Most well balanced online marketing campaigns will involve a combination of search engine optimization (SEO) and pay-per-click advertising, usually through the Google AdWords platform. But if you have to be more selective with your advertising budget, which approach is better, organic search rankings or AdWords?
Organic Ranking Through SEO
Search engine optimization focuses on making a website's content as relevant as possible to a target market so it will rank as highly relevant to various search queries. This natural ranking of a website based on its relevance for a particular search query is known as organic ranking. Using SEO to rank higher organically in search results is not an overnight process. It requires careful design and maintenance and it usually takes time for a site to climb the ranks. But in terms of long-term rewards, organically ranking higher through a carefully crafted SEO plan will tend to create a site that will always rank higher. It will show up closer to the top of the search results than other, less well-designed sites, even if one only spends a small amount of time managing the site.
The most well known hallmark of SEO is keyword use, though this is becoming less important as search engines have become more sophisticated. Modern SEO often requires not just careful use of keywords, but also highly relevant content, social media relevance, regularly updated content, and many other tweaks. By optimizing these elements, search engines see the site as more relevant to a searcher's query and ranks it higher because it likely aligns with people’s searches.
The Advantages Of AdWords
AdWords, on the other hand, follows a different Internet marketing philosophy. Rather than being a site's long term plan for sustained visibility, AdWords allow one to jump to the head of the line by paying for the privilege of appearing before the organic search results. Those familiar with Google may notice the first few results of a page in a very slightly shaded box or the ads on the right column of the page. Those results are AdWords results. They are often much less relevant than the organic results so many people skip right past them. But there are still some who will click these links particularly if they are well crafted to the target audience.
AdWords are virtually instantaneous, meaning one can start appearing on top of search results literally overnight. However, this sudden fame comes with a price: one must pay for the privilege of appearing ahead of the organic results. Generally, pricing is based on a combination of impressions (how many time your ad appears) and clicks (how many times people actually click the link to visit your page). You pay in advance and when the money is gone, so is your ad. As a result, AdWords are significantly more expensive over time than organic rankings. For those people entering into a highly competitive market, AdWords might be a good preliminary investment, as organic rankings may take too long.
So Should I Use Organic Search Rankings Or AdWords?
Generally, it is best for one to use a mixture of both SEO and AdWords. Why? Well, as noted, SEO takes time, but leads to the best long-term visibility for the investment. AdWords, on the other hand, are more expensive, but provide a more immediate return on investment. Just as a well-balanced investment portfolio mixes stable long-term investments with more volatile short-term investments, so too should one mix their online marketing in order to maximize returns. AdWords will guarantee that your firm makes an appearance on the front page of search results, while SEO will keep it there (or close to there) for years to come.
