Back and forth this one goes. Seems like there's an endless battle raging here until one day someone will look up and the entire search process will be different.

For now, it's a healthy read to understand the value of balancing both PPC and SEO. Abstract below with length to the full article (lots of stats or we'd post it here).

SEO VERSUS PPC: WHERE'S YOUR BUDGET GOING IN 2011?
Mark Jackson  |  September 1, 2010

How should you spend your search marketing budgets: on paid search advertising or search engine optimization? It often depends on whom you ask.

Last month, I moderated a panel at SES San Francisco that explored that issue. Rand Fishkin, CEO of SEOmoz.org, and Benu Aggarwal, president of Milestone Internet Marketing, made the case for SEO. Arguments for SEO included the great land grab that exists for placement in local, news, blog, video, image, product feeds, and Web results and the opportunity for much better return on investment, based upon how much might be spent on the time/staff/agency necessary for the rollout of SEO. Rand contended that "PPC is easier" (which might lead you to believe that he's "pro" PPC), but then said "that's not a competitive advantage". In other words, anyone can do PPC. It is actually a competitive advantage for people who put effort into a sound SEO strategy, because so many others (competitors) just can't seem to get their act together.

Read the full article here.