Things PPC can teach you for SEO

It is known amongst some that what can work for PPC can work for SEO, and vice versa – at least to some basic extent. That obviously does not mean that you only need to work on one, and the other will follow, but you can see that wins in one area can inform your decision making in another. This of course applies to things like copywriting, landing page optimisation, and of course keyword research. Google AdWords writers are aware that some small edits can have a drastic difference in your CTR (click through rate). So, why not try some of the proven rules of PPC copywriting to your SEO copy? Really, if it boosts your CTR in PPC, then could it not work just the same if used in the main title and the first few lines of your content? Also, why not look at it to improve your meta description, which could increase CTR from organic results.

What follows is 5 tips taken from my PPC experience, and applied to my SEO copywriting experience.

1. Experiment!!

See what I did there??

It is well known that testing an exclamation point on your PPC can often increase your CTR.

30 Day Warranty or Free Delivery? Which one will win?

Remember, an exclamation point shows passion, and a strong statement, which is the textual equal of raising your voice. So, when testing, you may see that it is more likely that you will grab a potential customer’s attention. Why not try this is your SEO Titles? It definitely won’t improve your organic rankings but let’s look at an example. If you put an article up about terrible customer service you received, you could go like this – “Commbank, What Is the Go?!” instead of using something like ‘Commbank, You’re Starting to Get on My Nerves” which will generate more clicks from Search Engines and social media channels like Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter.

2. Use proven data and evidence

It is known amongst PPC Professionals that Symbols and proof improve CTR (click through rate) in PPC. How would you use this in your SEO copy? Instead of making vague claims, and I’ll use an example here – AdWords Professionals know and understand the benefit of Negative Keywords in PPC  campaigns, but how to make it a more strong statement? “Negative keywords can improve your campaigns performance” Instead, you could use a statistic “Negative Keywords can reduce wasteful AdWords spend by up to 30%” Of course, use real data, (not like I just did) as the internet is an open pool of resources to research statistics like the above.

3. DKI

Have you heard of Dynamic Keyword Insertion (DKI)? It is used to incorporate exact wording from the search query used into your ad on a dynamic basis. So, Apple may send searchers of a iPad straight to a relevant category page for iPads, and the ad title will mirror what has been used as a search term. So, for example someone might type into Search Engines “iPad 3 price” into a Search Engine, the title of the ad would appear “ipad 3 prices” which will have the normal ad copy like “Search our online store for iPad 3 Prices, Cheap Shipping Rates.” Users will tend to click on relevant ads the deliver exactly what they are searching for. DKI in most instances will improve CTR for most generic ads.

Now it’s pretty obvious, that you can’t do the same thing with your SEO Title, but you can copy the techniques used by anticipating some alternate variables on search queries that could assist in leading someone to your website page. If you are going to trial this, I recommend conducting Keyword Research prior. If through research you find that there are three vary similar search terms (like this – “dinner sets”, “white dinner sets”, and “stainless steel dinner sets”) you could then add three different pages to your website, with similar, (not the same, we don’t want duplicate content) with each page optimised for each keyword. That way you can rank for each variation, add content, pages and more relevance to your website which will increase traffic, CTR and feed over to increased conversions.

4. Test like you today is your last!

Here at Click Click Media, we are testing maniacs, we believe that what gets measured effectively, will effectively improve. The thing is that it is not easy to simply A/B Split Test a full website page as it is to test PPC ads, but it is far from impossible, and the results are extremely rewarding for CTR and Conversions, when done right! Use Google Website Converter which can enable you to test alternate versions of an article or page you have made for SEO purposes. It is like a landing page, although it has nothing to do with PPC – you want to capture your readers and eventually guide them to complete a desired action. Some elements that you could run for testing should include but not be limited to, title, length of words and word count, some  images which could include the number of images, and the content of the images, special offers and small variants, which should include the wording of the offer, sidebar links, and so on. The only limits here to test are the limits you place. I would recommend then using the data across your whole site, because you have collected the research to allow an educated decision.

5. Minimise Irrelevance

I’m guessing if you are reading this blog, you would have at some stage tried to write an AdWords ad, and you would probably know, it is hard to get out everything you want in such a limited space whilst being original, interesting and pumping in the odd USP (unique selling proposition). Now the good news is you can be more lenient when it comes to copywriting for your website for SEO purposes, but all the same you can apply what you know. When writing for your website, don’t fluff around with your content or say in 10 words what you could say in 3. Here is an example for a bathroom renovation business “ when researching a company for bathroom renovations, remember you get what you pay for” then you could narrow that back “Bathroom Renovations, you get what you pay for” The more words put in, does not make you sound smart, or like you care, it really could just be wasting peoples time.

In PPC, you really have to dilute your message and avoid any redundancy. If you’ve never tried to write an AdWords ad, trust me, it’s hard to say what you want to say – and be clever and interesting to boot – within that tiny space. Luckily you don’t have to be that concise when it comes to SEO copywriting, but the lesson is still valuable. When writing for the web, you never want to beat around the bush, bury the lead, or say in ten words what you could say in five. Earlier today, I wrote something like “When it comes to PPC, what you get out of it depends on what you put in.” Then I realized I could say the same thing in a lot fewer words: “In PPC, you get out what you put in.” More words don’t make you sound smarter; they make you waste people’s time.

Aim for Continuous Improvement

In both PPC and SEO you should aim to continually improve your results. It is always worth analysing your data and experimenting with your content to optimise both your SEO and your PPC. Click Click Media specialises in optimising both websites and Adwords campaigns. Feel free to contact us if you would like any further information or to see if we can help your business.