We hear a lot of talk about SEO and Paid Search living together in perfect harmony, side by side on your search engine results page (SERP), but how do you execute a solid strategy to make this happen? 

The cost of unnecessary paid brand clicks quickly adds up if you’re already dominating the SERP organically. This can feel like an uphill battle for you and the team as economic sentiment continues in uncertainty, and spend efficiency is still top of mind.

To get to the bottom of it, Gary Galloway, Senior Director of Product Marketing at Adthena, and Pat Reinhart, VP of Customer Success at Conductor, got together to discuss how both channels can support growth strategies. Read Conductor’s full top tips article here for tactical and immediate actions that can help you lower your ad spend and maximize your organic traffic—without sacrificing your results. 

And here’s our take on the discussion and four key benefits of aligning PPC and SEO strategies:

Four benefits of aligning your PPC and SEO strategies

1. You’ll make the most of your marketing budget 

Unfortunately, money doesn’t grow on trees and marketers have limited budgets to deliver ROI with. However, brands can drive efficiency by focusing on collaboration and coordination across paid and organic search teams. Working together, rather than in silos, means teams can successfully optimize their search spend.

“Marketers don’t have bottomless budgets. They’ve got to be very mindful of budget and spend, especially in times like these. When it comes to paid and organic, I’ve seen these search streams work best when they’re really prioritized together.” Gary Galloway, Senior Director of Product Marketing at Adthena.

Paid search teams should share their priority keywords with organic teams in order to align strategies and track and report on them. This will eliminate budget wastage through bidding on Lone Ranger terms that brands are already winning organically. Once savings are in the bag, you can reinvest this budget in better-performing search terms. Paid search strategy should inform your organic strategy, and vice versa, hence the need for unity between the two teams.

2. You’ll dominate product categories 

Paid and organic synergy also allows you to boost your visibility across distinct keyword categories. Since the two channels operate in different ways, combining them helps you leverage your existing strengths while bridging any gaps that may exist.

“Say your company is launching a new product line. It’s likely that your website does not yet have much organic visibility for that category. While you work to build your (long-term) organic presence, you’ll want to strategically bid on paid terms to ensure your name is getting out there in the short-term.”  Pat Reinhart, VP of Customer Success at Conductor

3. You’ll adapt to new opportunities and scale content

Here’s how you can unify paid and organic search to create a measurable and successful content strategy:

  • Get on top of Algorithm Updates – Search engine algorithm updates can be unpredictable. Having an effective paid campaign can be a great support system for maintaining brand visibility and engagement during algorithm changes.
  • Test and Optimize – Paid and organic search thrive when they work together. Use SEO to identify keywords for future paid campaigns, and use PPC to test different creative messaging and positioning strategies. 
  • Identify Search Term Opportunities – Get insights into search term opportunities by looking at your top 5 competitors and understand who is bidding on what. 
  • Strengthen your Ad Copy – Get strategic insights into your competitors’ ad copy in order and compare their strategies to yours and adjust accordingly.

4. You’ll gain more intel than your competitors

SEO and PPC alignment helps you develop stronger, more resilient teams across the wider marketing department.

As Pat Reinhart says in the webinar, “It comes down to working closely together. [This cohesion between teams] allows you to understand what’s happening internally. When those two teams are working together, that company has more wisdom than other companies because they understand what’s happening on both sides.”

Paid and organic harmony improves resilience and efficiency, paving the way for paid search success.

Holistic strategies are the way (and here to stay)

SEO and PPC marketing strategies are not at odds; they complement each other. Paid and organic search should be no longer thought about as mutually exclusive; they thrive symbiotically in the digital marketing landscape. Together, the two efforts can help you drive leads, conversions, and customer loyalty; the ultimate strategy to achieve greater ROI. 

About Conductor & Adthena

Conductor, the leading enterprise organic and SEO platform, and Adthena, the leading paid search intelligence platform, have formed a strategic partnership to offer holistic search marketing intelligence solutions for enterprise brands. This partnership will allow brands to be able to make smarter investment decisions and maximize ROI with a complete view of their digital landscape.

Check out Conductor’s top takeaways recap, with actionable organic strategies to implement now. And check out the original webinar in full here for more insights.