ROI in SEO Goes Down, but the Cost Goes Up? I Consider Shifting to Google PPC

Kunjal
Can we all (or some) agree to the statement that Return on Investment (ROI) in Search Engine Optimization (SEO) has come down and that the costs to carry out the campaigns have risen?
I am considering shifting to Google Pay-Per-Click (PPC)
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roi in seo goes down but the cost goes up i consider shifting to google ppc

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Peter
If you treat Search Engine Optimization (SEO) as a "campaign" (i.e. "I want to rank for this/these terms") – then you're probably right. If, on the other hand you view SEO with a much broader approach, and over the indefinite long term (i.e. "I want to be the authority on this subject or in this niche") then no, it isn't more expensive generally. Sure, costs invariably go up as you approach the top of the niche (because links from Fiverr and Quora don't actually cut it at that level, and content written by college kids isn't sufficient) – but, if you are getting it right and ranking, the traffic and revenues should come with it to support reinvestment.
Sargent
I see more people talking about jumping the SEO ship than the PPC ship.
Full disclosure, PPC all the way who is now adding SEO onto clients for the long term success of their business.
It really depends on the industry your serving. I feel like with both PPC and SEO you need to start with the quick wins (highest impact).
In PPC, you have to be aggressive and work way to hard to prove and ROI in niches. While others can have a half optimize campaign and be proving ROI.
It doesn't help in the SERP results that ads are getting more and more spots.
We have clients that have both an SEO and a PPC agency. We've stayed with the client since 2017. We've seen countless SEO agency come in and out the door. What always ends up happening is the client sets aggressive goals. The SEO agency agrees and charges top dollar. The goals are not met within the timeframe. Then another agency is hired and reaping the rewards of the last agency.
It's an insane cycle where the SEO agencies don't set up proper expectations. It's also in a highly competitive space.
I've seen other industries where paid search doesn't make sense and the clients DIY has them ranked because not one of their competitors has meta information.
I hope some of this could help.
Phil
If you mean that you can't just click a few buttons and start ranking .. yes!
If you mean there's not significant money to be made from SEO .. no!
I think people are just flocking to the same areas a lot of the time eg. Affiliate. Move on!! 🙂

Kunjal » Phil
Affiliate makes sense, but I was referring to growing client's business website which could be a site selling services or products in a very competitive market.
Phil » Kunjal
Then it may be tough. My view has always been the same … give 50% of budget to adwords and 50% to Search Engine Optimization (SEO). That way, a business is getting some traffic for relevant keywords, but also working on improving their SEO over time.
SEO takes time and it is more expensive than it used to be IMO. But it's still incredibly profitable compared with Pay-Per-Click (PPC).
Kunjal » Phil
Good Strategy, that is the reason I need to learn Google PPC can't be seldom reliant on SEO it's important to learn PPC while I will never rid myself of SEO ever

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Lauren
I know this answer won't be popular but it's honest.
I have scaled two businesses one with SEO and one with SMA & PPC.
The SMA & PPC business was far more dependable and reliable once the method was refined.
Scaling your business with a reliability on SEO for income/leads is essentially gambling, the larger the reliability and the larger the scale the more the risk.
SEO users & webmasters need to think about how to diversify the risk within their own space so that businesses can scale safely. Clients should be aware of the risks and given options to insure against it.
It doesn't matter how you "approach" SEO either, if you're doing anything to increase traffic and you're seeing revenue from that traffic that's growth on a system you can't truly control.

Mike » Lauren
Yep. I never understand why so many people shy away from PPC campaigns. They are so much more consistent and make it so much easier to test new markets and new strategies.
Kunjal » Lauren
That's what I'm talking about. As a Marketer you get paid for the amount of ROI your efforts bring SEO is relevant and will stay that way. But in a shorter while it's PPC that's beings ROI while SEO keeps taking place on the side.
To be able to make more money it's essential to have a high ticket skill like PPC with PPC skill I can assure client that I can give you x amount of sales by the end of the week but with SEO it will probably take months at least if the project has just begun. I have SEO ecom clients that are clocking $1k-18k organic sales a month but it takes time to get them there.
Lauren » Mike
Totally agree.
To minimise risk businesses should have a holistic strategy, and ideally revenue should come from multiple sources in proportioned amounts. Otherwise they risk a house of cards effect.
As a business owner I know I get more value from SEO but that value add immediately drops as I expose more of my business to relying on it.

Jack
A local business that, on average, can generate more than £2,500+ in average job revenue should focus on PPC over SEO in my opinion. £2,500 is worth a lot of clicks which will turn into jobs for the client. It's quicker and easier to provide reliable, consistent results. SEO can literally be destroyed on a whim by Google and you'll be screwed. The client will leave because they no longer get leads. Combo of the 2 is so much easier to sell 👌

Kunjal
I have seen sites that did just PPC and not SEO at all, such sites after a time enjoy a good share of organic traffic as PPC complements SEO. Not a lot agree to that but I have witnessed it myself. Can't reveal the client's site URL for obvious reasons.

Clint
I agree, you should transfer to PPC
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Kunjal
Clients pay us based on what ROI in monetary terms we can justify, if our SEO efforts are only driving $1000 revenue in a month then there's no way that the clients is gonna pay you more than $500 (which might still be a HUGE number that I have assumed) PPC, on the other hand, can drive more revenue based on how much the client is willing to spend and how much the ROAS is that are arriving at. On any given day PPC is more reliable in terms of results & instant ROI
SEO has a longer shelf life, helps with branding, authority and web visibility, and also revenue generation but still, it's not that scalable.
I mean sure the SEO project that started in the years when Google was lenient Pagerank was there, the need to invest was low those projects are b1tching right now and will continue to for a very long period. But what about projects that are just starting or has started out maybe a year or two ago?
There are very few clients who will be willing to work at the break-even point or maybe at a loss. That seems hardly the case.

Steve Toth ^🎓
Speaking realistically, it's not feasible for a small business to go through 5 different SEO agencies finally to land on the right one. So many go choose strictly PPC after getting burned. It's the ones that start with PPC and never try SEO that bother me.

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