As an SEO consultant, I have been asked on more than one occasion, is there a way to combine traditional SEO practices and pay per click advertising into one bundled package for optimal results? I am always delighted to provide the answer to that question. Absolutely YES! Yahoo has a program called Search Submit Express. The way the program works is for a site owner to set up an account with Yahoo and pay a nominal value to register a URL in the program. You then pay $0.30 cents per transaction each time a user clicks on your web site in the Yahoo Search Engine Results Page.

Now the question that generally is asked to me following that explanation is, how is this any better than pure PPC? The answer to that is rather simple. In traditional PPC, you may pay much less, $0.05 per click, or you could pay much more (in some cases $30 per click or more). Moreover, in a PPC campaign you select the keywords to go after and need to manage the account very closely. In the Search Submit Express program, you do not select your keywords; rather, your site comes up for the same terms it should come up for based on your SEO efforts. However, being a part of the aforementioned program your ranking is theorized to increase from its natural position in the SERPs to a higher position.

What is the gist of this program? You still need to use link building, content optimizing, title and Meta tags optimization and other forms of search engine optimization. However, the program will enhance those rankings which look natural to the user. All the while, you pay only a fraction of what many PPC programs might cost, and eliminate the stigma attached to paying your way into the engines that many searchers have.

Labels: PPC, PPI, SEO