SEO vs Paid Ads: Which is Better for Growing Your Small Business?
SEO vs Paid Ads: The Best Marketing Strategy for New Businesses
Should you put your marketing dollars into paid ads or search engine optimization (SEO)? Both have pros and cons, but knowing which strategy is best for your business depends on your goals and most importantly — your budget.
How Paid Ads Work
PPC (pay-per-click) ads work through an auction system where advertisers (businesses) bid on keywords to have their ads shown on search engine results pages (SERPS) or websites. When a user or potential customer searches for a keyword, an ad auction occurs, and the winner is determined by a combination of their bid amount and their ad's quality score, which measures relevance. Advertisers are charged a fee only when their ad is clicked
Benefits of Paid Ads
The benefits of Pay-Per-Click (PPC) advertising include immediate visibility and results, the ability to target specific audiences, and complete control over your budget. Other advantages are that PPC is highly measurable, cost-effective because you only pay for clicks, and can be paused or modified at any time, making it a flexible and data-driven marketing tool.
Key benefits of PPC
Immediate results:
PPC campaigns can start generating traffic and leads almost immediately, unlike SEO which takes longer to build momentum.
Targeted advertising:
You can precisely target your ads to specific demographics, locations, interests, and keywords, ensuring your message reaches the most relevant audience.
Budget control:
You set your own budget and only pay when someone clicks your ad, giving you tight control over your spending and budget.
Cost-effectiveness:
Since you only pay for clicks, you are not paying for impressions that don't convert, which can be a more efficient use of your marketing spend.
Measurable and trackable:
PPC platforms provide detailed analytics on performance, allowing you to track conversions and calculate your return on investment (ROI) to optimize your campaigns.
Flexibility and control:
You can pause, change, or stop a campaign at any time. You can also test different ads to see what works best and make adjustments in real-time.
Brand awareness:
Consistent PPC ads can increase brand recognition and put your business in front of a wide audience, even if your organic search rankings are low.
Complements SEO:
PPC data can provide insights that help inform and improve your overall SEO strategy.
Cons of Paid Ads
The main disadvantages of PPC are that it can be expensive and time-consuming, offers no guarantee of profit, and provides temporary visibility. Costs can rise in competitive industries, and clicks don't automatically lead to conversions. Without continuous monitoring and optimization, campaigns can waste money and lead to poor ROI.
Cost and budget
Can be expensive:
Especially in highly competitive industries, the cost per click can be very high, making it expensive for businesses with limited budgets.
Costs add up:
Every click costs money, so if those clicks don't result in sales or leads, the ad spend can quickly become a loss.
No guaranteed profit:
You pay for clicks, not for guaranteed sales or conversions, so there is no guarantee of a return on investment.
Visibility and long-term value
Temporary results:
Your ads only appear as long as you are paying for them. When you stop paying, your visibility and traffic stop immediately.
No long-term benefits:
Unlike SEO, which provides lasting results after you rank, PPC requires an ongoing investment to maintain traffic and visibility.
Management and effectiveness
Time-consuming to manage:
PPC campaigns require continuous monitoring, optimization, and adjustments to keywords, bids, and ad copy to remain effective and avoid waste.
Risk of "ad blindness":
Users may become desensitized to ads over time and learn to ignore them, especially if they see the same ad repeatedly.
Risk of click fraud:
Competitors or bots may intentionally click on your ads, draining your budget with invalid clicks.
Risk of mismanagement:
A poorly managed campaign can quickly deplete a budget with little to no return on investment.
Consumer skepticism
Lack of trust: Some consumers view PPC ads with distrust because they are marked as "sponsored" and will scroll past them to find organic results.
Most often, my clients (small businesses owners, entrepreneurs, sole proprietors, etc.) don’t initially have the budget to execute successful Paid Ad or PPC campaigns which is why I recommend and provide search engine optimization (SEO) campaigns to new business owners.
How SEO Works
SEO works by optimizing (to make as perfect, effective, or functional as possible) a website to rank higher in unpaid search results by making it more attractive to search engines like Google, Bing, Yahoo etc. This involves search engines "crawling" and "indexing" your website’s content, and then using algorithms to rank it based on relevance and authority for a given search query. By implementing SEO strategies, you aim to increase visibility, which leads to more free, organic traffic to your site.
Benefits of SEO
The biggest benefit of SEO is that it’s FREE! Yes, you’ll need to pay for a domain and a website but the text, or marketing copy that you add to your website and the blogs you write don’t cost anything. You can even use a free generative artificial intelligence chatbot to help you with your content. Note: Marketing is critically important to a business’s success and I believe it should be handled by a trained expert with the skills, tools, and strategic direction needed to drive business growth.
Key Benefits of SEO
The additional benefits of SEO include increased online visibility and organic traffic, improved credibility and trust, a better user experience, and a higher return on investment compared to other marketing channels.
Increased visibility and traffic:
SEO helps your website rank higher in search engine results, making it more visible to potential customers who are actively searching for your products or services. This leads to more organic (non-paid) traffic to your site.
Higher conversion rates:
Traffic from organic search is often pre-qualified, meaning visitors have a specific need or interest. This can lead to higher conversion rates compared to other channels.
Builds credibility and trust:
Appearing at the top of search results signals to users that your brand is a trusted and authoritative source. This builds brand credibility over time, especially for smaller businesses.
Improved user experience:
SEO involves optimizing a website for better performance, which includes fixing broken links, improving page speed, and ensuring the site is mobile-friendly. These technical improvements enhance the overall user experience.
Cost-effectiveness:
SEO is a long-term investment that can provide more sustainable traffic compared to the constant cost of paid advertising. The content and assets built through SEO can also be repurposed for other marketing efforts, improving your ROI.
Provides valuable insights:
SEO provides data and insights into customer behavior through keyword analysis and performance tracking, which can inform other business decisions.
Competitive advantage:
A strong SEO strategy helps you outrank competitors and gain a larger share of the online market.
The Cons of SEO
The main disadvantages of SEO are that it is time-consuming, costly, and the results are not guaranteed. SEO requires consistent effort and maintenance, involves a high degree of competition, and can result in penalties if done incorrectly, often due to frequent changes in search engine algorithms.
Time and effort
Slow results:
SEO is a long-term strategy; it can take months to see significant results, unlike paid advertising.
Constant maintenance:
Websites need continuous updates to content, technical aspects, and strategy to maintain rankings.
Cost and resources
Expensive:
Implementing a strong SEO strategy can be costly, requiring investments in tools, expertise, and resources, especially in competitive niches.
Requires expertise:
SEO involves technical complexity, which may require hiring experts or a significant learning curve.
Risk and uncertainty
No guaranteed results:
There is no guarantee of success, and a website can lose its rankings despite significant investment.
Algorithm changes:
Search engine algorithms are constantly changing, which can unpredictably impact a site's rankings and require a quick strategic pivot.
Risk of penalties:
Using "shady" or outdated tactics can lead to penalties from search engines, potentially harming your website's visibility or even leading to its removal from search results.
Competitive landscape
Intense competition: It can be very difficult to achieve top rankings for popular keywords because many competitors are also vying for those spots.
Overview
The benefits of paid ads (best for immediate results) are immediate visibility, useful for short-term promotions, and budget control. The benefits of SEO (best for long-term sustainable growth) are long-term growth, building credibility, and higher ROI over time.
I’d love the opportunity to build a foundation of lasting success with an SEO campaign for your business. If you’re ready to build a strategy that works, contact me or check out the SEO services I provide to get started.
