PPC and SEO are often treated like they’re on separate islands—different teams, budgets, tools, and KPIs. But here’s the thing: your audience doesn’t care which team drove the click. They care about consistent experiences and relevant results.
As someone who’s sat in the same room with both SEO and PPC leads during strategic planning (and fire-fighting), here’s what a PPC Manager really wants from SEO—and how both teams can actually partner to grow revenue, not just channel metrics.
1. Share Keyword Data (and Actually Use It)
PPC teams have real-time, high-intent keyword data. SEO teams have long-tail and trend-based insights. Most of the time, these datasets sit in silos or get dumped into decks no one reads.
💡 How to collaborate:
- Use PPC data to prioritise SEO targets by conversion value, not just volume.
- Use SEO performance to lower PPC spend on high-ranking terms (or shift it to areas where SEO isn’t strong).
- Coordinate keyword targeting to avoid cannibalising each other or confusing Google’s understanding of intent.
2. Align on Landing Pages and CRO
SEO often drives traffic to pages with a lot of content. PPC needs conversion-focused landing pages. When these pages don’t align, it creates duplicate content, UX inconsistencies, and worse, internal fights over which page “owns” the conversion.
💡 How to collaborate:
- Create dual-purpose landing pages that work for both organic and paid traffic.
- Share A/B test learnings—PPC usually has quicker feedback loops that SEO can use to inform UX or layout changes.
- SEO helps get those pages indexed and ranking; PPC stress-tests them for conversion rate optimization (CRO).
3. Coordinate Around SERP Real Estate
Branded queries, sitelinks, local packs, shopping ads—there’s limited space on the SERP. If SEO and PPC aren’t coordinated, you’re either doubling spend or leaving revenue on the table.
💡 How to collaborate:
- Defend branded terms together: run ads when competitors are bidding, but dial down when organic sits at the top with sitelinks.
- Run PPC experiments to test metadata and page titles (e.g., CTR testing through ad copy), then feed back wins to SEO.
- Track impression share and organic visibility for key terms and adjust budget split accordingly.
4. Use PPC for SEO Validation
One of the biggest SEO challenges is the time it takes to impact. If you’re pitching new landing pages or content formats, PPC can validate those quickly, before SEO resources are sunk into building.
💡 How to collaborate:
- Use PPC to A/B test headlines, structure, and offer positioning.
- Run paid search to test demand for SEO-driven ideas.
- If a campaign fails in PPC, it’s likely not worth the SEO investment either.
5. Report Revenue Together (Not in Silos)
PPC reports often focus on ROAS and cost-per-click. SEO reports focus on traffic and rankings. But finance and leadership don’t care about that split—they care about revenue and efficiency.
💡 How to collaborate:
- Build shared dashboards with blended channel performance.
- Highlight assisted conversions and multi-touch journeys that involve both channels.
- If PPC and SEO are working together, it becomes easier to secure a shared budget or development time.
Final Works
From the PPC side, I can say this: when we work in isolation, both channels underperform. But when we align—not just in data but in tactics—we close more demand, lower CAC, and build better long-term visibility.
If your SEO team isn’t speaking the same commercial language as your paid team, it’s worth bringing in someone who can bridge that gap. That’s what I specialise in—bringing performance, product, and organic search into sync across SaaS and e-commerce brands.
