I get asked a lot about the wisdom of running a PPC campaign when you are ranking well in organic searches (SEO).The combination of PPC and SEO is always worth testing in my opinion for a couple of reasons (ok, 5 that I can think of).

1) Everyone’s click pattern is different so you might get incremental clicks. Some people look at organic only, some at paid and some at both.
2) Having your ads show up multiple times on a page can have a multiplier effect. I read a report from Yahoo years ago that showed how showing up in both PPC and Organic was not a 1+1=2 situation but a 1+1=6 situation. Not sure I believe that now, but interesting insight.
3) I see SERPs kind of like a grocery store cereal shelf that has only 10 organic slots and 10 paid slots. The big cereal companies try and dominate the shelf space through having multiple products, flavors and brands because if a person is standing in the cereal isle - they want cereal! If you can control 2 of the 20 vs 1 of the 20, your chance of a click is better.
4) You can vary your message with the PPC ad. Try throwing in a special offer, different marketing message, different headline, etc. You might get the person who didn’t respond to the organic ad to respond to the PPC ad.
5) PPC gives you huge flexbility to test and to get into keywords that you are not ranking for. This can help your overall marketing and positioning.

Must Do’s!
- Track each campaign (PPC and organic) both separately and together. A PPC program may be in the black by itself but understanding what the impact is on the organic click is important. Look at the OVERALL value you’re bringing in with both.
- Do the PPC program as best you can. Bone up on targeting, campaign structure, best copy practices, best landing page practices, etc. Lots of good material out there on this.
- Test with an eye towards hitting multiple buying types on the page. Think about the high information need buyer and the “best deal buyer”, etc.
- Start with Google and work your way out to other engines as your campaign becomes optimized and you are seeing success.

Now, go get ‘em!