Search Engine Marketing Options
Everyone agrees it takes hard work and determination to build your online presence, but there is some disagreement over how to attract new customers to a website. The primary question is whether SEO or AdWords produce the best return on your investment? Website owners need to do a little research and ask a lot of questions before deciding where to focus their attention and spend their advertising dollars.
First, it’s essential to understand that SEO and AdWords both serve important roles in attracting new business to your website. However, those roles are quite different. In addition, a well-designed marketing strategy considers how to use the best qualities of each to increase a brand’s presence and push sales to the next level.
How Are the Roles of AdWords and SEO Different?
Before investigating the differences between Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and AdWords, website owners need to understand that, contrary to some opinions, both SEO and AdWords are likely to be around for a long time. So, it’s necessary for website owners to better understand how each operates and when to employ each strategy. The key is determining how AdWords and SEO fit your organization’s short and long-term marketing agendas, especially here in Calgary’s metropolitan!
Web design experts continue to disagree over the value of SEO and AdWords in today’s highly competitive marketing environment. AdWords have gained massive popularity within recent years, and many business owners now spend a significant portion of their advertising dollars on those types of ads. Google Ads (which has been AdWords until recently) reports that business owners rake in roughly $2.00 for every $1.00 invested in Google Ads. That’s a significant return.
However, not all companies that invest in Google Ads enjoy that level of return on investment. If your company is one of those seeing insufficient gains, it’s probably time to revisit your strategy and make adjustments.
In reality, your Google Ads may be working, but you’re losing customers when they visit the company’s website. That’s where SEO comes in. SEO is the strategy used to enhance the overall quality of your website. If a site doesn’t appeal to visitors, they’ll move on to a competitor. In this case, the money spent on Google’s Ads were wasted. The ads attracted customers, but they didn’t see what they wanted once they clicked on the ad and were redirected to the website in question.
How Can SEO and Google Ads Work Together?
The competition between websites, to appear on Google’s first page is always fierce. Business owners are always going to do whatever it takes to earn one of the top spots, especially above the fold! So, what’s the best way to ensure your site has the best possible chance to attract new customers?
Many industry experts today strongly suggest site owners spend a large percentage of their advertising budget on Google Ads to make sure your business name is one of the first which a potential customer will see when they search for a specific product or service. But, what can a site owner do to make sure the customers they attract buy once they reach the website?
That’s complicated, but it’s becoming increasingly evident, that SEO & AdWords can work in harmony to achieve more sales. The experts can argue which is more important, but the reality for site owners is that using both is probably the best way to close more deals.
Google Ads are undoubtedly very useful. When properly used, Google Ads increase the visibility of the keywords you’ve identified as being important. Conversely, if an ad doesn’t produce the expected results, it’s probably a good idea to revisit those keywords and make sure they’re the ideal ones to use.
Keywords in Google Ads help advertisers to understand better how various demographic groups are responding to the ads. If the intended demographic group isn’t responding well, what’s happening with other demographics? Are they clicking on the ads or ignoring them? Researching the response percentages makes it easier to draft new campaigns or update existing ones.
At the same time, if keywords in Google Ads are not functioning; it’s unlikely those same keywords are proving very successful in the website’s content. That means SEO experts need to evaluate what’s going on and look for better keyword options.
It’s important to remember results are rarely realized overnight. Ads may bring more visitors to the site, but those visitors may move on quickly if they don’t immediately see what they’re looking for.
Both Google Ads and the site’s SEO efforts will need to be refined over time as the data comes in. When business owners work with online marketing experts, those professionals generally understand the best ways to analyze the data and determine which strategies are working and which ones need to be updated or replaced.
What Types of Statistics Do Site Owners Need to Understand?
Nuts and bolt statistics are necessary, but most website owners will never really understand their importance. Online marketing experts generally combine the results, making them more comfortable for site owners to grasp as they’re making advertising decisions. However, there are some statistics every site owner can (and should) understand easily.
Social media trends are rapidly evolving, which means sites dominating the scene are likely to be upset by new websites. Tracking those trends takes time and effort, and most site owners are better off working closely with an industry expert who is always on top of those trends.
That still doesn’t tell site owners if they should be putting more of the advertising budget into SEO or moving those dollars to Google Ads. Again, the final answer will depend on the specific business and their objectives.
Google is still leading the pack when it comes to having the largest share of this country’s digital ad spending. Almost 40 percent of all digital ad dollars are spent on Google. That means Google is where most online shoppers go to find the products and services they need or want.
Facebook’s share of online advertising revenue is closing in on Google. While industry experts are hinting that both Google and Facebook may lose some ground to other platforms in the future, the two giants now account for nearly 60 percent of all digital ad revenue.
Social media sites are grabbing an increasing share of the time users spend online. That suggests advertisers will need to re-evaluate how and where they spend their advertising dollars in the future. The trends are clear, and it certainly appears users will spend more time using smaller devices to find goods and services in the future.
Forty percent of users follow their favourite brands on social media. So, where is your social media presence? Is it on websites which your customers already visit every day? If not, it’s time to revise your marketing strategy and advertising habits.
Speaking of Money…
Staying within a budget is always important, which is why some site owners are hesitant to commit to an extensive Google Ad campaign. Google’s cost per click is a little over $2.50. However, remember those return on investment numbers discussed earlier? At those prices, it’s crucial for your business that most of those clicks convert into purchases.
However, it’s also important to remember AdWords provides a faster return on investment than SEO. There is no waiting for your site’s ranking to improve as an SEO expert fine-tunes the site to achieve a top ranking.
If you’re carefully tracking keywords and responding to evolving marketing trends, your Google Ads are likely to provide quick results. That’s not generally going to happen with SEO.
It’s also important to remember that, while organic returns don’t have a direct cost, SEO isn’t cheap. Designing a quality site and keeping it updated cost’s money. Complex websites are costly to develop and maintain.
Putting Everything into Proper Perspective
There are certainly times when spending money on SEO is important. A company website must be properly designed to attract visitors and turn them into paying customers. SEO must be viewed as a long-term investment with recurring costs.
Google ad campaigns, on the other hand, are used to generate business quickly. The strategy is a boon to new companies as well as organizations who market their products or services on a seasonal basis.
Because neither strategy is a magic bullet when used alone, it’s crucial to find the balance your company needs. For many organizations, that’s a problem, as the company’s need changes. That’s not unusual. So, what’s the answer to our question? Should companies focus on Google Ads or SEO?
There’s no doubt Google Ads serve a purpose, so ignoring their potential can be costly, especially for new companies. However, the company website also has to be effective. To determine where your advertising dollars should be spent, take the time now to contact an expert and discuss your needs.
A marketing professional will carefully evaluate the current marketing plans to determine what is or is not working. Once that’s done, it’s far easier to develop a strategy to boost your company’s sales now and in the future.