The PPC Lie

PPC/AdWords seems to be all the rage these days but if you dive into the details, you’ll realize that all the money could potentially better spent elsewhere since most if it is ending up in Google’s pockets.

In previous blog posts I’ve discussed some of the drawbacks of AdWords.  That being said, there are some definite positive aspects too – so don’t get me wrong.  The thing is, MOZ wrote a post about the fraud that is PPC to better explain that when your business is buying all of those supposed impressions, they aren’t making an impression on real people!

The other negative component of PPC is that even if an actual impression was served, that doesn’t actually mean it was SEEN!  Google did some research on this in light of the fact that more digital advertisements are being bought as viewable ads and not just served impressions.

I will always say that PPC has a definititve place in an overall digital marketing effort, but should never be THE digital marketing effort.  SEO, over the long-term, is still the best bet in terms of cost effectiveness and reach.  Yes, PPC/SEM is easier (sort of, but not to master) but that doesn’t mean that is what you should be doing.  An effective SEO company can have a much larger impact on your business, over a much longer period of time.