One of the revolutionary things about digital marketing is the ability to take your brand right where people are looking for you.
With traditional approaches, a business had to hope that the right people would see a billboard in a high-traffic area or an advertisement during a high-demand TV show. Target marketing has made it easier for businesses to identify their potential clients, find them on the internet, and focus their digital marketing efforts solely on them.
Search engine optimization (SEO) and pay-per-click (PPC) are among the most effective methods of increasing a law firm’s online visibility. They both work by identifying target keywords and creating ads or other types of content intended for people using these words for internet searches. Despite this, SEO and PPC are more different than alike.
Let’s look at how SEO and PPC compare and which one is better for your law firm.
SEO For Law Firms
SEO refers to the improvement of a website’s visibility on search engines. Normally, search engine web crawlers scour the internet looking for new information to index. Coming upon your site, they check for keywords and phrases to match you with people searching for your services.
But for search engines to rank your page among the top results of a relevant search, it has to consider factors like loading time, site responsiveness, user experience, and content quality. If done right, SEO can increase a law firm’s exposure to potential clients and ultimately, bring in new business.
The best thing about SEO for law firms is that you don’t have to pay to rank at the top of a results page. Of course, you’ll need to invest in a fast website and high-quality content with keywords but no more than that.
Unfortunately, the results are not immediate and a law firm has to wait for the web crawler to find their site and start displaying on search results.
PPC for Law Firms
PPC is a form of paid digital marketing and this is how it works: A law firm invests a particular amount into a PPC campaign. They then choose a particular set of popular keywords and phrases they want to rank for. When a potential lead uses these phrases for a search, the publisher, usually a search engine, displays the law firm’s ad at the top of other organic results. If the said lead clicks on the ad, a particular amount, known as cost-per-click, is deducted from the campaign budget.
A common question among lawyers is why do PPC when SEO can rank your site without that much investment?
First, PPC results are almost immediate while one has to wait for SEO to bear fruits. PPC is also cost-effective because you only pay after a potential client clicks on your ad. If you are not getting traffic then you retain your money.
However, the website traffic and other benefits of PPC stop flowing in as soon as you cease paying. This means that the strategy is not sustainable if you don’t have a stable marketing budget.
Which One Is Better for My Law Firm?
As you can see, both approaches have their pros and cons, as well as different situations that each is most ideal. When it comes to SEO and PPC for your law firm, the question is not about choosing a “better” strategy but one that meets your current legal marketing needs.
If you are looking for immediate results with website traffic, possible conversions, and have a marketing budget, then PPC is the way to go. Alternatively, if you are not ready to invest in paid marketing and are willing to wait for organic posts to start paying off, then SEO will suit your law firm better.