In today’s digital era, the race to capture the audience’s attention feels relentless. As an entrepreneur, you must have come across the two powerful channels of digital marketing – SEO and Google Ads and both of these assure businesses of growth and visibility. But again, the question remains: which one would be the right fit for your business?
In this blog, we will explore the dynamic aspects of these channels and provide a detailed breakdown of how they can impact your business’s bottom line. The choice isn’t always about cost or speed; it is about understanding the factor(s) that drive(s) sustainable success for an enterprise in the present competitive scenario. So, let’s see which one works at the end of this blog.
Google Ads vs. SEO: definition, components, formats, pros and cons and your choice
As promised, from this section onwards, we will move forward with understanding the most crucial aspects of SEO and Google Ads, which will enable you to make a choice for your enterprise. So, let’s dig in.
A. Search Engine Optimization
Search Engine Optimization, or SEO, is the process of boosting a website and its contents to enhance the credibility and online visibility of the business.
The dynamic algorithm of Google analyses every website against all others to match its search with the most relevant content for the user. To make your web pages appear and rank on the results page, you must adopt various optimization techniques like keyword integration and internal linking.
After a detailed consideration of critical ranking factors like site speed, security, and content quality, Google will assign each page a score that decides the listing order. Website optimization becomes more relevant to achieving an organic ranking and outperforming your site competitors.
This helps generate higher SEO traffic, which gradually leads to improved sales and conversion rates. A strong SEO strategy is a key element in reaching prospective customers to facilitate business growth.
Search Engine Optimization is divided into three broad types. They are:
Technical SEO
Technical SEO assures that no issues hamper the ways Google and search bots read and access your website and its contents in the search engines. Technical SEO also ensures that the pages, texts, and images have the proper and relevant metadata enlisting for search engine crawlers. Most of the coding, performance, and web designs are part of Technical SEO.
Off-page SEO
Off-page SEO includes finding the most relevant websites to link back to the website. This action improves the authority and credibility of the sites and enables Google to trust you.
On-page SEO
Website content must be optimized for relevant keywords to enable Google to determine the SERPs your site needs to rank on. It is crucial to optimize the website frequently for on-page factors. The content marketing strategy must be well structured and detailed, aligned with Google’s EEAT, to accomplish marketing goals.
B. Google Ads
Previously known as Google AdWords, Google Ads are paid advertisement campaigns that use a set of keywords to help Google understand where you intend your ads to show up.
Whenever a user searches for a keyword relevant to the ad content, Google conducts an auction between other sites and yours, determining the ad ranks through Quality Score bidding on that keyword and figuring out which ad has the higher rank using the Google Adwords platform.
Google Ads campaign is also Google’s advertisement platform, which is a PPC system. Google PPC enables advertisers to reach interested leads. The cost of one click ranges from a few to a hundred dollars, depending on the market’s competitiveness.
Unlike SEO, one of Google Ads’ most significant benefits is immediate results. You do not have to create or plan elaborate content for it. The major difference lies in quick response, which is often a major area of comparison between both of them.
Let’s have a look at the various forms of PPC ads:
Google shopping ads
Ads generally appear from the top SERPs in a format called the carousel. These ads contain images of the products and crucial details like price, offers, company name, website name, etc., which helps audiences compare.
Search ads
Search ads are texts that generally appear above the usual search results at the top of SERPs. Google advertising services recommend these ads, which are easily distinguished from the organic results with an ‘ad’ tag.
Local services ads
These local service ads highlight service companies that intend to pull in more leads and improve local listing ratings. They are quite similar to the shopping ads, but additionally, they list the business’s service information.
Display ads
Google Display Network Ads, or simply Display ads, appear as images or text over millions of apps, videos, and websites, and they do not get featured on the SERPs.
Entrepreneurs can build brand awareness with Display ads by reaching the target audience when they are using apps, checking Gmails, or browsing online.
Entrepreneurs must focus on creating engaging ad copy and images that are visually appealing and carry a strong CTA to create these ads.
Video ads
Video ads appear at the very start or in the middle of YouTube videos. These ads are intended to drive subscribers, conversions, and traffic in the way of advertisers. Video campaigns help entrepreneurs build solid brand awareness and intrigue potential customers as they watch YouTube videos.
SEO vs. Google Ads: Which will suit your business better?
The answer entirely depends on your company’s situation. SEO and Google Ads are two different processes, and both intend to increase a business’s visibility.
If you need immediate results, nothing beats Google Ads, which, when done right, can fetch results in just a few clicks, with the probability of your ad appearing on the first page of the results page.
SEO is a significantly cost-effective option if you want to bet for the long game. Depending on your goals and strategies, it may take months, or in some cases years, to reap the benefits. SEO’s strongest point is its capability of generating organic traffic and compounding growth without having to spend a lot of money on paid search ads.
Here’s a more comprehensive take on the
Pros and cons of Google Ads and SEO
Let’s start by knowing the basics of the brighter aspects of search engine optimization:
- Organic results and performances are reflected 24/7
- Clicks are free of cost
- Entrepreneurs can cost-effectively target keywords across the sales funnel
- For the long run, SEO is a cost-efficient investment
- If done right, the organic results can fetch 10x return than Google ads
Pros of Google ads
- Results are reflected almost instantly. Almost!
- Ads can appear above all the organic listings
- Marketers can enhance the appeal of ads with extensions
- Requires a smaller team than the SEO
- Can precisely reach only the targeted audience
- Generates a wealth of data insights
Cons of SEO
- Takes a lot of time to reflect the results as websites increase their authority
- Requires a specialist team comprising link builders, content creators, and technical SEO managers
- Google’s algorithm keeps changing, and it is not certain that companies can outrank competitors in the long run
Cons of Google ads
- Every click on the ads cost money
- Requires higher investment at the initial stage, which might seem to be overwhelming for many startups
- Entrepreneurs pay for both campaign management and click posts
- When ads are turned off, companies lose visibility
A survey was conducted with 496 marketing experts and business owners on leveraging Google Ads and SEO. Nearly 90% agreed that Google ads are more effective, while 87% highlighted the effectiveness of SEO.
When asked to choose only one, nearly 64% of the respondents said they would choose Google ads, and the rest, 36%, opted for SEO.
Let us make your decision-making challenge easier. Take a look at the following
Considerations to choose between SEO and Google ads
Ask the following questions to make the simplifying the decision-making task:
What’s the goal?
SEO is a great choice for steady long-term growth. But if you want to fetch traffic to kickstart a product or promote a service, Google ads are the way to go.
Are you already performing well?
If you already have a strong online and search presence from your SEO efforts, you can leverage Google ads for additional visibility. If not, you must strengthen your brand visibility and credibility, and SEO is the best way to do that.
What are your margins?
Some keywords cost more to target with ads than others. When the costs are high, it may not be logical to invest in Google ads when the profit margin is not that big a deal. SEO drives better returns. To make the right choice, estimate your CPCs.
Is your customer value higher? Or lower?
With Google ads, you will realize that higher click costs are associated with higher customer lifetime values. When the customer value is lower, SEO stands as the best option.
SEO: when to choose and why
An entrepreneur must leverage SEO as soon as the business website is launched or the online presence is established. SEO, as mentioned earlier, is a long-term strategy, and it takes a lot of time to produce results. The earlier you start, the better the foundation for access.
Even when your website is established, proactive SEO efforts are crucial for adapting to Google’s dynamic algorithm changes and maintaining its rankings.
Let’s look at the aspects of investing in SEO
Compounding returns
As SEO concentrates on sustainable and organic growth, you will be able to experience compounding returns all the time. Generally speaking, when your website’s visibility and authority increase, the chance of organic traffic growth will increase, too.
Investing in a long-term strategy
Once you start to rank for the target keywords, you can retain those positions by keeping your control firmly on the dynamic SEO algorithm changes for consistent ranking.
Improving brand visibility
SEO has proven to be one of the most cost-effective ways to improve a brand’s visibility. It increases recall among online users and leads to better brand recognition.
Organic listings will place you at the very front of the target consumers while they are searching for businesses, services, and products like yours. Your business’s strong online presence will improve the performance of other marketing channels and strategies.
Online brand awareness can strengthen your business and amplify brick-and-mortar business opportunities, which can lead to more sales.
Google ads: when to choose and why
Google ads rapidly boost conversion with amplified traffic when you need quick results with immediate online visibility. As per Google’s calculation, businesses earn an average revenue of $2 for every $1 spent on Google ads. Doesn’t it sound like a significant investment?
Paid advertisement is a wise choice in case you have time-sensitive product launches or promotions.
In a competitive space, organic rankings can be immensely challenging to attain, and ads will enable you to target valuable keywords. How? Take a look below:
Easy metrics
The ROI of paid campaigns is more straightforward to measure. Most often, precise data exists on how much the company has spent and how much return it has generated from the investment.
You can attribute parameters like conversion to ad campaigns, phone calls, customer form submissions, and purchases. Google ads facilitate the direct measurement of ROAS or return on ad spend.
Defined budget
Google ads allow you the opportunity to adhere to and set a specific budget. This works best when you have endless marketing platforms that generate a defined amount of revenue or traffic. For example, for every $100 spent, you must make at least 10 sales.
Ensure you know that paid ads generate site visits when you pay for them. Once you stop, the paid traffic process will start dropping too.
Conclusion
The decision to leverage Google ads and SEO should align with your marketing budget, target audience, and specific business goals. If you operate in a highly competitive industry, investing in both will give you a strong online presence with boosted organic search results.
You can leverage a Google ads campaign at the peak seasons to boost a product or service, while year-round SEO activities can maintain your business’s visibility.