Co-existence of SEO and PPC- not just a Recommendation but Compulsion with new Google Updates

Time and again it is proven by Google that whether you are trying to promote your business organically or via paid campaigns, Quality of your content and Quality of your service matters equally! And the most recent update of Google PPC Ads proves the point.

Previously, there was no certain way to determine where your Ad will be shown on the SERP. The Top and Average Ad Ranks alloted were only to determine the position of your Advertisement in terms of number of bidders. For instance, if there are five bidders and your Ad rank is number 1, then there would not be any ads above your ad. But, there was a possibility that there would be Organic Results above your Google Ad!

But from September 2019, Google has made an update where you can choose where your Ad will be displayed on the SERP! The Average position concept will become obsolete and Top and Absolute Top impressions metrics will replace the old concept. According to this new concept, you can now aim for the First Position in the SERP with Absolute Top impressions! Thus, when you have 100% in the Absolute Top impressions, your Ad will appear on the First position in the SERP always! Below is how that column will look:

So, now that you know you have a chance to be on Top of Google SERP, the next logical step is how? Well, according to Google, the two factors that will determine whether your Ad will appear on the Absolute Top are:

2 major factors to gain Absolute Top position on Google:

• Quality of your ads and landing page experience
• Your bid

While the second criteria is there purely for monetary purposes, the first criteria makes SEO and Content quality inevitable for those who wish to gain maximum benefit from Google by claiming the Absolute Top position.

Thus, for those who are under a false impression that by paying Google, you can bypass SEO and quality content, this is an eye opener for them. And for those who are not yet convinced that it is essential that you have to target both SEO and PPC to make money from Google and will cover it by saying that we are happy with Top Position and can settle for not having Absolute Top position, here is something to prove you wrong.

With the latest update, even to claim Rank one in Top impressions i.e. to get Rank 1 in the Ad Auction, there are 5 criteria that you will have to focus on:

5 criteria that determine Ad rank in Top impressions:

• Your Bid:

Since Google is not a non profit organisation, money will always be a factor in the rank. So, the higher the bid, the higher the rank, period!

• Quality of your Ads and Landing Page:

Google has always been on top because of their Customer Centric business model and here too, the Rank of your Ads is highly dependent upon the Ads and Landing page quality (in a nutshell, your Landing Page must be SEO optimised and must have relevant and high quality content)

• Ad Rank Thresholds:

Again, if your Ad does not match the quality standards of Google (which simply means the Ads that has no SEO optimisation and poor quality content), then you won’t even get the chance to be featured in Google Ads! Yup, you heard it right! If you do not meet the minimum threshold, your ad won’t be qualified or Google Ads.

• The Ad Relativity:

One other norm of Google Ads which is a major factor of SEO as well is the relativity of your Ad with the search made by the user. So, if Google thinks your ad is what the user is looking for, they you will have the advantage.

• Impact of Ad extensions on your users:

If you choose to add your contact details or address to your Ad description in form of Ad extension, the Google will determine whether those extensions will impact the decision of the Users and if it thinks that users are more likely to click on your Ad because of your extension, then you will have the advantage and your Ad will be featured above others.

Thus, no matter what your motive is, whether you choose to be nothing but the best or settle for an average top position, Quality service and SEO optimisation will always be an important factor. We at Nesterzweb have always insisted our clients that they opt for both i.e. SEO and PPC to claim the maximum benefit as we know that quality and relevance will always beat money! It seems that Google is now proving our point that having a huge PPC budget is not enough! You need SEO optimisation, relevant service and quality content along with the money to get maximum ROI on your PPC campaign.