SEO Tips From A PPC Pro

Today’s entry is a guest post from Ian Lopuch, digital marketing executive, educator, and blogger. You can follow Ian via his blog, PPCIan.com.

Digital marketing is a team sport. At the corporate level, I cannot think of too many functions that are more interdisciplinary than digital marketing. In that spirit, I wanted to share today some of my favorite SEO tips, coming from a PPC pro. Here are some amazing ways you can grow your SEO program by leveraging your PPC team.

Tip 1: Prioritize SEO Keywords Based On PPC Performance

Paid search campaigns drive an amazing treasure trove of data, in a very fast and efficient manner (assuming you have budget to run large scale PPC campaigns). When it comes to digital marketing, many SEO professionals go after the highest volume keywords. However, the highest volume, category-defining keywords are not always the highest converters. From your company’s PPC data, you can quickly identify the best keyword candidates, not only from a volume standpoint but also from a conversion rate standpoint. At the end of the day, it’s not only about driving traffic, it’s about driving new business.

Tip 2: Leverage PPC Landing Page Testing To Improve SEO Conversions

PPC is all about efficiency. In an environment of limited positions and competitive CPCs, it’s of critical importance to test and optimize landing pages. Paid search marketers work so hard not only to drive traffic, but to convert at the highest level possible. Leverage these same insights in SEO. Of course, SEO pages will be quite different than paid search landing pages. That said, there is always room to do more with the same. There is always room to increase your conversion rate!

Tip 3: Apply PPC Ad Copy Findings To Your SEO Program

Click-through-rates (CTRs) are of critical importance in PPC. With higher CTRs, you become more competitive on search engines, rise in position, and enjoy lower CPCs as a result. Because of its importance, SEM professionals are always testing new ads. Consider leveraging PPC ad copy findings in your SEO titles and meta descriptions. Moreover, consider including winning ad copy on your SEO content pages. Ad copy is a huge influencer of conversion rate, it’s all about doing more with the same.

Tip 4: Leverage Attribution Modeling Across PPC and SEO

How are you measuring SEO conversions? Are you looking just at last click conversions? If so, you are probably missing quite a few conversions. I highly recommend getting a great attribution model and strategy in place. Understand how to value first, middle, and last click conversions across all channels. Are certain SEO keywords driving PPC conversions? Great data always yields optimal results. Leverage your first and middle click conversion data to prioritize future projects, don’t solely rely on last click conversions.

Tip 5: Raise SEO Conversion Rate With Retargeting

Retargeting programs are the ideal way to bring qualified customers back to your site, who were not quite ready to purchase during their last visit. PPC pros are masters of retargeting, and will typically manage retargeting programs at your company. Why not place retargeting pixels on your SEO content-heavy pages? Retarget those customers who did not convert, in partnership with your PPC team, to increase yield on your current traffic base.

Tip 6: Tap Into PPC Search Engine Relationships To Gain Insights

PPC teams typically manage relationships with search engines. If your company spends a lot of money, the level of search engine support is truly astounding. Search engines are able to provide a wealth of PPC assistance, but are unable to provide any guidance on SEO. That said, you can still gain a lot of great insights from your company’s reps. Consider sitting in on the weekly calls from time-to-time.

Tip 7: Collaborate With Your PPC Team on Social Media

Social Media is becoming increasingly important as it pertains to SEO performance, and so much more. There are so many ways to grow your social media program. One quick way is via paid campaigns. Collaborate with your PPC team. Get some paid “like” campaigns going. Leverage PPC to catapult your social media program to the next level. Build a super social media program and add fuel to your SEO program.

I hope these tips help! It’s all about collaboration and teamwork, and I hope these tips help you find great new ways to collaborate with your PPC team in growing your SEO program.