This is something that involves plenty of consideration when it comes to determining which of these methods works best for you. There are a number of ideas that you can use that are going to help you with this, and trying to determine the click-through-rate of each is a great way of helping with this.
Understanding CTR is essential for gauging the success of an ad campaign, and preparing for what to do with your marketing campaigns moving forward. According to Web FX, the industry average CTR for search and display ads is 1.9%, but you should be aiming higher than this if you can.
In this article we will seek to explore the core differences between Google Ads and SEO, which has a better click-through-rate, and why Creative Marketing can help you find the right fit for your business.
What are Google Ads?
Google Ads are those banner ads that appear at the top of the page of Google search results, above the first organic results. They are usually executed via a pay-per-click model, where businesses will pay the search engine (typically Google) every time someone clicks on this ad. With 40,000 Google searches every second, being able to stand out is one of the best things that business can do to achieve success.
Google Ads can be a powerful weapon for a lot of companies seeking to enjoy success and secure short-term action from Google searches. If you want to employ Google Ads in order to improve the traffic you get and enhance your lead conversions, you will need to work on improving those ads to get them perfect. Let’s take a look at some of the key benefits of Google Ads for your business marketing:
- Fast results – possibly even same day
- Can target higher value leads with buyer intent
- Geo-targeted advertising, focused on region
- Easy to track and measure
What is SEO?
Search engine optimisation is one of the most common and popular forms of online marketing, and involves the use of content relevancy and keywords in order to rank highly on search engine results pages (SERPs). SEO can take many forms, including things like written content, video, visuals, social media, and more, and can play a vital role in any business marketing plan.
Having a strong and diverse SEO marketing strategy is essential for generating interest and boosting business reputation. Investing in long-term SEO has been proven to help keep companies competitive, as well as allowing for successful lead generation and conversions. BrightEdge informs us that 68% of online experiences begin with a search engine, so it is essential to make sure you help make this work for your business more effectively, which means using SEO as effectively as possible. These are some of the benefits that come with SEO with regards to business marketing:
- Lower cost and often free to use in the process
- Higher CTR and potential conversions
- Great for building brand awareness
- More reliable and trustworthy for customers
Understanding and Comparing CTR
Click-through-rate is the number of people who’ve clicked on an ad divided by the number of times it is seen. For obvious reasons you want this number to be as high as possible. There are several factors that can affect CTR, such as ranking position, people’s attitude towards paid ads, and what device they are using.
According to Backlinko, Google’s #1 organic search result has an average CTR of between 27.6%-28.5%. The average CTR for a paid Google Ad search result is around 2%, so you can see the discrepancy here, and fewer than 10% of people actually click on paid ads,according to data from Protofuse.com.
This shows you why it is so important to make sure you get this process right for your business, and you pick the perfect option to best market your company. It’s important to understand the key ideas that are going to help you make this decision. There is no doubt that SEO provides a better CTR over the long-term, but paid ads might be a more attractive option for shorter-term success.
How Your Business Can Utilise Both
The ideal solution for a lot of businesses would be to utilise both Google Ads and SEO together, and this is something that can have a big benefit. These are both options that work incredibly well together. Paid ads are excellent for targeting people who are actively seeking products and services, and it helps you to connect with customers. On the other hand, SEO is perfect for helping your website to rank organically, and show up for free.
SEO can be slow, but it is worthwhile, with the 10th organic Google result having a CTR of around 2.5%, which is still more than paid ads. Ideally, you want to be able to look for the best ways of improving your ranking and getting as high as possible. And using these two together is a great way of giving your business a shot in the arm in terms of online marketing success.
Why SEO is the Preferable Choice
Whilst both options come with many benefits, and the opportunity for success, SEO is certainly going to be the preferable choice for most businesses. There are a lot of things that play a part in finding the perfect marketing campaign and strategy, and SEO allows you to plan for long-term results and successes. The other great thing about SEO is that it is free, so it doesn’t eat into any budget you might have to work with.
As a cost-effective and dependable option, SEO is the stand out choice in this regard, and you need to make sure you are focused on implementing this as effectively as you can. For businesses that want a strong CTR, and a marketing strategy that people are going to gravitate towards, SEO would be a wonderful choice for helping with this.
How Creative Marketing (NW) Ltd Can Help
If you want to be able to utilise SEO effectively as a modern brand, it is essential to have a strong digital marketing strategy that will help you. Implementing strong SEO is about playing the long game, and putting measures in place that are going to be beneficial to your business in the future. This is something that you need to keep in mind as much as possible, and Creative Marketing is well-placed to help you with this.
We have years of experience helping businesses with their SEO and content management, and we can take charge of allowing you to improve your marketing in the process. With a focus on SEO conversion rate optimisation, as well as providing high-quality content, we are uniquely positioned to be able to give your business the care and attention it needs. Get in touch with us today to discuss your SEO needs, and look at how you can elevate your brand to the next level, and convert some of those all-important leads.
Closing Thoughts
It is important to try to make sure you come up with some of the best ways of being able to make your business marketing campaigns better, and Google Ads as well as SEO will both play a huge role in this. Whilst there is no doubt that both options have plenty to offer in terms of value to your business, it’s clear that SEO is going to be the preferable choice.
With higher CTR, better reliability and trustworthiness, and more appealing long-term benefits for your business, this is the best choice for your business. If you want to be able to succeed with SERPs and developing and organic presence on Google, then SEO is the way to do that.
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.
