What is paid search marketing – and how can it help your business?

by David Landis, LCI President

Often times, business owners ask me: “What is the difference between paid and organic search? And, which one is appropriate for my business?”

The simple answer is both. 

First, some definitions. Organic search results are those that just populate a query on your search engine, such as Google. Ads are labelled as such, are paid for and are what is known as “paid search” (sometimes referred to as PPC, or “pay per click.”) While it’s true that statistics have shown people are 8.5 times more likely to pay attention to organic search, paid advertising can also be an appropriate way to increase brand awareness for your business.

Justin Liggin from our public relations affiliate in Phoenix, HMA Public Relations, wrote a great recent blog highlighting the differences and why your marketing efforts should include paid search. You can read it here.

My takeaways from Justin’s insights? Keywords (those words that you think your prospects are using to search) are, well, key; but also negative keywords (those words that you don’t want to be charged for) are equally key.

Just don’t forget: organic search is perhaps even more important. The key to that? Content, content, content.

Got a comment for Justin? You can email him at: [email protected] or comment below.

Related Articles:

Econsultancy.com: What is Paid Search Marketing (PPC) and Why Do You Need It? 

SearchEngineLand: What is SEM, PPC and Paid Search Marketing?