Search Engine Advertising is a term that is inherently confusing. Some use this term interchangeably with Sponsored Search or Pay Per Click Advertising as in Google Adwords. Of course, these are actual advertisements that are tied to specific keyword phrases. As such they are targeted advertisements because they are only viewed based on the keyword itself. Others use this term to mean Organic Search Engine Optimization or SEO which in fact are not advertisements. Rather, these are listings based strictly on relevance as rated by the search engines themselves. These listings are not purchased or bid upon like PPC; they are earned through highly sophisticated optimization techniques. Successful Organic Optimization results in highly visible listings with no cost to the website owner no matter how many times the listing is displayed or clicked.

The difference between making and losing money in a PPC campaign is all too often directly attributable to a lack of, or even, non-existence of an Adwords Management Strategy.

As is the case with many products and service providers, there is a wide disparity between and amongst SEO companies.  Without essaying over the comparisons of “unnamed” companies or competitors, let’s review those qualities you should seek in selecting the right SEO company for your online strategy.

C-Level Executives have an important stake in the online business performance of their company websites. However, CEOs, COOs, CFO’s and other top execs are no different than any other top executives and business owners when it comes to their website and “the purpose of it all.” Often they are frustrated that a good deal of company money has been spent on website design and promotion yet the early optimism has faded with time as the hoped-for results in terms of sales, profitability and corporate efficiency just didn’t materialize.

Let me give you the answer up front… Both!

Now read on if you wish to know more.
Firstly, to make sure everyone knows the physical difference see the illustration provided …

While organic listings are based on relevancy alone, as evaluated and rated by Google’s algorithms, paid search, more specifically, paid search listings also are controlled by relevancy. This may seem counterintuitive when thinking of Paid Search. Paid Search by definition involves a bidding process specific to keywords and basic logic would indicate that the highest bidder would get the highest positions within the Paid Search Listings. However, Relevancy is the most important factor for Google, even as it applies to Paid Search. Google invests billions to make their results more relevant and this extends to its major profit contributor, paid ads. Google wants one thing, above and beyond all else … the continued #1 ranking of its search service to continue to dominate the Search Engine Industry. If searchers continue to use Google in overwhelming numbers, advertisers are sure to continue bidding higher and for more keywords.

Ever get the look …The look when discussing intrernet marketing and its potentialwith clients. The look that says “what are you talking about?” The incredulous look about what it really takes to be successful marketing on the internet.

Internet Marketing is nothing short of a big race. If you are a brand new website, your competitors already on the web are already ahead of you. If this race were across the United States and we are all trying to get to California from New York, your competition can be anywhere from Ohio to Nevada. So by the time your website is created and launched, your competition still holds a wide advantage in the “race to California.”

For the purposes of this article let’s assume that you have successfully achieved high organic search engine rankings for the right key words through Search Engine Optimization (SEO) efforts and have also employed paid search (PPC or Pay Per Click ) to more fully maximize traffic to your website. At this point you have a web presence with a site and good search engine optimization results, as well as, paid search management that have paved the way to your site. But now you are not achieving your BUSINESS objectives of increasing SALES AND PROFITABILITY.