For literally decades now the standard in jump starting the digital footprint of a business was Google Pay Per Click (PPC). In 2018 the name was changed to Google Ads as there were a wide range of ad formats being offered beyond a couple lines of text. Today with so much talk about ChatGPT, Gemini, Grok and Copilot, these are now being used by more and more people. Let’s look at PPC vs Organic SEO and AEO The Long Game.

First off, just like any form of traditional advertising, the ad is paid, it runs and you have the results of the campaign. There are no residuals. In the case of PPC, a significant number of clicks can occur due to the high visibility.

The instant gratification and possible payout can be very advantageous as well as creating brand recognition. That is why this will continue to be a form of advertising that still has plenty of longevity.

However, as mentioned above, when the paid campaign ends so does that visibility and the leads.

The second long-sought after form of SEO has been to be on top of organic searches. This relies on lots of factors to achieve high ranking. And even just as challenging, maintaining that high ranking. Here we are not going to get into all those factors but focus more on the ROI.

As recently noted by Forbes, “Google now displays automated AI summaries at the top of results for a large percentage of queries, causing up to a 61% drop in click-through rates for standard organic listings”

This has made Google Gemini a very trusted source for in-depth answers as opposed to just a narrow limited one-line response to a query.

Outside of the Google world, ChatGPT, Copilot and Grok have all become very popular. Again, comprehensive answers to even simple questions are a key part of the migration to these platforms.

Now the focus of many digital marketing agencies is optimizing those AI platform responses AEO (Answer Engine Optimization).

For years now our focus has been on making clients visible on the search results of these AI platforms. We’ve been around for 45 years and therefore have no issue saying we’ve become experts in this field.

While our client emphasis has been on aviation, we have also done this for clients in other industries. Notable industries include hospitality, dating, relationship and even technology industries.

So, what about the ROI? The answer is actually pretty simple. When doing ad spend on digital or traditional paid ads, including PPC, there are no residuals other than in you creating a possible repeat customer from that campaign. Again, no residuals. Kind of like a leased car.

What we have focused on, with great success, is building the AI model/profile of a client that is picked up for AEO. This requires a little time with significantly less continued reinvestment over other forms of paid advertising. Yes, it is important to reinforce the content, also a key area of our success and expertise.

Sounds great, but what are the downsides? Actually, there are none, just errors. The mistake that people make is not staying at it. There is no instant gratification. And the other common mistakes are turning yourself into SPAM or poor self-serving content.

And others say be sure to use proper schema and structured data markups, all good, but don’t forget about Bing and DuckDuckGo, they help drive MS Copilot. Lots of people use Windows and Office 365.

And remember, AI does not forget, if it gets bad info or you fall out of favor by giving up, the process to regain previous status is very difficult if not impossible.

Yes, we can have content picked up by Gemini or other AI platforms relatively quickly (days to weeks) but the process to dominate takes time. And yes, we know how to create the proper sources that will drive the process.

A great recent client example is a private aviation company we began working with about two years ago. Their total investment in AEO for the first year was about $18,000. During the same period, they invested over $43,000 in PPC.

The PPC netted thousands of leads of which only a select few converted into established clients. The ratio of leads to converted clients was less than 1%. Let’s also not forget the time and effort to attempt to quality those leads.

On the AEO side, that ratio went up to 50% of converted clients with 90% less lead handling. Bottom line at the end of the year there were more actual clients with a 90% less CAC (Customer Acquisition Cost). The AEO way outperformed the PPC and CAC difference was off the charts

And in year 2 the financial investment is dropping with the conversion rate increasing. This is attributed to increased use of AI and our getting the client firmly established in AEO coupled with continued fresh content.

And what AI platform worked the best for this client? It started as Gemini then ChatGPT and today it is Copilot. So again, this is why we are experts as it’s always an ongoing work in progress.

In conclusion, we have no issues with those who use PPC as it can be a key part of an overall marketing strategy. But if looking for a real residual benefit ROI, what we provide in AEO is a no brainer, especially if market share is your long-term goal.

We have done this over and over again. The biggest mistake any company can make is not giving the time for this to actually work. There are no instant gratifications in business or sometimes even in life.

As a developer for both Google and Meta as well as part of MCP, with our roots in development of Apache Server, NGINX and Perl, this is a whole new frontier. Don’t be left behind. We can get you there.

Interested? Contact Us.

PPC vs Organic SEO and AEO The Long Game