Sources: Forrester Research, Penton Mkg Services, Marketing Sherpa, OnlineMBA.com

PPC / Search

• Average of 9% of B2B marketing budget spent on PPC

• Only 23% of searchers click on paid ads

• The cost of PPC has increased 37% in the last year

• Average of 7% conversion rate - PPC lead to close

• 12.5% of PPC clicks come from mobile device

Pros

• Great way to jump-start web traffic

• Quick solution when you need leads now

• Effective bid management tools now more prevalent

Cons

• Getting more expensive (costs up 37% over last year)

• Requires full-time management to keep bid prices optimized

• Not inherently scalable or stable (someone can always out-bid you)

• Lower lead-to-close conversion rates than SEO (Organic)

• Lead quality is suspect

 

SEO (Organic Search)

• Average of 12.5% of B2B marketing budget spent on SEO (Organic Search)

• 62% of users click a link on the first page of the search results

• Only 15% of searchers progress to the second page

• 23% of searchers try a different search phrase

• Average of 15% conversion rate - Organic Search (SEO) lead to close

Pros

• More sustainable and stable than PPC

• Perception of organic links as more relevant than PPC links

• Lead quality higher than PPC

• Higher lead-to-close conversions than PPC

Cons

• Requires specialized knowledge to get/keep pages optimized

• Slower time to value

• Success is generally a moving target