SEO vs SEM

4. What is Google Ads?

Google Ads are a digital marketing tactic where advertisers pay search engines like Google for placing ads on search engine results pages (SERPs). Google Search ads (Google Search Ads are a type of Google Ads) enables you (advertisers) to display your website or landing page at the top of search results.

5. Pros of Google Ads

Google Search Ads (Google Search Ads are a type of Google Ads) delivers immediate results. It is faster to set up a paid search campaign. You can create an account in a platform like google ads and start running a paid search campaign.

Google Search Ads allows you to quickly experiment. You can set up a Google Search Ads campaign. You can run A/B tests and see if something is working or not. In contrast, SEO takes time to give you results. It can also be hard to attribute specific SEO outcomes to specific SEO activities that you completed.

Google Search Ads also gives you high visibility in search engine result pages. Your ad will be displayed higher in search results (i.e. above organic search results), if you choose the right keywords and your ad has a good quality score. This gives your website high visibility while your target buyers are searching for products or services that are similar to yours.

6. Cons of Google Ads

Google Search Ads (Google Search Ads are a type of Google Ads) can be quite expensive in the long run. If you are a business in an industry that has high cost per clicks (CPCs) for keywords, this can become quite expensive very quickly. You will stop seeing results, as soon as you switch off your paid search campaigns. In contrast, SEO will continue to generate organic web traffic and leads.

Google Search Ads listings are prefixed with the words ‘Ad’. This may deter some buyers from clicking on them as they don’t trust your business. This might be the first time, they are seeing an ad from your business.

Google Search Ads also comes with a huge learning curve as platforms like google ads are some what complex. It might take a few attempts to create a paid search campaign that generates results for your business.

7. When to use SEO?

Use SEO if you want to build a consistent flow of web traffic. SEO is a long term strategy. Once you keywords start getting ranked and your web pages get to the top of search results, you will get a consistent flow of web traffic. If you continue doing your SEO optimisations, you will stay at the top of search results and will get consistent organic traffic to your website.

Use SEO if you want to build an authoritative website. An authoritative website is where your target buyers will go when they need information on a particular topic. You can position your business as an expert for a particular topic.

8. When to use Google Ads?

Use Google Search Ads (Google Search Ads are a type of Google Ads) if you want immediate results. Your Google Search ad is immediately shown to your target buyers, once you setup a Google search ad campaign and your ad is approved by google ads. Google Search Ads are good for product launches, time sensitive offers and event promotions.

Use Google Search Ads if you want to lead search results for keywords that are specific to your product or service category. The first few search results get most of the website clicks. If you want to grab your share of website clicks, then use Google Search Ads.