Whilst ads allow you to target certain keyword phrases and target customers actively searching for products, they tend to be suboptimal when it comes to improving long-term visibility in SERPs. SEO will help to get your site higher in organic rankings, which is what your business should be aiming for, but it is less good for short-term results.
Using the right marketing methods to drive traffic to your business is crucial for prolonged success, and trying to differentiate between Google Ads or SEO is really important. So, we’re going to look at the differences between these two options, and which is best for your business.
What is SEO?
Search engine optimisation is one of the core pillars of online business marketing, and a vital part of trying to improve click-through-rate (CTR). CTR is the number of times your ad is clicked divided by the number of times it is viewed – an essential metric for measuring how successful an ad campaign is.
According to data from BrightEdge, 68% of online experiences begin with a search engine. As such it is imperative for companies to be able to harness this power, and use it to improve online presence and drive traffic to your business. Given that only 0.63% of Google searchers actually click on results past the first page, according to Backlino, it is imperative that you develop strategies to help you rank as highly as possible, and to appear on the Google SERPs.
What are the Advantages of SEO?
Looking at the advantages of using these options is important for determining which is best for your business and its circumstances. Some of the advantages of using SEO in marketing are as follows:
- Optimises your website for desktop and mobile
- Builds trust in your clients
- Supports your content marketing
- Allows you to build relationships with other websites
- Helps you reach more people
- Largest source of website traffic you can use
What are Google Ads?
Google Ads, also known as paid ads, allow you to bid on certain keywords, and whenever someone searches for those keywords, your ad will show up. Paid searches allow you to jump ahead of the organic results, and appear at the top of SERPs. Many businesses, especially startups, like paid results because they offer immediate results in just a few days.
There is also the advantage that lead generation can be easier to convert with paid ads. For instance, Unbounce revealed that 50% of people arriving at a site from a paid ad are more likely to buy than those visiting from an organic link. Google Ads can be great for short-term gain, and might prove to be advantageous to companies in the early stages of the business.
What are the Advantages of Google Ads?
Google Ads are often a common choice for business marketing and it’s important for you to determine whether this is right for your business. Here are some of the advantages of using Google Ads in marketing:
- Targeting specific demographics
- Stay consistent with your brand marketing
- Track your campaign success
- Understand and utilise long tail keywords
- Control your budget
- Drive online sales
What Makes SEO the Preferable Choice?
It is clear that both SEO and paid ads come with their fair share of advantages, but both also have drawbacks too. Determining what works best for your company is important, but, for many professionals, SEO is certainly the preferable choice. Having a long-term marketing plan is important for strategising success, as well as being able to evolve as a company, and findmore high-value leads.
What’s more, people tend to trust organic leads, such as SEO, more than paid ads. According to Statista, in 2019 over 763 million global internet users utilised ad blockers. In the UK in 2020, 36% of respondents used an ad blocker, and this figure is sure to have risen in the past three years. People tend to be more suspicious of paid ads, which is one of the key reasons to utilise SEO as much as possible. Here are some of the other factors that make SEO the preferable choice over paid ads.
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Organic Traffic
According to an extensive report by Digital Information World, a research study by Sistrix shows that organic search results have a far higher click-through-rate than paid search results. In fact, the first organic search result in Google Search has an average CTR of 28.5%, whilst paid search results have an average CTR of just 2%.
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More Cost-Effective
All businesses cost money to run, and a lot of new companies find it difficult to be successful, due to the amount of money needed. One of the biggest reasons why SEO is a popular choice for business marketing is because of how cost-effective it is. Yes, Google Ads can be moulded to fit your budget, but with SEO, there is literally no budget required. All it costs you is some time and effort, and you can get started right away.
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Raising Brand Awareness
Brand awareness is one of the most crucial components of any strong marketing campaign. SEO is vital for helping you to raise brand awareness, as it allows you to showcase content that provides value and can help people. This in turn leads to increased recognition, more customer loyalty, and an increase in sales. The reputation and awareness of your brand is fundamental to long-term success for any brand.
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Sustainable Results
Perhaps the biggest initial stumbling block with paid ads is the fact that they cost money and eat into your budget. Eventually, this might become a strain, and may not be something your business can keep up with. SEO is a far more sustainable way of getting results, as it costs nothing, so allows for consistency and sustainability when it comes to seeing real results from your marketing campaigns.
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Higher Click-Through Rates
Organic results boast higher CTR than paid ads, as mentioned earlier, and, with around 40,000 Google searches every second, it is important to target this in the most effective way. SEO provides a far higher CTR than paid results over a longer term, so this is something that can help you to generate more leads and conversions, and you will need to pay less for them in the process as well.
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Better Long-Term Results
Whilst there are benefits to targeting more short-term results with your marketing, it is far better for the future of the business to focus on long-term results, and this is where organic leads win out. Organic traffic comes from people who are genuinely interested in your products and services, and organic optimisations compound over time, making them the ideal long-term, sustainable option for generating high-quality leads.
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Appeals More to Customers
The simple fact is, customers are more trusting of organic ads than paid ones. According to Search Engine Land, 70-80% of users completely ignore paid ads, showcasing the importance of being able to rank organically. SEO gives businesses more credibility in the eyes of potential customers, as well as providing valuable content that naturally piques interest and results in a lead.
Closing Thoughts
No matter the business you run, it is vital to ensure you make the best possible marketing choices. This is why you have to make sure you pick the most effective strategy to help you achieve great results. Whilst both paid ads and SEO have their place, choosing to go with an organic marketing campaign comes with so many great advantages these days.
There are a lot of things that play a part in helping you improve this, and understanding why SEO is much better than Google Ads is vital for using this to your advantage. You have to think about the key ways of being able to implement SEO as effectively as possible, and this can have a huge impact on the long-term future of the company.
Are you ready to place a dynamic marketing agency at the helm of your LinkedIn marketing execution?
At Creative Marketing Ltd, we have all of the resources that any brand could possibly need to stand out for all of the right reasons. If this is something that you would like to find out more about, you can book a free consultation by scheduling a call with Creative Marketing (NW) Ltd on 01706 495091 or contact us here.
