We have only focused on SEO and SERP placement. We are considering adding Adwords to the mix. We are having a lot of discussion about if we should use Adwords at all. Our situation is that we place within the top 5 SERP positions for almost all of our primary keywords. We notice that some of our competitors who are also within the top 5 of the SERPs are using Adwords. Their bids place them in the top 3 of the Adwords on the page. This gives them a top 5 position for SERPs and a top 3 position for Adwords for the same keyword on the same SERP. I guess the main question is: Does it make sense to have an Adwords campaign for keywords that are already high in the SERPs? Any of you guys run Adwords for keywords that you already dominate the SERPs on?
Nope, I stopped all adword campaign when we hit #1. I think if we were at 3 or below we would go back to it. (Apparantly #1 and #2 rankings get the lion's share of the click thru's).
Why not spend the money you would use on adwords on getting lots of baclinks and get the number one position. If you can make it to the first position you will defenitely get more traffic then when you rank fifth. My advice spent the money on getting more backlinks.
Absolutly yes, go ahead. You should certainly have Adwords campaigns for the long-tail and probably also for your main keywords. Before you start make sure you know everything about your visitor conversion ratio as a function of the search term. Also you will need some historical statistics on search term frequency. This is so that when you launch your AdWords campaign(s) you can determine if you are loosing conversions to the Ads and then factor that in to your AdWords ROI calculations. When you start your AdWords campaign(s) make sure you are measuring conversions and ROI. Also make separate landing pages for the Ads and perform A/B split testing to maximise conversion. I guess there are popular sites or sectors where this approach does not work but I have yet to see one myself. - Michael