Showing up at the top of Google’s search results can increase visibility for your business online. There are two ways you can do this:
- Pay for Google Ads, also known as pay-per-click advertising
- Invest time in search engine optimization (commonly known as SEO)
But which one should you use in your digital marketing strategy? Let’s look at both, so you can make an informed decision on which one will work best for you.
Organic vs. Paid Search
The first step in deciding between SEO and Google Ads is understanding where they place your business in search results.
When customers search for your products or services on Google, the search engine results pages, or SERPs, will show them two kinds of results: Google Ads and organic results.
To secure these spots for your business, you can do one of two things:
- Pay for ads on Google, which show at the top of the results page and have the tag Sponsored next to them. These are known as paid search results.
- Use SEO, to encourage Google to place your website high on the search results page. These are known as organic search results.
The number of paid results will vary depending on the search query. If it’s for a more competitive industry, you’ll likely see more paid search results.
On the other hand, if it’s less competitive, you’ll see fewer ads and more organic results. This usually happens with search queries that are informational in nature rather than someone looking to buy a product.
Pros and Cons of SEO
SEO is a strategy that relies on optimizing your website so your website gets more visibility in SERPs. While SEO costs nothing in terms of paying Google directly, it takes more time and research than ads.
When you’re deciding whether to invest in SEO, these are some things to keep in mind.
Advantages of SEO
- Long-term traffic growth. SEO keeps working as long as your website is available on Google. Depending on the relevancy of your keywords, it can even grow over time.
- Cost-effectiveness. SEO isn’t necessarily free, but the return on your investment can be much higher than with paid ads. The blog you post today can keep bringing traffic to your website for months and even years.
- Enhanced credibility and trust with audiences. People tend to trust organic results over ads. In fact, studies show that the #1 organic search result receives an average of 19 times more clicks than the top paid search result.
Disadvantages of SEO
- Time-consuming results. SEO is not a quick-fix strategy. Unlike paid ads that start working immediately, SEO can take months to show results.
- Constant need for optimization. Google’s search engine algorithms are always changing, which means you have to keep up with optimizing your website. You also have to stay up to date on current best practices and be familiar with updating your website.
- Algorithm dependency and unpredictability. If you only do SEO, you’re placing the success of your business in the hands of Google’s algorithm. If you stick to tried-and-true SEO techniques you should never have a huge issue, but occasionally websites lose traffic because of updates or issues with the algorithm.
Pros and Cons of Google Ads
The biggest advantage Google ads have over SEO is their immediacy. Potential customers will start seeing your ads almost as soon as you run your credit card to pay for them. Of course, the downside is that they don’t have the staying power of SEO; as soon as your budget runs out, so do your ads.
When you’re deciding whether to use Google ads, these are some things to keep in mind.
Advantages of Google Ads
- Immediate visibility and traffic. Your ads can drive traffic to your business the moment you start them. No waiting around or relying on strategies that will take months to materialize.
- Highly targeted advertising options. Google Ads also give you the ability to pick exactly who sees your ads based on demographics like age, gender, income, location, and more.
- Easy to measure your return on investment (ROI). When you use Google Ads, you’ll be able to see your total number of conversions, or number of people who clicked on your ad and eventually bought something from you. Comparing this to the amount of money you spent on ads lets you see your overall Google Ad ROI.
Disadvantages of Google Ads
- Costly for competitive keywords. While Google Ads uses a different algorithm than search, there’s still some algorithm involved in whose ads are shown and when. The more competitive your products or services are in your area, the more you’ll have to spend for your ads to be seen.
- Dependency on continuous investment. It’s simple: once you stop paying for them, ads disappear. For Google Ads to benefit your business long term, you have to continually allocate part of your budget to maintain them.
- Potential for lower trust compared to organic results. Like we mentioned before, studies have shown that people trust organic results more than ads. While ads can be effective, they don’t have the same click through rate as organic search results.
Maximizing Impact: How SEO and Google Ads Work Together
While you can choose one strategy or the other, there are benefits to using both Google Ads and SEO in your digital marketing strategy.
Use Data Insights Across Platforms
While the data you get from either source won’t directly translate to the other, you can still get useful insights from successful ad campaigns to use in SEO (and vice versa).
Keyword Research
If a keyword that your ads target is doing well with your customers and leading to sales, that might be a good keyword to target using SEO. Start with a tailored landing page, and branch out into blogs or other content that can help your SEO efforts.
Similarly, if you have a page that’s doing well in organic search, see what keywords it ranks well for. You can then use those terms in your Google Ads campaigns since they clearly resonate with your customers.
Ad Copy and Meta Descriptions
Using your Google Ads wording that consistently gets clicks is a great way to optimize your meta descriptions. A meta description is the short bit of text that appears next to your website on the search results.
While these small snippets aren’t a direct factor for SEO, they do affect your click through rate. By optimizing them using the same keywords as your Google Ads, you have a better chance of people clicking on your website, which helps your overall SEO efforts.
Dominate the Search Results Page
One reason to use both SEO and ads is the ability to take up more real estate on the search engine results page. For example, this search for Under Armour shows they have both a paid search result and the top organic one back-to-back:
As you can see, their brand takes up the entire page, leaving no room for their competitors. It may seem counterintuitive to run ads in the same place you have the top organic result, but it gives your competitors less space to target your customers or use brand bidding against you.
Which is Better: Google Ads or SEO?
So which should you use? Organic or paid search?
Any good marketer will tell you: it depends. If you want to promote a new product or an upcoming service launch, Google Ads will give you more ability to control when and where you appear in search results.
On the other hand, if you want to invest in the long-term growth of your business, SEO is a great way to lay a foundation for years to come.
Some of the top considerations when deciding between the two come down to:
- Your budget
- Your industry
- Timeline for results
- Technical knowledge
The truth is, most businesses can benefit from both SEO and paid ads on Google. There’s a lot to know about how they work — and strategies for SEO may not translate to paid ads, and vice versa.
Let’s Chat About Your Digital Strategy
Want an expert opinion on what you should use? We’re happy to chat with you about your business goals and recommend a path to reach them.
Set up a free discovery call with us and let’s get to work!