Organic SEO vs PPC – which is best?
Small businesses constantly seek ways to stand out and attract more eyes to their services or products. One crucial decision they face is choosing between organic Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) and paid advertising strategies — specifically Pay-Per-Click (PPC) ads — to drive traffic and enhance online presence. So which is best?
The Importance of SEO and PPC
In an era where most consumers turn to search engines for their queries, having an effective web presence can make or break a small business. Through organic SEO, businesses climb the ranks of search results, establishing credibility and creating lasting value. On the other hand, paid ads offer immediate visibility and can quickly funnel potential customers to your offerings. Each strategy has its merits, so identifying the right mix is vital.
Whether you’re looking to build robust long-term success or need a quick influx of traffic, understanding these two pillars of digital marketing is essential. Let’s delve into what makes organic SEO and paid ads distinct and identify which might serve your business objectives best — or whether a blend of both may be the optimal path forward. As Ahrefs notes, it’s important to remember that organic search traffic and paid search traffic are distinct audiences with different qualities and traits.
This post will explore the long-term benefits of organic SEO for small businesses, including free leads and enhanced customer engagement. With Search Engine Land highlighting the cost efficiency of SEO over pricey pay-per-click (PPC) campaigns, we’ll weigh such long-term budgeting concerns against paid ads’ ability to make an immediate impact.
What Is Organic SEO?
Organic SEO builds up over time
Organic Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is the process of enhancing your website’s visibility in the unpaid, algorithm-driven results of search engines like Google and Bing. It involves understanding what search engines prioritise when potential customers search for terms relevant to your business. By ensuring your site meets those criteria, it can appear prominently without the need for paid advertising.
The Benefits of Organic SEO for Small Businesses
While organic SEO takes longer to yield results than paid ads, the rewards can be significantly greater. It’s a testament to the adage “slow and steady wins the race,” where patience and consistent investment in quality yield lasting benefits for small businesses — all without the ongoing costs associated with paid advertising.
Still, what exactly makes organic SEO such a valuable asset for small businesses?
Brand Visibility and Credibility
Organic SEO contributes significantly to brand visibility and credibility. Users see organic SEO results as more credible than paid ads. Good organic search rankings tell potential customers that your content is relevant, trustworthy and valuable, building credibility for your brand. That credibility influences not only click-through rates but also sales conversion rates and customer loyalty. Increased visibility on SERPs boosts brand awareness, helping small businesses stand out in a crowded marketplace.
Cost-Effectiveness and Free Leads
SEO reduces CAC over time
Unlike paid advertisements that require continuous funding to maintain visibility, organic SEO is cost-effective. It revolves around optimizing your website’s content to naturally rank high on search engine results pages (SERPs). This optimisation leads to free leads — once you secure a high ranking, you don’t pay per click or impression.
So although investing in SEO may seem costly to start with, over time, it reduces your average cost of acquiring new customers. Specifically, each click gained through SEO saves at least the cost of gaining that click through PPC. That can mean huge savings for a small business — especially in competitive sectors, where PPC clicks typically cost £10 each or more.
Sustainable Traffic and Lead Generation
Perhaps one of the most compelling advantages of organic SEO is its sustainability. By investing in SEO services, you’re building a foundation that can consistently generate traffic and leads over time. A strong organic SEO strategy leads to improved search rankings and conversion rates, which are key for business growth. Moreover, this isn’t a short-lived spike in traffic; it’s a steady stream that grows as your SEO efforts compound.
Customer Engagement – Outbound vs Inbound Marketing
Content is a key part of SEO
Traditional “outbound” marketing involves paying to push your offer out to potential customers. Inbound marketing attracts potential customers, who are then more receptive to hearing your offer.
In the early days of online marketing, with the benefit of rapid, reliable feedback in the form of website stats, we learned that “ad blindness” is common. Many people subconsciously ignore anything that looks too much like an ad. However, if you offer them free answers to their biggest questions, most will be far more willing to consider paying for your product or service.
This “engagement” is key to online success, so content marketing plays a crucial role in organic SEO. You can target a wide range of relevant search phrases by creating keyword-rich content that resonates with your audience and search engine algorithms.
Instead of paying for each visitor to your site through paid ads, organic SEO then helps attract visitors naturally. Factors such as quality backlinks, domain authority, and the relevance of content to user queries collectively contribute to where your website lands on the search results page. The goal is to rank as highly as possible, ideally on the first page, as this is where the vast majority of user clicks occur.
Critically, these free search visitors have found your business because they’re looking for something specific that you offer. That makes them highly targeted and far more likely to engage with your content, products, or services.
Brand Loyalty
By focusing on user experience and providing valuable content, small businesses can encourage visitors to spend more time on their site, share content, and return in the future. This not only improves SEO rankings and visibility but also strengthens customer relationships and brand loyalty.
What Is PPC?
PPC (pay-per-click) – rapid results at higher cost
Whilst the concept of paid advertising needs no introduction, PPC (pay-per-click) is an online marketing model in which advertisers pay a fee each time their ad is clicked. This may be in addition to more traditional PPM (pay-per-mille) costs, which reflect how many times the ad is shown to the target audience.
Still, strategic planning and ongoing management are critical to making the most out of paid ads. This includes setting realistic budget caps, selecting the right keywords, crafting compelling ad copy, and choosing landing pages that will convert visitors into customers. Over time, small businesses can learn and optimize their campaigns for better performance and more efficient use of their advertising budgets.
Why Invest in Paid Ads Online?
Paid ads online offer huge advantages over ads in traditional media — and not just because the publishing process is generally far faster.
Immediate Impact
Paid ads can create a rapid uptick in traffic, bypassing the slower, longer-lasting process of climbing search engine rankings organically. That can be a significant advantage when a business is looking to make a splash with a new product or service.
Targeted Reach
Targeting is vital for SEO and PPC
Unlike traditional media such as print ads, radio or television, platforms like Google AdWords or Facebook Ads can provide accurate, near-real-time stats on how many times your ads have actually been seen, and how many times they have prompted a response. Online ad platforms also typically offer tools to let you target specific demographics, interests, and even geographic locations. So a local bakery can target just the sweet-toothed residents of its city, or a start-up can reach out to tech enthusiasts with pinpoint accuracy.
Compare that with the vague claims of “thousands of readers/listeners/viewers” in broadcast media. Everyone knows most print pages go unread, and without real targeting, most of your budget will be spent on reaching people who have no interest in your offer.
The Real Cost of Paid Ads
PPC Management
PPC takes more ongoing work than SEO. So adding management fees to sub-£1k/month ad budgets just makes them even less cost-effective. As I only work with small firms, I rarely recommend that, though I can run PPC campaigns if needed.
However, relying on paid ads can be a risky game. Costs can spiral out of control if not managed carefully, and there’s no guarantee of a return on investment.
For small businesses, every dollar counts, and the money poured into paid ads is a gamble against potential returns. You pay the same cost-per-click for every interaction, whether it converts to a sale or not. So it’s crucial to have a clear understanding of your customer acquisition cost (CAC) and average customer lifetime value (ACLV) to ensure that paid advertising delivers a return on investment (ROI).
In fact, paid ads often cost over £1 per click. While that may sound fairly cheap, not all those clicks are genuine — or even human. According to ClickCease, the average rate of click fraud on small business paid ad campaigns is around 14% — and much higher in some regions and industry sectors. Basically, competitors and bots will click your ads just to waste your budget.
Now bear in mind that most websites need over 100 visitors to get one sale. However, the quality of PPC leads is often lower than those obtained through inbound methods like SEO, where users have sought you out based on their needs or interests. So PPC could easily lead to average customer acquisition costs of £100 or more. Can your profit margin cover that?
Without strategic planning, small businesses can quickly find themselves in trouble with paid ads. So it’s essential to set clear objectives, define budgets, and continuously analyze ad performance.
Other Pitfalls of PPC
Yet there’s more to consider than just the numbers. You’ll also need to create new advertising assets regularly to combat ad fatigue among audiences. Also, ad costs are based on instant auctions that reflect what your competitors are willing to pay. The best spots go to the ads that bid the most for them. So you’ll have to be prepared for bidding wars inflating costs as your competitors start trying to outbid you.
And PPC traffic can be addictive. If you stop paying, that traffic will disappear overnight — could you cope with that? Especially if you’re already struggling because the costs have eaten further into your profits than expected. For many small business owners, saying goodbye to that unprofitable traffic can take nerves of steel, with some even going broke before they do so.
Developing a Balanced Marketing Strategy
Organic SEO vs PPC – it’s all about balance
SEO is a marathon, in which perseverance wins free visitors, sustained traffic and long-term growth. PPC is a sprint, offering fast traffic at a higher cost. So for small businesses with limited budgets, “SEO vs. PPC” can seem like a binary choice. In truth, however, these two marketing strategies are complementary.
NI Business Info highlights the need to understand your market and choose appropriate keywords to maximize the potential of pay-per-click advertising. However, the same is true of SEO, or any other form of marketing. Without effective keyword research, audience profiling and targeting, it’s easy to waste a lot of time and money. So both strategies generate lots of data that can help to improve all your marketing strategies.
What’s more, some PPC platforms charge more to send clicks to lower-quality landing pages — and tend to measure quality the same way search engines do. So SEO techniques can actually reduce PPC costs.
Organic SEO vs PPC – Which Is Best For You?
Each small business is unique, so it’s vital to tailor your marketing strategies to your specific needs. Still, it’s also important to play both the long game and the short game. So a balanced marketing strategy can boost current performance whilst building long-term stability and growth.
Invest in paid ads for immediate results or to test new markets when you need to. Still, maintain a continuous investment in organic SEO for ongoing returns and long-term success. Remember that it’s best to start SEO long before you think you need it and work on it persistently, month after month. The more you can afford to do sustainably, the sooner you’ll see results.
How much should you invest? A common rule of thumb is to invest 10% to 20% of your target turnover in marketing to achieve growth. How you split that across different channels is up to you, but it’s worth noting that a small turnover means you’ll need to invest a larger percentage to get the same effects.
In any case, make sure you regularly analyse the data generated by your site and the ad platforms to understand what’s working and where adjustments are needed. Such stats are critical to success — trying to run a business without them is like driving blind.
In summary, the choice between organic SEO and paid ads doesn’t have to be binary. If you can spare the resources, address both. Otherwise, PPC offers rapid results at a cost, whilst SEO is more cost-effective but requires a lot of patience. Match the methods to your goals, but don’t focus too much on the short-term ones. Remember – overall, business is a marathon, not a sprint.
