Marketing Tips Anyone Can Adapt from PPC Managers

We’ve all come across debates comparing PPC to SEO, with some claiming PPC is superior or others declaring SEO as the ultimate marketing method for generating traffic.

SEO vs. PPC: Which is better?

The truth is that both PPC and SEO are valuable strategies that can help a business achieve success, depending on the business's specific goals. They operate differently but are both crucial to driving results. It’s not a one-size-fits-all approach, and pitting them against each other isn’t productive.

Here are some important lessons SEOs can take from PPC managers:

1. Data-Driven Decisions Lead to Success

SEOs can learn a lot from PPC managers when it comes to using data to guide their strategies. In SEO, the goal is to warm up potential customers, nurturing them until they become familiar with the brand. This requires more effort and analysis to understand customer behavior, such as how they engage with content or how long they spend on the site.

On the other hand, PPC managers can quickly assess if a campaign converts and can adjust with remarketing or targeting changes. With SEO, the challenge is identifying what specific factors impact sales. While SEO is often focused on increasing traffic, what’s more important is improving conversions. PPC excels in this area because it’s all about optimizing the budget to maximize conversion, not just driving more traffic. By using data to refine their approaches, businesses can see significant improvements in conversion rates, even with reduced traffic.

SEOs can benefit from focusing on data to improve conversions from existing traffic, following PPC’s lead on using analytics to drive decisions.

2. Constantly Evolve and Refine Your Strategy

Launching a successful campaign is exciting, but it’s dangerous to assume that your current momentum will last forever. Whether in SEO or PPC, complacency can lead to missed opportunities. PPC managers constantly tweak, improve, and learn from each campaign, ensuring their strategies never become stagnant.

SEO should follow the same principle. It’s important to continually search for fresh ideas, adjust tactics, and explore new topics or mediums to engage your audience. Don’t rely solely on what has worked in the past—continue testing new approaches to keep your strategy dynamic.

3. Master Writing Click-Worthy Metadata

Creating compelling metadata is a skill PPC managers have mastered, especially with the limited character space in platforms like Google Ads. The ability to convey value and drive clicks in such a small space is critical to success.

SEOs can learn from PPC by improving their meta descriptions and title tags to make them more engaging and action-driven. Check out top-performing PPC ads for inspiration, and apply similar principles to your meta tags to boost click-through rates.

4. Use Dedicated Landing Pages for Better Conversions

PPC managers know the power of dedicated landing pages tailored to specific campaigns. For SEO, driving traffic to a generic homepage or broad content isn’t enough.

Each search term has a specific intent, and creating landing pages that align with those needs is key to converting visitors. If you’re targeting bottom-of-the-funnel traffic focused on purchasing, ensure your landing pages are optimized for closing the sale. Make sure the pages are customized for each campaign to maximize conversions.

5. Don’t Be Afraid to Test

PPC managers are constantly running A/B tests on ads to determine what works best. Testing is built into their process and allows for quick adjustments.

SEOs often hesitate to test due to concerns over losing rankings or disrupting content, but experimentation is essential to growth. Whether it’s testing content ideas, calls-to-action, or page layouts, adopting a PPC mindset toward experimentation can help refine your strategy. Even a small AdWords campaign with minimal budget can provide valuable insights that guide your SEO efforts.

In conclusion, SEO and PPC aren’t in competition—they complement each other. By integrating lessons from PPC, SEOs can sharpen their strategies and ultimately drive better results for their businesses.