Businesses use digital marketing to create and strengthen their online presence. However, many business owners or managers do not know which channel– Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) or Google Ads will work better for them. You may be one of them and if you are a bit perplexed about which course of action to take, this post may help.
Let’s try to look at each of these channels to understand what works and when.
But before moving further, let us first understand SEO and Google Ads so that you can figure out which may work best for your specific marketing needs.
- Search Engine Optimisation: SEO is used to make your search engine rankings better by making certain changes to the layout, structure, and content of your website and ensuring it is linked to other relevant websites. By following correct SEO practices, you may see your website on the first pages of Google, Bing, Yahoo and other search engines for specific search terms. Your website should also have a fast loading time, error-free content and a visually appealing and engaging layout. Looking at it from an objective viewpoint (asking your friends or family) will help you see if the website offers a good user experience to visitors.
- Google Ads: This is an advertising platform for businesses to set up Pay-per-Click (PPC) marketing campaigns. Businesses can use this advertising platform to place their ads on Google search engine result pages (SERPs), on Google products such as Gmail and YouTube, and on partner websites. You start by checking the cost of running specific types of campaigns. This is based on your keywords, geography, and other parameters, which help decide how much each campaign would cost and how much you ought or want to pay.
Head-to-Head Comparison of SEO and Google Ads:
Let us see the comparison of these two digital marketing practices to understand how they can help you strengthen your online presence.
- SEO is applicable to all leading search engines while Google Ads is only for Google Products such as Google Search, Gmail, YouTube, and partner sites.
- A large portion of SEO traffic is free because once your website has been optimised, search engines keep your website on top of the search results for relevant keywords at no additional cost to you. Google Ads is a paid advertising tool and you pay each time a visitor clicks on your ad.
- Your Google ads appear on the Google search results page in the Sponsored section. In SEO, your position depends on how you work and how much you work and your website link is displayed in the organic results section.
- To get targeted traffic and good ranking through SEO, you need to wait for search engine bots to crawl and index your website. This can take anywhere from a few days to a few months. With Google Ads, you can see results in 2-3 days or at most a week.
- The calculation of Return on Investment (ROI) in SEO is quite difficult because there are several factors that affect the ROI. On the other hand, you can easily calculate the ROI of Google Ads because the bidding amount (per click) is the only factor you need to compare with the revenue generated from the click.
- SEO provides long-term benefits to businesses even if you stop working for a period. In Google Ads, traffic stops immediately when you stop campaigns.
- Google Ads is dependent on Google and the search giant has a tendency to block or suspend accounts without any specific reason. Calling up customer service does not help. SEO on the other hand is in your control.
- In terms of cost, the average cost works out to be the same. Just that a properly run ad campaign will cost you more in the short run. So in Ads, you end up spending over the course of 1-2 months what an SEO company may charge you in 6 months.
Final Words:
Both SEO and Google Ads offer plenty of advantages. While SEO is best for sustainable and long-term online success, Google Ads help you get targeted traffic sooner. For guidance and professional SEO services or Google Ads management services, contact us.
This post originally appeared on our earlier website: ihusresearch.com
