When we talk to our clients about organic and paid search advertising, we often get asked \u201cWhich one should we choose?\u201d or \u201cWhich one is better?\u201d This is a bit of an unfair question, as they are both two completely different pieces of property. It\u2019s a common misconception to pit paid advertising and organic advertising against each other, when in truth \u2013 they\u00a0actually complement each other tremendously.
Let\u2019s start with organic. Natural page one, position one ranking; this is what everybody wants. And why wouldn't you want that? You\u2019re not paying for people to click on your link, there\u2019s a high level of trust on where the link will take you, it\u2019s effective, and it promises rewarding results. You know that whatever those first few links are, they\u2019re going to be relevant and will likely give you all the information you\u2019ll ever need to know without having to visit another website.
Paid advertising, on the other hand, seems to be the digital marketing medium that most companies feel they don\u2019t need. Perhaps this is because there\u2019s a stigma that paid ads aren't as in touch with the keyword you\u2019re entering, or maybe it\u2019s because paying money every time someone clicks can be a deterrent for many. But if you\u2019re discrediting paid advertising because you think it\u2019s leading you to a landing page that has nothing to do with what you\u2019re searching for, it\u2019s time to get brought up to speed. Paid advertising is relevant, more so than it\u2019s ever been before, and that isn't going to be changing anytime soon. With that established, it\u2019s time to start arming yourself with reasons why both organic and paid should be actively engaged at all times.
The main downside with organic optimization is the time it takes for it to move up the ranking ladder. Very rarely will your landing page show up on page one instantaneously. It often takes weeks or even months for it to rise to a position that\u2019s pertinent. This is when a paid advertising campaign can come in handy. By taking the same landing page you\u2019re trying to rank organically and optimizing it on the paid side of Google\u2019s real estate, you\u2019re bypassing that agonizing waiting period while your page organically moves up at the cost of missed traffic and conversion opportunities. You\u2019re on page one right away. By the time your organic placement has reached that top position, you won\u2019t have missed a beat and you\u2019ll already have new business to boot. But what happens when you now have a page one position on organic placement? Do you shut off your paid advertising campaign?
Try googling the word \u201crunning shoes.\u201d You may notice some familiar brands popping up on both the organic and the paid side. So the question is \u2013 why are they advertising on both? If a company has page one position one status organically, why spend more money on the paid side of things? The answer is simple: utility.
There are advantages to having a PPC (pay per click) campaign, and that is the level of customization that can be applied to each of your ads. You\u2019re not just advertising one landing page, you\u2019re essentially compacting your entire website into a miniature PPC ad. You can have multiple links pointing to a shopping cart, an \u201cabout us\u201d page, other products or services you offer, a newsletter subscription page, your company\u2019s address and phone number. You can establish multiple conversion points in one ad, something that organic simply cannot do as effectively. PPC Ads can be created and modified on the fly, meaning if you have a new product, service, or advertising campaign you want to launch, there won't be any waiting period.
By combining the familiarity of organic advertising and the utility of paid advertising, you\u2019re putting yourself in an authoritative position to market to all audiences without excluding anyone. Not to mention you\u2019re taking up more real estate on Google and Bing \u2013 something you can never have too much of.
In conclusion, the perception of \u201cpaid versus organic\u201d advertising needs to be abolished. They should never be looked upon as competing initiatives or \u201cone or the other.\u201d They should be viewed as two crucial (albeit different) digital marketing mediums that should both be engaged at all times.
For more information about organic or paid advertising, or if you\u2019d like to start an organic SEO/PPC program for your business, call us. We\u2019ll have you soaking up page one property in no time!
