It’s a common temptation with small business owners to want to skip pay per click (PPC) search marketing.  Instead, they want to move ahead with organic search engine optimization (SEO) because the clicks are free.  There is also a belief that consumers view SEO rankings as more authoritative and trustworthy because the ranking was “earned”–which is partially true.

However, as you start out with a keyword-based inbound marketing effort, one of the most important things you’ll have to do is identify the keyword queries that lead to conversions on your website.  And while there are many keyword tools that will give you phrases with search volumes, you have to make assumptions about which of these will convert the best.

And if you only do organic SEO, these will remain assumptions. The main problem is that with organic keyword queries, Google does not provide data on the keywords used that result in traffic to your website; it’s a matter of their privacy policy.  If you only do organic search, you could spend years identifying key performance indicators (KPIs) for targeted keywords.

Use PPC to Discover Top Converting Keyword Queries

On the other hand, pay-per-click advertising provides data on not only the keyword phrases that trigger your ads, but also the exact keyword phrase searchers used.  As you test keywords, ad copy, and landing pages, this data is gold.

Over time, you can identify individual keywords and long-tail keyword phrases, then tie them into the conversion data on your website.  This gives you key insight into the terms consumers use when they search online–that result in ROI for your marketing.

You now know the exact keywords and keyword phrases people searched on that resulted in conversions on your website.  This creates the keyword list you use for organic SEO.  Instead of making assumptions, you have have hard data on what keyword queries result in conversions.  Now you know your long-term SEO efforts will bear fruit.

And as you gain organic results, you can begin to flat-line or decrease your PPC budget to take advantage of that golden organic page one real estate.

Using Marketing Software to Your Advantage

Marketing 360® is inbound marketing platform designed to analyze and integrate the KPIs from all digital marketing channels.  This tool will track your PPC conversions based on keyword and ad performance.  It tracks keywords you’re ranking for and the click through performance of your organic listings.

All data from Google, Bing, and Yahoo is brought together in one platform.  This is the ideal marketing software to track your PPC campaigns then take what you learn and apply it to SEO.

In the end, PPC and SEO have the same goals: to bring targeted traffic to your website based on high performing keyword queries.  Take the easier to obtain keyword data from PPC and use it for SEO, and you’re long term marketing ROI will really benefit.