SEO vs Paid Search: Pros and Cons

SEO

How important is it to be top of the Google results page? 

In a word, very. Ranking high on a Google search is vital if you want to reach a swathe of potential customers, who might be looking for a product or service like yours. 

But do you really need to pay Google directly to get to the top of the results page?

You’re probably familiar with terms like “paid ads”, and “SEO” (search engine optimisation), but do you know the ins and outs of each? What are the different opportunities and pitfalls? How do you decide where to spend your time and money when it comes to search engines? 

In this article, we want to clear away some of the fog that can surround this topic. What is the difference between paid search (also known as Pay-Per-Click or PPC) and SEO? We’ll discuss the pros and cons of each and how they might work differently for your business, depending on your product or service and the market you are aiming to serve. 

What’s the difference between Paid Search and SEO?

Most people (perhaps under a certain age), understand that when they search for anything on Google, the first 4 that appear on the top of the page are always the result of “paid for” advertising.

In other words, the companies that occupy those first 4 positions, are not necessarily: the best value, most popular or even the most appropriate within the search criteria…they have simply paid for those spots. You can identify these results as they have a little “Ad” sign in the corner

Organic search results are the results a little bit further down the page. They are not paid for but are the result of Google’s algorithm deciding which website deserves to be No.1 based on a variety of criteria such as industry authority, website traffic and content quality. Google always wants to give you the best result possible, so it is constantly reassessing websites to decide where they should be on the results page. 

Work done to make sure your website is being understood by Google properly and ranked well on the results page comes under the term “Search Engine Optimisation” or SEO for short. This can involve a variety of activities such as improving metadata (the information the website sends to Google) and adding blog content to your site. 

Do you always have to place…in the top 4 in the race?

With both paid search and organic search, we are dealing with relatively high consumer intent. People are searching for the product or service that you provide. But whether you invest in Paid Ads or SEO will mostly depend on whether you have a short or long-term mindset when it comes to marketing. And as we will see later on, paying to occupy the top four places on Google might not be the quick fix that you would assume. 

Before we think about this, let’s look at the pros and cons of Paid Search and SEO. 

The pros of paid search: 

1)     Visibility 

If someone has searched for “1-hour dry cleaner in Bromsgrove”, it’s fair to assume that they are in urgent need of a speedy dry clean, and are probably not interested in spending a lot of time researching it. This is similarly true for other searches with high levels of urgency (like emergency plumbers), or low-value items, like basic stationery. The commonality here is that people are not always going to invest their time reviewing lots of different options, they want ease and speed. These types of products and services are usually best served by paid search. You are always going to appear at the top of the first page, and have more space available to advertise what you offer for those short on time or low in motivation.

2)     Flexibility

Paid search gives you complete control over what people see. By controlling the landing page the ad clicks through to, you can tailor information and your Call to Action to that specific search query. 

Paid search makes it easier to target specific regions and even times of the day. Why pay to advertise a 1-hour cleaner outside of your opening hours?  

It’s also instantly scalable and can be turned on or off, up or down to facilitate specific campaigns or test new products and services.

3)     Results are fast and easy to track

You will see results immediately with little to no lag time. Pay-per-click allows for a very quick customer journey, with fewer links in the chain. There is also less volatility with paid search. Changes do occur but the ups and downs are not as dramatic as they can be with SEO.

The cons of paid search 

1)     Cost, cost and more cost

However, all this ease, speed and flexibility come at a price. It might be a price worth paying to kick start a new business or run a specific, short-term campaign. But there are few small to medium enterprises, that can afford to allocate large chunks of their marketing budget to full-time paid search ads. 

In addition, you’ll pay more for the most competitive keywords which might push you above your budget. Depending on the industry, campaigns targeted at less competitive keywords might not give the return on investment you need when you consider how expensive Paid Search can be. 

2)     It is not long-lasting

As soon as you stop paying for it, the leads will instantly dry up. This makes it ill-suited to long-term growth strategies. We see this as the most significant reason why relying on Paid Search is not a good marketing strategy. What happens if you have to significantly slash your marketing budget for some reason? Without any long-term marketing strategies in place, your business could quickly collapse. 

3)     Distrust

We never even look at the top 4 results generated from a Google search when researching a product or service we want to buy. We just don’t trust them to deliver the best result because we know that they’re paid for! We want to look for companies that we connect with when spending our hard-earned cash and we’re not alone. This mistrust is a real psychological phenomenon. Not everyone suffers from it and it may well be an unfair judgement in many cases. Nevertheless, we are far from alone. There is a risk that paid search may turn some customers off. 

So what about organic Search and SEO? How does this stack up against paid search?   

The pros of search engine optimisation (SEO) 

1)     The best things in life are free! 

The best thing about SEO is that you can capture keywords for free (kind of!). You are optimising your website for Google, so that you will appear high on the organic search list for certain keywords, without having to pay for that keyword directly.

Generally speaking, the return on investment for SEO long-term is better than it is for paid search, even when you use a specialist agency to help you with SEO, as once your website is optimised properly, Google will know exactly what your company does and do its best to rank your properly long-term. 

Plus, learning SEO basics is free – there are so many courses and resources out there. If you have the time, it’s easy to learn.

2)     The feedback loop

By using SEO rather than pay per click, you are having to earn the visitors that come to your website, rather than paying for them. By constantly revising and updating your content based on traffic and subsequent sales, you are always learning about what works and what doesn’t. This drives better content and a better customer experience – which in turn – drives more traffic and more sales.

3)     Trust and brand building

While one of the disadvantages of paid search is a lack of trust, just the opposite is true of SEO. An extension of the feedback loop we mentioned above, is that you build a credible reputation. By appearing time and again in the top organic search results, you will be viewed as trusted and this in turn drives further website traffic and raises brand awareness. 

4)     A long-tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs!

Ok, please forgive the heading. It’s one of my favourite phrases and I’ve been trying to work it into an article for years! Here comes the clunky segway…SEO is brilliant for long tail keywords, that is phrases of 3 to 5 words.  Why are long-tail keywords important? Just like PPC can allow you to direct traffic to a specific landing page based on a keyword; long-tailed keywords can allow you to be more targeted with your content, based on a more specific consumer search. In short…a long-tailed keyword is more likely to be hit by a digital rocking chair!

5)     It is long-lasting

Unlike paid search, which will cease generating clicks as soon as you stop paying for it, SEO is virtually timeless. Once established, SEO will continue to generate clicks for as long as your website lasts. This can be particularly valuable if a business needs to cut back on marketing spending for any reason.

The cons of SEO 

1)     It’s the tortoise, not the hare 

One of the biggest perceived downsides to SEO is that it can take a long time to start yielding results. Typically, you will be looking at 3-6 months minimum before you start to see the results of an SEO campaign. Most campaigns are around 4-9 months This can however have strategic advantages if managed properly. Once you are established in the organic search results, your competitors cannot just come along and immediately unseat you. 

2)     Google is a hard taskmaster 

It is estimated that Google alone has around 200 different ranking factors for SEO, and ever-changing algorithms can make it hard to stay on top of the game.  It’s an unforgiving atmosphere and it can change very quickly, making it hard to keep up in an effective way. 

3)     Time investment

There is a significant time investment involved with SEO. Not only do you need to try and keep up with the evil genius that is Google’s algorithm-generating machine, but SEO is fiercely competitive within the market, especially when dealing with popular or high-value keywords. This means that there needs to be new content generated on a regular basis, as well as a lot of maintenance on what is already there. 

So, when the chips are down…is it SEO or paid search?

The answer to this is almost always better to use a mixture of both. They are two different channels which can be used in different ways and are often, aimed at different consumers. The specifics of your business will largely determine how you use both paid search and SEO. 

But, for most established small to medium enterprises, SEO should take a greater focus. It will likely have a higher and more stable ROI and be a better aid to building your brand and improving your products or services. It takes longer but is a more stable form of marketing and reaps huge benefits long-term.