Most small businesses find it difficult to decide whether to embark on an organic SEO marketing strategy or on a paid search (PPC) marketing strategy or indeed whether to use both.
There is no right or wrong answer here but your individual objectives, budget and time constraints will play an important part in any decision you make. One thing for sure is that if you get it wrong it can be a very costly mistake to make.
Below we have outlined some of the pros and cons of both organic SEO and Paid Search (PPC).
TRUST:
Paid Search: Over 65% of internet users claim not to trust paid ads on search engines and over 25% claim to be annoyed by them.
Organic SEO: Over 75% of internet users claim to trust organic search results over paid search results and to find the organic search results more relevant to their search requirments.
PERFORMANCE:
Paid Search: The paid search ads only receive approximately 20% of the clicks from search engine users.
Organic SEO: Organic search results receive over 80% of the clicks from search engine users.
TIMING:
Paid Search: Benefits from an immediate repsonse. As long as you can afford it you can attract traffic immediately.
Organic SEO: Is a slower process usually taking between 3 and 6 months to achieve your desired results.
LONGEVITY:
Paid Search: Only lasts so long as your budget does for each keyword or phrase you pay for.
Organic SEO: Has a much longer lifespan once you have achieved your desired results it is reltively easy to maintain them within your designated budget parameters.
COST:
Paid Search: There are usually set-up costs and ongoing management fees as well as the cost of keyword acquisition and the cost-per-click which can get extremely expensive depending on how competitive the keywords are that you want to acquire.
Organic SEO: You pay one fixed and manageable monthly fee which is agreed before the campaign starts. You can own a keyword or phrase without having to pay for each time a person clicks on it which provides you with a much better ROI (Return on Investment).
MEASURABILITY:
Paid Search: Is completely measurable whereby you track results against each and every penny spent.
Organic SEO: Is also completely measurable where performance can be measured against every penny spent.
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