#5 Comparison between Paid-Per-Click and Search Engine Optimisation
The search engine optimisation (SEO) is a common procedure on the web for creating and modifying website in a manner that make it easier for search engines to both index and crawl its content.
When SEO began, many conveyed their opinions that it would encourage the spread of spam and of which search-engine spam is a severe problem (Zhang and Dimitroff 2005). However, SEO is a general accepted process search engines manage to recognise spam, probably the strongest argument for SEO is the fact that search engines themselves publish guidelines on how to optimize Websites for search engines (Zhang and Dimitroff 2005)
Search engines occupy a prominent position in the onlineworld; over half of all visitors to websites arrive there from a search engine rather than through a direct link from another web page (Introna and Nissenbaum 2000; Telang et al. 2004).
Furthermore, in search engine optimization, companies endeavour to push the standings of their websites greater in the organic search results (i.e., no payment made to the search engine) through a variety of techniques (e.g., changing the structure of the sites) or by hiring external consultants to develop specific techniques that will cause search engines to index their sites in higher positions (Delaney 2006). In addition, Web designers are recognizing that search results can have branding implications (Wasserman 2006), because the results offer a natural way for Internet users to gather information about brands (Browne et al. 2007)
Therefore, not surprisingly, industry observers argue that companies should pursue organic search rankings if their goal is to obtain a long-term, sustainable branding impact (Noaman 2006).
Paid per click (PPC) refers to a company paying for enhanced ranking and visibility on published site when consumers search for keywords on a search engine (Changhyun 2013). The company pays the publisher dependent upon the amount of clicks a user has made to the company’s site in result of the advertisement rather than paying for exposure on the site (Rutz et al 2012). Although probability of someone clicking on a paid advertised link is greater, the company need to ensure they use the correct keywords on their site to generate sufficient traffic resulting in consumers to view the advert exposure (O’Connor 2009). In order to stimulate clicks, search engine publishers provide companies with their search engine clicks and data so that companies can better manage their keywords on their sites and increase visibility on search engines resulting in greater clicks (Rutz et al 2012). Therefore it is important that companies still manage their keywords effectively on sites to match keywords which consumers are likely to search, as if this is not effective, consumers will not see the link/site regardless of the ranking (O’Connor 2009). This further influences the conversion rates which need to be evaluated against the cost of using PPC to ensure return on investment (Rutz et al 2012).
Some search engines distinguish PPC from SEO through colour differentiation which consumers may acknowledge further influencing the consumer’s decision to click on the site due to scepticism as consumers are aware that the link is paid which may therefore lead to irrelevant content (O’Connor 2009).
In comparing the PPC with SEO, both techniques are focused on pushing the standings of websites greater in the organic search results, the basic difference is that the PPC requires payment for enhanced ranking and visibility on published site when consumers search for keywords on a search engine; while the SEO techniques requires no payment made to the search engine.
REFERENCE
Browne, G. J., Pitts, M. G., and Wetherbe, J. C. (2007) “Cognitive Stopping Rules for Terminating Information Search in OnlineTasks,” MIS Quarterly (31:1), pp. 89-104.
Changhyun,K. (2013) ‘Single-period balancing of pay-per-click and pay-per-view online display advertisements’, Journal of revenue & pricing management, 10 (3), 261-270
Delaney, K. J. (2006) “Leadership (a Special Report); Wisdom for the Web: Search-Engine Advertising Is Crucial These Days; butMarketers Have to Know What They’re Doing,” The Wall StreetJournal, July 10, p. R4.
Noaman, A. 2006 “Pick Me! Pick Me!” ABA Bank Marketing
(38:7), pp. 34-38.
O’Connor,P. (2009) ‘Pay-per-click search engine advertising’, Cornell Hospitality Quarterly, 50 (2), 232-244
Rutz,O., Bucklin,R., Sonnier,G. (2012) ‘A Latent instrumental variables approach to modelling keyword conversion in paid search advertising’, Journal of Marketing Research, 49 (3), 306-319
Wasserman, T. 2006. “Google Advocates Change in AdvertisingApproach,” Brandweek (47:36), p. 12.
Zhang, J. and Dimitroff, A. (2005) ‘The impact of metadata implementation on webpage visibility in search engine results (Part II) Information Processing and Management 41; 691-715
Zhang, J. and Dimitroff, A. (2005)‘the impact of webpage content characteristics on webpage visibility in search engine results (Part I) Information Processing and Management 41 665-690.
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