In the early days, SEO was more of an IT function. Later on it moved more into “marketing” strategy including the focus on PR, SMO and PPC …. yes, PPC.

I can not imagine starting an SEO project without looking into the PPC data gathered by the company. I use keyword tools and some of them are good, but I feel that the data you can collect from your PPC campaign is crucial for a successful SEO campaign. Here is what I mean.

Not only will the PPC campaign tell you the number of searches (impressions) a certain keyword gets but if you bid BROAD, you can discover some pretty good keyword variations people use. Yes, I know you might say that number of impressions does not necessarily represent a number of searches, but I sometimes trust that data more than what the keyword tools can show.

Ok … let’s take this post into the “Bulleted list”. Much easier to explain it that way.

PPC Benefit #1: Impressions - As mentioned above, you’ll see the “popularity” of a certain keyword (if you bid “exact match”). You’ll be able to compare the number of impressions with other keyword and that should give you a pretty good idea on the popularity of a keyword.

PPC Benefit #2: Clicks - If you create a relevant ad that clearly states what you sell, you will see how relevant your “desired” keyword is. If they click on the ad … it’s relevant. If your click through rate is 0.5%, you might want to think about not using that keyword. NOTE: the number of clicks should be compared with other keyword you’re thinking of “SEOing”. Did we just create a new word? ……. no, heard it before.

PPC Benefit #3: CPC - If the keyword is expensive it could be giving a better ROI. When choosing which keywords to SEO for, picking the more expensive keywords is a known strategy.

PPC Benefit #4: Conversions - Hey … if we got a keyword that has a 5% conversion rate compared to others with 2% why wouldn’t you start optimizing the one that’s giving the best ROI? PPC campaign will test this for you.

PPC Benefit #5: Bounce rate - Ok … you might have a bad landing page, but in comparison to other search terms if a particular one has a bounce rate of 80% and others average 20%, I’d stay away from optimizing the one that has the 80% bounce. To me it’s a sign that your visitors are mislead by that keyword.

PPC Benefit #6: Broad Match - Bid broad and you’ll see some new terms people type in order to find your product. As simple as that.

That’s pretty much it my friend. This should show you the benefit of using paid search to gather important information that will serve you good in your quest for higher rankings.