{"id":2769,"date":"2024-11-27T14:53:34","date_gmt":"2024-11-27T14:53:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ewebtoolz.com\/blog\/is-your-ppc-strategy-sabotaging-your-seo-2-3m-keyword-study\/"},"modified":"2024-11-27T14:53:34","modified_gmt":"2024-11-27T14:53:34","slug":"is-your-ppc-strategy-sabotaging-your-seo-2-3m-keyword-study","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ewebtoolz.com\/blog\/is-your-ppc-strategy-sabotaging-your-seo-2-3m-keyword-study\/","title":{"rendered":"Is Your PPC Strategy Sabotaging Your SEO? 2.3M Keyword Study"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div id=\"\">\n<p>We analyzed <strong>~2.3 million keywords<\/strong> with <strong>~4.99 million top ads<\/strong> to see how frequently businesses advertise on keywords where they already have an organic ranking in the top 10 positions.<\/p>\n<p>Here are some of the key statistics:<\/p>\n<p>37.9% of advertised websites already rank in the top 10 organically for the same keyword. This indicates that a significant portion of businesses are paying for ads when they already have visibility for that\u00a0term.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1896\" height=\"2048\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/37-9-of-advertised-websites-already-rank-in-the-t.jpg\" alt=\"37.9% of advertised websites already rank in the top 10 organically for the same keyword. \" class=\"wp-image-182800\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/37-9-of-advertised-websites-already-rank-in-the-t.jpg 1896w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/37-9-of-advertised-websites-already-rank-in-the-t-393x425.jpg 393w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/37-9-of-advertised-websites-already-rank-in-the-t-768x830.jpg 768w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/37-9-of-advertised-websites-already-rank-in-the-t-1422x1536.jpg 1422w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1896px) 100vw, 1896px\"\/><\/figure>\n<p>When looking at specific pages rather than entire websites, <strong>15.7%<\/strong> of advertised URLs have an organic ranking in the <strong>top 10<\/strong>. This shows that, even at the page level, ads are often run on already high-ranking content.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1896\" height=\"2048\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/when-looking-at-specific-pages-rather-than-entire.jpg\" alt=\"When looking at specific pages rather than entire websites, 15.7% of advertised URLs have an organic ranking in the top 10.\" class=\"wp-image-182801\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/when-looking-at-specific-pages-rather-than-entire.jpg 1896w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/when-looking-at-specific-pages-rather-than-entire-393x425.jpg 393w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/when-looking-at-specific-pages-rather-than-entire-768x830.jpg 768w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/when-looking-at-specific-pages-rather-than-entire-1422x1536.jpg 1422w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1896px) 100vw, 1896px\"\/><\/noscript><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1896\" height=\"2048\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/when-looking-at-specific-pages-rather-than-entire.jpg\" alt=\"When looking at specific pages rather than entire websites, 15.7% of advertised URLs have an organic ranking in the top 10.\" class=\"lazyload wp-image-182801\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/when-looking-at-specific-pages-rather-than-entire.jpg 1896w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/when-looking-at-specific-pages-rather-than-entire-393x425.jpg 393w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/when-looking-at-specific-pages-rather-than-entire-768x830.jpg 768w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/when-looking-at-specific-pages-rather-than-entire-1422x1536.jpg 1422w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 1896px) 100vw, 1896px\"\/><\/figure>\n<p>Shockingly, <strong>40.66%<\/strong> of pages that are advertised rank <strong>#1 organically<\/strong>. Essentially, these businesses are paying for the top ad placement on Google when they already rank in the number one organic position.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1896\" height=\"2048\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/40-66-of-pages-that-are-advertised-rank-1-organi.jpg\" alt=\"40.66% of pages that are advertised rank #1 organically\" class=\"wp-image-182802\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/40-66-of-pages-that-are-advertised-rank-1-organi.jpg 1896w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/40-66-of-pages-that-are-advertised-rank-1-organi-393x425.jpg 393w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/40-66-of-pages-that-are-advertised-rank-1-organi-768x830.jpg 768w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/40-66-of-pages-that-are-advertised-rank-1-organi-1422x1536.jpg 1422w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1896px) 100vw, 1896px\"\/><\/noscript><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1896\" height=\"2048\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/40-66-of-pages-that-are-advertised-rank-1-organi.jpg\" alt=\"40.66% of pages that are advertised rank #1 organically\" class=\"lazyload wp-image-182802\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/40-66-of-pages-that-are-advertised-rank-1-organi.jpg 1896w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/40-66-of-pages-that-are-advertised-rank-1-organi-393x425.jpg 393w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/40-66-of-pages-that-are-advertised-rank-1-organi-768x830.jpg 768w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/40-66-of-pages-that-are-advertised-rank-1-organi-1422x1536.jpg 1422w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 1896px) 100vw, 1896px\"\/><\/figure>\n<div class=\"post-nav-link clearfix\" id=\"section1\"><a class=\"subhead-anchor\" data-tip=\"tooltip__copielink\" rel=\"#section1\"><svg width=\"19\" height=\"19\" viewbox=\"0 0 14 14\" style=\"\"><g fill=\"none\" fill-rule=\"evenodd\"><path d=\"M0 0h14v14H0z\"\/><path d=\"M7.45 9.887l-1.62 1.621c-.92.92-2.418.92-3.338 0a2.364 2.364 0 0 1 0-3.339l1.62-1.62-1.273-1.272-1.62 1.62a4.161 4.161 0 1 0 5.885 5.884l1.62-1.62L7.45 9.886zM5.527 5.135L7.17 3.492c.92-.92 2.418-.92 3.339 0 .92.92.92 2.418 0 3.339L8.866 8.473l1.272 1.273 1.644-1.643A4.161 4.161 0 1 0 5.897 2.22L4.254 3.863l1.272 1.272zm-.66 3.998a.749.749 0 0 1 0-1.06l2.208-2.206a.749.749 0 1 1 1.06 1.06L5.928 9.133a.75.75 0 0 1-1.061 0z\" style=\"\"\/><\/g><\/svg><\/a><\/p>\n<p><h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Advertising when you don\u2019t have competitors: inefficient or intentional?<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Another surprising insight from our research is that in <strong>51.09%<\/strong> of cases, businesses advertise a page that ranks in the top 10, even when there are no competing ads present.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1896\" height=\"2048\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/in-51-09-of-cases-businesses-advertise-a-page-th.jpg\" alt=\"In 51.09% of cases, businesses advertise a page that ranks in the top 10, even when there are no competing ads present. &#10;\" class=\"wp-image-182803\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/in-51-09-of-cases-businesses-advertise-a-page-th.jpg 1896w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/in-51-09-of-cases-businesses-advertise-a-page-th-393x425.jpg 393w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/in-51-09-of-cases-businesses-advertise-a-page-th-768x830.jpg 768w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/in-51-09-of-cases-businesses-advertise-a-page-th-1422x1536.jpg 1422w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1896px) 100vw, 1896px\"\/><\/noscript><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1896\" height=\"2048\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/in-51-09-of-cases-businesses-advertise-a-page-th.jpg\" alt=\"In 51.09% of cases, businesses advertise a page that ranks in the top 10, even when there are no competing ads present. &#10;\" class=\"lazyload wp-image-182803\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/in-51-09-of-cases-businesses-advertise-a-page-th.jpg 1896w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/in-51-09-of-cases-businesses-advertise-a-page-th-393x425.jpg 393w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/in-51-09-of-cases-businesses-advertise-a-page-th-768x830.jpg 768w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/in-51-09-of-cases-businesses-advertise-a-page-th-1422x1536.jpg 1422w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 1896px) 100vw, 1896px\"\/><\/figure>\n<p>This suggests that many businesses might be running ads needlessly, generating costs without competing against other advertisers.<\/p>\n<p>This overlap between paid and organic raises two important questions.<\/p>\n<p>Are businesses simply trying to dominate the SERPs, or is this a sign of a lack of coordination between SEO and PPC\u00a0teams?<\/p>\n<p>And perhaps more importantly, does running ads on keywords where you already rank well organically drive significantly more clicks, or is it just inflating your cost per acquisition?<\/p>\n<p>We found answers to these questions and a few others among the comments received on LinkedIn (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/posts\/timsoulo_new-ahrefs-research-ppc-vs-seo-activity-7249698638690443264-Y3wo\/\">here<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/posts\/timsoulo_ppc-team-look-at-all-these-conversions-activity-7250033191170813952-ZBXd\/\">here<\/a>). Here\u2019s my attempt to summarize the discussion:<\/p>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Use PPC selectively<\/strong>: PPC campaigns should only complement organic rankings for highly competitive keywords or those pushed below the fold by ads. Avoid redundant spending where organic visibility is already strong.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Measure impact on revenue, not vanity metrics<\/strong>: move beyond clicks and CTR. The true measure of success is incremental revenue.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Rethink PPC for branded keywords<\/strong>: PPC for branded terms often adds little value if you already rank well organically. Shift that budget to something else unless facing direct competition.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Eliminate siloed strategies<\/strong>: PPC and SEO should work together, not against each other. For example, you can use PPC to test different types of content on the keyword you already rank (thanks for the idea, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/feed\/update\/urn:li:ugcPost:7249698637801218048?commentUrn=urn%3Ali%3Acomment%3A%28ugcPost%3A7249698637801218048%2C7249843410755284992%29&amp;dashCommentUrn=urn%3Ali%3Afsd_comment%3A%287249843410755284992%2Curn%3Ali%3AugcPost%3A7249698637801218048%29\">Olli<\/a>!), or use it to rank for volatile keywords (like <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/hubspot-seo-case-study\/#nine\">HubSpot<\/a> does).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>In one of the comments <a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/feed\/update\/urn:li:activity:7250033191170813952?commentUrn=urn%3Ali%3Acomment%3A%28activity%3A7250033191170813952%2C7250191473415995392%29&amp;dashCommentUrn=urn%3Ali%3Afsd_comment%3A%287250191473415995392%2Curn%3Ali%3Aactivity%3A7250033191170813952%29\">Nikolas Garfinkel<\/a> shared research done in a similar field. <a href=\"https:\/\/faculty.haas.berkeley.edu\/stadelis\/Tadelis.pdf\">Blake, Nosko, and Tadelis conducted a series of large-scale experiments<\/a> to evaluate the impact of paid search advertising for both branded and non-branded keywords at eBay in\u00a02014.<\/p>\n<p>Their conclusion was that for established brands, running ads on brand terms was largely redundant. The results for non-branded keywords were similar: <strong>most clicks attributed to ads would have occurred organically anyway<\/strong>, meaning the return on investment (ROI) from these ads was negative. This aligns with our findings that businesses often compete against themselves by paying for clicks they could have received for free through strong organic rankings.<\/p>\n<p>A big thank you to everyone who contributed with their comments!<\/p>\n<div class=\"post-nav-link clearfix\" id=\"section1\"><a class=\"subhead-anchor\" data-tip=\"tooltip__copielink\" rel=\"#section1\"><svg width=\"19\" height=\"19\" viewbox=\"0 0 14 14\" style=\"\"><g fill=\"none\" fill-rule=\"evenodd\"><path d=\"M0 0h14v14H0z\"\/><path d=\"M7.45 9.887l-1.62 1.621c-.92.92-2.418.92-3.338 0a2.364 2.364 0 0 1 0-3.339l1.62-1.62-1.273-1.272-1.62 1.62a4.161 4.161 0 1 0 5.885 5.884l1.62-1.62L7.45 9.886zM5.527 5.135L7.17 3.492c.92-.92 2.418-.92 3.339 0 .92.92.92 2.418 0 3.339L8.866 8.473l1.272 1.273 1.644-1.643A4.161 4.161 0 1 0 5.897 2.22L4.254 3.863l1.272 1.272zm-.66 3.998a.749.749 0 0 1 0-1.06l2.208-2.206a.749.749 0 1 1 1.06 1.06L5.928 9.133a.75.75 0 0 1-1.061 0z\" style=\"\"\/><\/g><\/svg><\/a><\/p>\n<p><h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">How to check your site for PPC and SEO cannibalization\u00a0<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>If you want to run similar research on your site, you can use our <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/site-explorer\">Site Explorer<\/a>. Enter your domain, go to the Organic keywords report, and use the SERP features filter (set it to Where target ranks and Top\u00a0ads).<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"2048\" height=\"1136\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/how-to-find-seo-and-ppc-cannibalization-with-ahref.jpg\" alt=\"How to find seo and ppc cannibalization with Ahrefs. \" class=\"wp-image-182804\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/how-to-find-seo-and-ppc-cannibalization-with-ahref.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/how-to-find-seo-and-ppc-cannibalization-with-ahref-680x377.jpg 680w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/how-to-find-seo-and-ppc-cannibalization-with-ahref-768x426.jpg 768w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/how-to-find-seo-and-ppc-cannibalization-with-ahref-1536x852.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2048px) 100vw, 2048px\"\/><\/noscript><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"2048\" height=\"1136\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/how-to-find-seo-and-ppc-cannibalization-with-ahref.jpg\" alt=\"How to find seo and ppc cannibalization with Ahrefs. \" class=\"lazyload wp-image-182804\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/how-to-find-seo-and-ppc-cannibalization-with-ahref.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/how-to-find-seo-and-ppc-cannibalization-with-ahref-680x377.jpg 680w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/how-to-find-seo-and-ppc-cannibalization-with-ahref-768x426.jpg 768w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/how-to-find-seo-and-ppc-cannibalization-with-ahref-1536x852.jpg 1536w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 2048px) 100vw, 2048px\"\/><\/figure>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><a id=\"post-182799-_qfzohe17nh61\"\/>Final thoughts<\/h2>\n<p>Marketers need to evaluate their PPC and SEO strategies in tandem. Are you truly adding value by running an ad for a keyword where you already have a presence, or could those ad dollars be better used elsewhere? Maybe it\u2019s time to sit down with both the PPC and SEO teams and revisit your overlapping efforts.<\/p>\n<p>Got questions or comments? Share them in this <a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/posts\/timsoulo_new-ahrefs-research-ppc-vs-seo-activity-7249698638690443264-Y3wo\/\">thread<\/a> or let <a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/timsoulo\/\">Tim<\/a> (the author of the study) or <a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/mateusz-makosiewicz\/\">me<\/a> know.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/ppc-vs-seo-overlap-study\/\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>We analyzed ~2.3 million keywords with ~4.99 million top ads to see how frequently businesses advertise on keywords where they already have an organic ranking in the top 10 positions. Here are some of the key statistics: 37.9% of advertised websites already rank in the top 10 organically for the same keyword. This indicates that [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2770,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2769","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-seo"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ewebtoolz.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2769","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ewebtoolz.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ewebtoolz.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ewebtoolz.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ewebtoolz.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2769"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ewebtoolz.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2769\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ewebtoolz.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2770"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ewebtoolz.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2769"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ewebtoolz.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2769"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ewebtoolz.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2769"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}