Organic Search VS Pay Per Click

by Jeremy Schoemaker on November 7, 2007 · 50 comments

I recently was interviewed by Web Pro News about both organic (SEO) and pay per click advertising.

About the author...

– who has written 2414 posts on ShoeMoney.com.

Hi I am Jeremy Schoemaker and ShoeMoney.com is my blog. 99% of the post here are done by me but you will see others occasionally make guest posts. This blog is fun to write but for my day job I run several online companies.

Images provided by ShutterStock


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{ 50 comments… read them below or add one }

1 Mubin November 7, 2007 at 7:45 am

Love that stock photo!

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2 $1000 Dollar Project November 7, 2007 at 7:53 am

great interview and good arguments, i think if you have the budget and are starting a new site pay per click is a must if you want success

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3 JoeTech.com November 7, 2007 at 8:01 am

Great information from you and the others. You’re dead on about blogs and 1%.

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4 Ventrilo November 7, 2007 at 8:09 am

I couldn’t agree more about data from PPC campaigns

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5 Money from Surveys November 7, 2007 at 8:09 am

Great stuff – I can’t keep up with your posts, by the time I finish reading the last one a new one appears!

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6 pictpicture.com November 7, 2007 at 8:09 am

Great video, and an important topic. PPC really confuses a lot of people, especially many that aren’t sure when they should be investing in it, and if its worth it.

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7 Money from Surveys November 7, 2007 at 8:11 am

great stuff, as soon as I finish a post there is another to view

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8 chetan November 7, 2007 at 8:11 am

Nice discussion there between Dana Todd and Jeremy :)

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9 Amit Bhawani Patel November 7, 2007 at 8:13 am

Excellent video there, just checked out. :) PPC is always a sucess!

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10 Tim November 7, 2007 at 8:32 am

I recently tried PPC, Google said no to my ads after a few days. Apparently a user of my site is advertising their referral link already so they don’t want duplicate ads for the same site. I’m fine with that =P

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11 A Blog about Nothing November 7, 2007 at 9:04 am

Too bad I don’t actually have a product to sell. If I did I’d definitely buy some PPC advertising to get that initial surge of traffic like Jeremy suggested.

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12 Israel November 7, 2007 at 9:38 am

didnt really learn anything from the vid.

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13 Blog Contests November 7, 2007 at 9:39 am

Organic is always, but takes more time and skill IMO.

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14 Michael Woo November 7, 2007 at 9:59 am

Great stuff :)

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15 Regin November 7, 2007 at 10:01 am

You only need to watch the first 30 sec of this… SEO can be cheaper than PPC – but what gives you butter on the bread probably will be both!

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16 Vizion November 7, 2007 at 10:20 am

saw this yesterday when it came across the email – i kept waiting for a live interview…oh well. I guess that PPC is best when you actually have a live product – not information so-to-speak.

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17 Jim November 7, 2007 at 10:21 am

Very cool… But some PPC these days isn’t the highest quality traffic vs that coming from search results.

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18 jbwebs November 7, 2007 at 10:44 am

cmon dude….

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19 San Diego SEO November 7, 2007 at 10:54 am

I don’t think any one is better per say and both have their draw backs but it really comes down to your market, resources and time allowed. If you need results instantly then yea put some money in PPC but for long term traffic invest in SEO. A good marketer would find ways to leverage both even with a small budget.

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20 Domtan November 7, 2007 at 10:57 am

Organic SEO all the way, out of the two. Less disappointment, compared to your PPC campaign crash landing.

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21 concertFreak November 7, 2007 at 11:34 am

It’s a good newbie video to SEO vs PPC. The real winner here is Shoe for the additional links and buzz this will cause for him and his site in true SEO style.

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22 Backlink Checker November 7, 2007 at 12:05 pm

PPC wins but SEO traffic is cheap. :p

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23 John M Weaver November 7, 2007 at 12:40 pm

agreed. PPC is great…IF you have the budget! That is the problem with many sites or owners is that they need PPC to survive, but their budget is not high enough to pay the ridiculous new account bid limits that Google usually implies. Jeremy you make a really good point about blogs using SEO and ecomerce using PPC. I personally think a good combination is usually the winning recipe! PPC if you can afford to get it started and optimize your site right for SEO and you are good!

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24 King Jacob November 7, 2007 at 12:47 pm

Dont you basically have to do both to take full advantage of either?

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25 MyGoodFinds November 7, 2007 at 1:19 pm

Thanks for sharing the video, is really helpful for me as a SEO -expert-wanna-be.

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26 Neon November 7, 2007 at 1:49 pm

even though PPC is recommended to use to gather data, to reduce the cost, we still need to work on a little seo.

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27 Neon November 7, 2007 at 2:01 pm

given choice i really would like to have SEO.
you can setup ppc campaign much more easier and successful then SEO.
After working for months, SEO might not reach your expected result.

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28 chetan November 7, 2007 at 2:23 pm

Man but she talks really well..
And the anchor is good too!!!

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29 LeadCritic November 7, 2007 at 5:43 pm

Good job Jeremy and nice hair Dana.
However this is such a trivial question. They thought of this piece because they couldn’t think of anything better to talk about.

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30 賃貸 大阪 November 7, 2007 at 8:15 pm

I thought the same thing…webmaster 101. But webpronews does have slick videos…I am always amazed on their quality and bandwidth.

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31 Dave Oliver November 7, 2007 at 8:57 pm

This is a good basic piece that really sums up and gives some good arguments for PPC and SEO work. Of course it’s basic stuff and experience marketers already know this stuff, but new folks are coming online everyday, and really have no clue. This report puts things in a very clear, well-rounded perspective. Really like how Shoe simplifies the explanation of the quality score.

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32 serge November 7, 2007 at 9:12 pm

question: if a popular site, like this one, were to use PPC, would it not make you more money? I know the main goal of this site isn’t to make money, but it does, so how much more could be made with PPC?

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33 lyricsreg November 8, 2007 at 1:03 am

I do believe you are repeating yourself

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34 lyricsreg November 8, 2007 at 2:47 am

My guess is this site would not make as much as it does now if it were to use PPC. I have nothing to substantiate this, but I am confident I’m right :)

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35 Harshad November 8, 2007 at 2:49 am

The video gave up on me when last 3 mins were left. :(

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36 ChunJae November 8, 2007 at 3:52 am

PPC would be targeted if longtail keywords are used, Organic SEO is free, but it would take a long time to build…

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37 Myspace Layouts November 8, 2007 at 4:30 am

Good interview and Im loving the black turtle neck, it makes you look like Dr. Evil!

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38 Joeychgo November 8, 2007 at 11:52 am

Great interview Shoe!

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39 Tony Smith November 8, 2007 at 2:40 pm

Very cool interview and USEFUL!

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40 Neon November 8, 2007 at 3:52 pm

probably depends on shoe’s goal. his goal is to increase subscribers.
using ppc to get interested people into this site have high chance to convert into subscribers… then monetize from these subscriber in the long term :D

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41 tonyinabox November 9, 2007 at 4:28 am

I thought Web Pro News is a spam organization. lol

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42 Gecko Tales November 9, 2007 at 2:27 pm

It’s not an either or. It’s a both if you have the money. If not, you have to do good SEO. I saw a study a couple of years ago showing that if you have both paid and strong organic rankings you increase your chances of getting picked by 60% (or some other high number).
Also – if you do your organic work correctly you can dramatically cut your PPC costs. If for no other reason alone do quality SEO work for savings.

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43 Conversionable November 10, 2007 at 4:44 am

Id say eventually there will be no other choice but to rely heavily on PPC. Its only a matter of time before all the top ranking are dominated by high authority sites or Google owned properties.

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44 Steven Finch November 10, 2007 at 6:23 am

Organic is always the best! but a combination will have good results and it is just about getting people on your site!

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45 scamfreemoneytalks November 10, 2007 at 9:53 am

it we know how to play with ppc that it would be a great idea. since it is a fierce competition market it got to take lot of work to challenge the already ppc master. if you don’t do it right so long internet world.

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46 WideScreen Wallpapers November 11, 2007 at 7:01 pm

I have to agree with a few others, SEO is the best unless your doing strictly affiliate sites or stores.

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47 Interwebhunt November 12, 2007 at 8:57 am

I’d have to vote for seo as well

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48 amazonday November 24, 2007 at 4:10 am

Its nice info, thank you.

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49 Reverse Funnel System Blog November 24, 2007 at 5:25 pm

..Especiall all the time.. ^^
Biggest difference is that SEO is free.

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50 Dana Todd March 9, 2008 at 8:21 pm

Dude, I’m 42… but thanks, I appreciate you noticing my appearance more than my intellect. That’s what I strive for, ya know. All those years of college and industry cred-building are FAR less important than my face.
It’s always a joy to work in a male-dominated industry :-)

Funny how no one disses the dudes in SEO for their looks, just the women. Hm…I wonder…threatened much?

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