Which one is better?

Google Paid (PPC) vs Organic Traffic

Let's investigate.

THREAD

So, to start, let's define what we're even talking about.

Organic traffic = you made a website, wrote content, Google ranked it, someone clicked, you got traffic.

Paid (PPC) Traffic = you set up a text ad, targeted specific keywords, someone clicked, you got traffic

Now, the (valid) reason people put SEO above PPC

Is that when you earn SEO traffic, you tend to keep earning that traffic.

Whereas with PPC, you have to keep paying for clicks.

Fair.

There are also stats that show that people ignore paid ads in search results.

While the above is true, those people don't cost you money.

Because it's pay-per-click.

One advantage of PPC is that you don't have to wait to get rolling.

SEO can take time, but with PPC, you set up a campaign and you can start optimizing right away.

You also can target where your ads are shown.

With SEO, you can aim to optimize for a keyword or a set of keywords, but it's still up to Google as to what ranks.

And with SEO, you can be at the hands of algorithm updates and traffic fluctuations.

With PPC, you are in control.

With that being said, the numbers do not lie. SEO is a long-term game and an investment in SEO will pay off exponentially down the road.

So, back to which one is better.

My answer.

Neither.

They serve different purposes, and I prefer to combine both to own as much real estate as possible in a given search result.

SEO = Long-term investment, that can pay off big

PPC = take immediate, scaleable action