SEO Basics | Organic Search Results

SEO Basics: Organic Search Results & PPC

When you first begin to optimize your website, there are a couple of terms that come up quite frequently; organic search results and PPC or pay-per-click.

While both of these get you traffic, it's important to understand the difference between the two.

Organic Search Results

When someone does a search within a search engine, there are two kinds of results that come up. One of them is the organic search results and the other are the PPC advertisments.

The organic search results are those listings that you see on a search results page (also called a SERP), that are not paid for. In other words, the search engine deems these websites the best match for the search query you entered.

When you use search engine optimization techniques, it is in these positions that you want your website to show.

These sites do not pay to be listed here. They have done their homework and have placed themselves in the top positions of a search engines results page by using SEO techniques.

Now, to be fair, there are some websites, although not many, who will end up in the first ten organic spots because they've been around for a very long time. However, if you're just starting up your website and want to knock these sites out of their positions, you'll need to optmize your website properly.

PPC (Pay-Per-Click)

Within this same page, there are links at the very top of the page, usually with a different colored background than the rest of the listings, and there are other links that usually run down the right hand side of the page.

These are advertisements that companies are paying for in order to be listed on the page for the search query you entered.

Each time someone clicks on one of these advertisements, the company advertising will be charged a certain amount. The amount that's charged depends significantly on the keywords they are bidding on.

Sometimes you may run into an SEO company that "guarantees" you a position on the first page of Google for example. First of all, you should be extremely wary of any company that offers you a "gurantee" on SEO techniques. Especially if you are new to SEO and don't understand all of the terminology. They may very well be using unethical techniques to get you there.

However, another well-known ploy some unethical SEO companies will use is that of guaranteeing a top position in Google or some other search engine but will instead have you place an ad on this page. Technically, you are getting on the first page of a search engine, but you are also paying for advertising which is something you could very well do on your own.

If your site is relatively new, and you'd like to start getting instant traffic to your site without waiting for your SEO results to start taking hold, I highly suggest purchasing a course called Perry Marshall's AdWords Course used by many online professionals as the resouce for writing effective ads and keeping your costs down.

Did You Know?

"There is no reason at all to submit your site to search engines. The search engines will find you on their own. Don't pay a company to submit your website as it is not necessary."

- Kristine Wirth