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Does PPC affect Organic Results?

The simple answer is: it doesn’t directly. Paid result and organic results are completely separate in Google’s eyes. However, there are indirect ways in which the paid ads affect the organic results, and it is for this reason that SEO and PPC campaigns complement each other, even though they are very different.

Searchers need to see your brand 7 times before they will buy from you

You might have heard of the marketing funnel, and it can be applied here. Essentially, it proves that potential customers need to go through a set of steps before they trust you enough to buy from you. Research shows that customers need to see your brand seven times before they will buy from you. The steps of the marketing funnel differ, but most consider them to be awareness, interest, consideration, intent, evaluation, purchase. You need to build up their trust before they will reach the purchase stage.

This idea can be applied to PPC and organic results in the sense that by appearing in both the paid and search ads you are increasing the number of times a searcher sees your brand. Once they are familiar with you, you are also giving the searcher more opportunity to choose your company as you appear in the results twice. What is more, searchers that have been exposed to a particular brand through paid search may be more likely to engage with the organic content in the future.

As a result of this, many companies choose to bid on branded terms, to increase the amount they appear in the results. Companies such as Moz warn against this, while others such as iProspect claim you should because others might be bidding on your company name and you don’t want them to appear above you!

Paid ads can lead to other things

If you are focusing solely on the conversion rate of your adverts, you are missing the bigger picture. Paid ad clicks can lead to other things, not just the exact conversion you are after. A searcher might click through, explore your website and find something worth sharing. They might mention your brand elsewhere, provide press coverage or post your link on social media. All these things can boost your organic rankings, some directly, some indirectly. PPC adverts also increase the website traffic overall and could compel customers to check back later, via organic results.

You can change the market

By bidding on paid search results, you really can change the market and change the value of those queries. For example, if no one is bidding on insurance for personal trainers and some companies start focusing on this and eventually bidding on it, they have created a value chain and a monetisation method. This type of search will then have more brands and more competition. As a result of this, the organic results can become more competitive too! The entrance of paid results can change the market and competitiveness of the organic results.

For help with your SEO campaign, get in touch with the Webahead team today!

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