What if I told you that some of the best SEO insights don’t come from organic search data alone?
When SEO data is viewed in isolation, it only explains what’s happening in the organic search channel.
However, in reality, businesses relying on SEO are supported by multiple channels.
Often, PPC and SEO are treated separately, which reduces efficiency and leads to missed opportunities.
This article outlines our agency’s process for conducting a co-optimization audit, combining SEO and PPC data to uncover insights for a more holistic, full-funnel approach. I’ll also share strategies to help you take this method of holistic search even further.
Why should you do an SEO-PPC co-optimization audit?
Both SEO and PPC target the same searchers and operate in the same search landscape. By taking a holistic approach, you can achieve better results for your business.
Paid search provides SEO with valuable data not available elsewhere, while SEO enhances paid search through on-site and off-site optimizations that boost overall performance.
Combining these efforts creates a more effective search strategy.
Dig deeper: SEO vs. PPC: Differences, pros, cons & an integrated approach
How to do a co-optimization audit
We’ll cover how to conduct this audit when you have first-party data for both channels, but many of these ideas can still apply even if you don’t have access to paid data.
Combining data
To uncover insights between paid and organic, you’ll need to combine the data first. Though there are many options, we’ll focus on two ways to do this.
Power BI
Power BI is a free and powerful tool for combining and visualizing data effectively. Our team uses it to merge data when we don’t have direct access to Google Search Console and Google Ads.
To do this, export your search query report from Google Ads and the same date range from Google Search Console. You can also include page data. But for this analysis, we’ll focus mainly on queries.
Google Ads paid and organic report
The paid and organic report in Google Ads shows which search terms boost your site’s visibility. You need specific permissions and link Google Search Console with Google Ads to use it.
Once connected, the report shows terms that triggered your paid ads, appeared in organic search, or both.
By comparing this data side by side, you can assess the performance of your paid and organic search efforts.
While organic conversion data isn’t available, the report can reveal gaps where high-converting keywords have little organic traffic, presenting opportunities for further optimization.
Here’s a look at that report:
Ad metrics like clicks, impressions and average cost per click give you insights into how often people see and engage with your ads.
For organic results:
Organic clicks show how often people click your site’s unpaid listing.
Organic queries count how many times your site shows up in searches.
Organic clicks/query shows the average number of clicks per search.
Organic listings/query shows how often your site appears per query.
In combined metrics:
Ads and organic clicks represent all clicks from both ads and organic results.
Ads and organic queries count the total searches that triggered either.
Ads and organic clicks/query gives the click-to-query ratio for both.
Google’s help article, “About measuring paid and organic search results,” explains all the available metrics in this report.
Identifying keyword gaps
The focus of our co-optimization audit is to recommend changes in approach in the following areas.
No paid or organic visibility
One of the first places to look for paid and organic synergies is in queries where the brand lacks visibility in both channels. Assuming these keywords are those you want to show up for, you’ll want to consider ways to pursue them.
Strong organic visibility: Top 5 high-ranking non-brand keywords
Identify non-brand keywords that rank in the top five positions with high search volume and optimize them using a mix of paid and organic strategies.
The goal is to dominate the top of the SERP, which can lead to more clicks than either channel would achieve on its own.
People tend to trust brands that consistently appear at the top. When your brand shows up multiple times on a SERP, it signals authority and reinforces that you are the best choice for that product or service.
Low organic visibility
Focus on high-volume keywords that rank on Page 2 or lower to determine if paid search can enhance visibility.
SEO typically takes time to show results and teams often invest hundreds of thousands of dollars pursuing certain terms without a corresponding budget for paid search.
Meanwhile, paid search teams may identify SEO keyword targets and think, “We should be appearing for this; we have XYZ as a broad or phrase match.”
However, just because we’re eligible for those terms in the auction doesn’t mean we’re investing enough in them.
It’s crucial to take your best-performing keyword portfolio and allocate a significant portion of your ad spend to those terms.