Online Marketing Mix: What is Paid SEO?

May 18, 2013

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In the digital world, three letters – SEO – carry a lot of power.

SEO stands for ‘search engine optimization’.  It describes the process by which you make your website as visible and attractive to search engines as possible. Why would you want that to happen? Simple – the more visible your website, the easier it is for people to find it.

For example, if your main keyword is ‘gardening equipment’, your website – properly optimized – will appear higher on the list that comes out when someone types in ‘gardening equipment’ into Google or Bing and hits enter.

And since the vast majority of people click on the top three results, you’re more likely to receive traffic.

When it comes to SEO, there are two broad categories: paid and unpaid (or organic). We’ll look at paid here.

Paid SEO

Paid SEO basically means paying for exposure. In other words, you are buying ‘space’ online, and that space directs traffic to your website.

This differs from organic because organic is achieved just by what’s on your website and any linked content (like a separate blog, incoming links, social media, etc).  With paid SEO, you are purchasing access to traffic.

The most popular example, arguably, is Google AdWords.  Google AdWords allows you to basically bid on a keyword and pay Google for every visitor that reaches your website from ads and other placements.

So, if you bid on ‘gardening equipment’ and it costs, say, $0.05 per click, you would pay a nickel every time someone clicked on the ad or banner and goes to your website.

Paid SEO is useful when it comes to generating as much exposure as possible as a part of an integrated campaign with organic SEO.  You can’t just use paid SEO; you’ll need to work on your website too. But for casting a big net – and getting targeted (i.e. relevant) traffic – paid SEO can definitely come in handy.

Consult with an expert to determine if paid SEO is for you! For more information, email info@wbn-marketing.com.