people search for a wide variety crazy stuff and only a subset of it can be monetized.

[JorgeV]

Hello,

He believes PPC is the way forward with regards to ROI, I’m not so sure.

To make such assumption, you have to know how much your SEO costs you (money).

PPC is guaranteed exposure, if you have the budget to compete with other advertisers.

SEO doesn't guarantee anything. One day, you can be on the top of the organic results, the next update, you can be sent to oblivion, the next month you can be back in the top 5.

Oh, and by the way, no one can predict what 2021 will be made of, supposedly we survive the next few months.

[RedBar]

SEO vs PPC for an eCom site

How old is the site and how well does it rank now?

If it's only a few months old and climbing steadily, try a bit of PPC, if it's more than 12 months old and not ranking well bear in mind new SEOing could take 2-4 months to kick-in and that's if they get it right.

It's all about target markets, local/regional/national and overall expectations.

IMHO anyone with a new site expecting almost instant returns has to go PPC, new site SEOing takes too long for some investors.

[JorgeV]

SEOing takes too long for some investors.

Without counting that, thousands of similar sites are also doing SEO, believing they will all rank #1.

- There can be only one - (Highlander)

[RedBar]

Absolutely JorgeV

[rb77]

Thanks for the replies everyone.

The site in question has a little history, in the sense that it was live for 3 years, 2 years ago (same niche) but was never really focused on because the main route to market was Amazon.

The owner has time. Roughly 9 months before he needs it to start pointing towards breaking even, then a positive ROI.

It’s in a competitive niche (what isn’t these days?) and we estimate ~£2k/month in link building alone to the key pages. Much of the content, including supporting pages are already on the site.

[NickMNS]

@JorgeV I like your first comment

To make such assumption, you have to know how much your SEO costs you (money).

But I don't agree with your elaboration

SEO doesn't guarantee anything.

I doubt you have anymore of a guarantee from PPC.

I think the big difference is that in terms of PPC the cost comes in terms of cash out, and the attribution is direct "pay for ad, get result". Whereas SEO is often paid for in time and labour, direct and in direct, and the results are not immediate and difficult to attribute. With Google these days it is impossible to attribute change to webpage X to boost in rankings Y weeks or month later. My biggest boosts in rankings have come from doing nothing.

I personally don't see SEO as viable strategy for anything, it is simply something "technical" that is required, but I wouldn't depend on it for success.

[RedBar]

I doubt you have anymore of a guarantee from PPC.

Absolutely agree and I'll give you an example I personally know of.

A widget website that had for several years, since 2005, ranked top 5 for all its keyword terms, great products, good company, yet the site simply didn't drive much enquiry traffic whatsoever. Personally I considered it was the type of widget since I doubted whether I would have considered purchasing the product via The Net.

In the past 3-4 years the company has been experimenting with G, FB and other methods and all have failed miserably, they did pick-up a couple of new customers however it didn't cover their previous expenditures.

The company has gone back to its old tried and trusted door knocking, leaflet dropping methods . They're quite happy to try almost any suggestion therefore do not assume SEO or PPC will / can provide the solution.

If the existing website is acceptable now then why not try an experiment with PPC, it may save having to wait another 9+ months to find out?