Organic listings V Pay Per Click

What’s the difference between the two?

Organic listings are the listings in a search result page that are not sponsored links or advertised positions, they appear to be in the results through their own merit and value of the content of the web site. They are keyword led.

Pay per click (PPC) listings are the sponsored links that appear at the top, bottom and to the right of search engine results. They are a form of advertising that is led by how much you are prepared to bid to achieve the highest placement. They are also keyword led.


The advantages of both of these types of listing is they are TARGETED to your customer! The person who is looking for your product or service is using specific keywords.

So Organic V PPC – well it’s simple PPC adverts are seen for what they are adverts, where as organic listings are more trusted, they are seen to be more relevant and trustworthy as they appear natural.
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Currently on the average search a user will click on an organic result 72% of the time compared to 28% on a Pay Per Click Advert.


 
Search Engine Marketing – Enquiro - March 2007

Although organic listings appear to have all the advantages, they do have their problems, they take time to appear and can be quite unreliable, a change in a search engine algorithm can  cause a site or page to drop in rankings  or drop out  altogether. Generally it is recommended to have a mix of both organic and PPC.