paid search or seo inspector cartoonThere’s a song in the Broadway musical “Oklahoma” called “The Farmer and the Cowman Should Be Friends.” This is also true in search engine marketing, where that very same real estate that is vied for by both paid and organic marketing can definitely work together for their common good.

There are some subtle differences in their implementation, but also enough similarities to make this a strategy you’ll want to embrace. The ability of SEO to drive large numbers of searchers, together with the precision targeting afforded by PPC can work in synergy to deliver an overall better performance.

5 reasons you should combine PPC and SEO

Get as much page one real estate as possible! – Obviously, having as many listings as you can on page one is the goal, and this can only help you dominate the traffic that this pages serves if your site is showing up all over the results. In addition to that, this helps increase your brand authority.

Enhance brand exposure and solidify messaging – When your brand is seen frequently and in many different ways, your brand is given a large dose of authority and exposure. The messaging you employ in both your organic listings and paid ads can work in concert to give your brand a cohesive, unified message.

More total traffic – While it’s possible that your paid ads can rob some of your organic clicks from the page, studies are showing that overall there is a net gain when you occupy both paid and organic spots on a page. Not only that, by having multiple spots on the page, your PPC costs will be less.

Enjoy increased conversions rates – Data is proving out that combining organic search with PPC can result in your conversions rates soaring as much as 200%. This is from the combined effect of more clicks and increased authority. Nothing to sneeze at, right?

Better keyword performance – The combination of data form both paid and organic sources can result in a goldmine of keyword intelligence, helping you in both campaigns.