Search Marketing: How to Balance Paid with Organic Search

If you want customers to find your business on Google, you have two main options: Organic Search (SEO) and Paid Search (Google Ads).?

Both have their advantages, and the best strategy, usually, is to use both, but in the right proportions.

SEO vs. Google Ads- The Basics

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) or Organic Search refers to the unpaid results that appear when someone searches for something related to your business. It’s driven by optimization of your website, which involves improving your website’s content, structure, and credibility to make it more visible in search results.

Paid Search (Google Ads), on the other hand, refers to the sponsored results that appear at the top of search pages.These campaigns run on a pay-per-click basis so you only get charged when someone clicks on your ad.

Organic Search (SEO)- Why It’s So Beneficial

If you can get your website well ranked for some high-volume search terms, it may be possible to generate considerable traffic from Google without paying for each click. This is ideal but not possible for all websites.

The reality is that to appear prominently on Google for leading search terms, your website simply has to have the most content and the best content on topics related to these search terms. If you’re a small business competing with larger ones, that can be difficult. And having a small site (low number of pages) amplifies the difficulty.

But if you can attain this organic visibility, there are major benefits. The main one is that you get traffic without paying for every click. Next, people trust organic results more than ads so you get a lot of clicks and they are from visitors who genuinely want what you offer.

Paid Search (PPC)- Pros and Cons

When you start a paid ad campaign on Google, you get immediate results. As soon as the campaign is activated the clicks start coming in. You can also target topics that your site might not naturally rank for. And you have a high degree of control over keywords, locations and even times of day when your campaigns run. Lastly, you can control your budget- spend what you want day by day and turn off the campaign at any time.

But of course this all costs money to set up and manage the campaign and to pay Google for every click. And if you’re targeting competitive keywords, you might pay a lot (“car accident attorney” costs over $100 per click!). And when you stop paying, poof, your traffic ends immediately.?

So What’s the Right Balance for Your Business?

If you need immediate traffic, start with Paid Search. This will enable you to build awareness for a new product, promote a new service or just generate leads- immediately.

For SEO, hire a professional to do an audit of your long-term opportunities to drive traffic. But be cautious interpreting results.?

Have you heard the expression “When you have a hammer, every problem looks like a nail”? Most SEO professionals will tell you they can increase organic traffic. But your job as a business manager is to ask for specifics- how many incremental organic website visits can the firm generate per month- that’s the question to ask. And don’t settle for “It takes a long time and we can’t make projections.” If that’s the case, then don’t invest considerable resources in SEO- just fix the basics and focus on Paid Search.

Want help finding the right search marketing balance for your business? Let’s talk!