Paid Ads vs. Organic Searches: Which SEO Strategy Is Right for Your Business?

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If you’re like many businesses, you’ve given up on trying to create an effective SEO strategy in-house. SEO can be a widely successful marketing strategy, but only when it’s done right. SEO is time-consuming, often frustrating, and takes a while to learn. This is why businesses are frequently turning to SEO services Broomfield, CO.

Congratulations, you’re partnering with an experienced SEO service provider. Now, you can focus on running and improving your business. However, even though you have faith in your SEO service provider, you may still have questions.

Like, for example, should you use paid ads or rely primarily on organic searches to connect with your target audience?

What are Paid Ads?

You probably have a pretty good idea of what paid ads are. You pay a fee to have your business ad show up on the search engine results page, also known as a SERP. If you’re not sure what a search engine results page refers to, don’t worry; the explanation is actually pretty simple.

When you enter a search query into the bar and hit Enter, a page appears on your screen with a list of websites matching your search. Advertisements that appear on SERP are what are referred to as paid ads.

You can click on the ads and be automatically directed to the business’s website. Yes, paid ads can be an effective way of generating traffic to your website but the cost isn’t always worth the trickle of site visitors.

Don’t forget, not only are you paying for your ad to appear on the search engine results page, but you’re also covering the cost associated with the SEO service provider. The SEO provider still needs to find and use relevant keywords to help ensure your paid ad shows up on the first results page and not towards the bottom.

What are Organic Searches?

Organic searches are typically promoted over paid ads. The downsides of paid ads include the cost and even if your advertisement appears at the top of the first search results page, there’s still no guarantee consumers are going to click on the supplied link. Consumers often ignore ads during their online searches, especially if they’re still not sure what they’re looking for.

Organic searches also focus on search engine results. However, instead of using ads to drive traffic to your website, you’re relying on best SEO practices to help ensure your website is listed at the top of the results.

In other words, you’re relying on practices like using relevant keywords to boost your SERP rankings. Since most consumers focus on the first ten search engine results, you want your website to appear towards the top of the list. When a consumer clicks on your website, it’s known as an organic search.

Benefits of Organic Searches vs Paid Ads

Regardless of your marketing budget’s size, you don’t want to overspend on advertising. You also want to focus on strategies that produce the best results.

You may think this means skipping paid ads and going solely with organic searches, but this can be a mistake. Even though paid ads are often not as effective at driving traffic to your website, you don’t want to completely avoid this marketing strategy.

Even a small number of clicks on your advertising links can show a return on your investment. With that being said, there are plenty of reasons why you should consider using the bulk of your SEO budget to boost your organic search results.

Minimal Upfront Cost

If you’re partnering with an SEO service provider, organic search results are part of the package. Boosting organic search results takes time and effort but you also aren’t paying to advertise on the search engine results page.

The SEO agency is already working to get your website higher up in search engine rankings. You can use the advertising funds to improve other aspects of your business. For example, adding new products, improving customer service, or even hiring additional staff to help handle the influx of new customers.

Greater Return on Your Investment

You shouldn’t expect to start seeing results from your SEO strategy within days, it usually takes a few months before you start seeing noticeable results.

However, compared to paid ads, organic searches typically produce a higher return on your initial SEO investment. Chances are, your company is like most businesses and you expect to see a noticeable ROI.

Optimizing your website’s visibility is an effective way of boosting traffic and sales. Remember, most consumers aren’t going to scroll down a long list of search engine results. Consumers tend to stick with the top results on the first page.

Boost Brand Credibility

Paid ads do little to boost brand credibility, in fact, ads basically only serve to promote your business. Things like advertisements don’t highlight your brand’s accomplishments.

Instead, they let consumers know about a sale or upcoming event. If a consumer is searching for a particular product or service, your ad can drive them to your website. Once you get consumers to your website, they can learn more about your business.

A more effective way to boost brand credibility is with high-ranking search engine results. Consumers tend to trust brands appearing at the top of results more than those on the second or third page. By focusing on improving your organic search traffic, you can also boost the credibility and reputation of your brand.

Support Other Marketing Strategies

An effective marketing strategy doesn’t rely solely on driving visitors to your business website, as this is a limitation of paid ads. The ads serve one basic purpose: to get consumers to click on the link and make a purchase on your website.

Organic searches do this and a little more. An effective organic search strategy can help support your other marketing channels like email, social media, and even paid advertising. You can easily repurpose the content used to boost your organic search results. For example, you can take snippets from the content to use on social media.

Let an SEO Service Handle Your Paid Ads and Organic Searches

Yes, you should concentrate more on organic search results, but don’t ignore paid ads. Both types of marketing strategies have advantages, but to get the most out of them, you need to use effective SEO practices.

Partnering with an SEO service provider can help your website soar to the top of the search engine results. From there, all that’s left is for you to provide an exceptional customer experience.