MappingTheWeb //

[The Beauty of Organic Search Results] - Yes, I just called organic search results beautiful. The reason is simple. They drive free, qualified traffic. It doesn’t get any better than that. I’m a true believer in quality content and good page structure. From a corporate perspective, too little money is being put toward SEO. Its inorganic cousin, PPC, seems to be reaping in the bulk of the marketing budget. There must be a balance though.

I am extremely biased when it comes to search engine marketing. I think that most companies tend to overlook SEO in favour of PPC, as they assume that the latter provides more immediate, visual results and a better ROI. Little do they know, a well-executed SEO campaign can also provide immediate results in as little as a few days. Obviously, the upfront cost of optimization needs to be taken into consideration, but I still believe the long-term, residual benefits of SEO to be greater than those of a short-term PPC campaign.

In other words, an SEM budget should be weighted slightly toward PPC in the beginning, but transition to SEO over time. In the end, the ROI should be excellent, as organic search should be driving the majority of traffic.