SEO vs Google Ads — Which is Better for Your Business?

Are you stuck at a crossroads in deciding which methods to put in place to get your business to rank on Google? Should you be using SEO, paid advertising strategies or a combination of both to drive your website’s traffic?

The truth is, there’s no fixed answer because each business is different. There are many factors to take into consideration with each business having different objectives, like the budget and time constraints.

While SEO uses a form of unpaid search results to reach higher rankings on Google, Google Ads uses paid advertising through the pay-per-click (PPC) system to give your website a top ranking. In other words, you’ll be charged every time someone clicks on your ad, but you’ll reach that higher ranking much quicker.

So let’s break down the price points and time frame:

Budget

Ultimately, many businesses lean towards using organic search results to optimise their website, but exploring that option requires a thorough understanding of which SEO techniques will work best. You’ll need to utilise professional SEO services to stay relevant through boosting your webpage.

With Google Ads, you’ll need to have a firm budget in place and decide how much you’ll be willing to spend on a click for your ad. The rate you’ll be charged per click is dependent on your industry, competition, and demand of the keywords. As soon as the budget is used up for the day or month, your ad will no longer show on Google which means your website won’t rank for the targeted keywords.

Generating leads

If you have a website that’s not ranking or launched a brand new website, Google Ads might be better, allowing website to rank on top of Google within 24 hours. One of the strong suits is that AdWords empowers you with many options and features like targeting chosen demographics, customised audience, location etc.

On the other hand, SEO strategies reap better long term results and is sustainable for steady organic business growth. It can ensure that your target market will easily find your site, and that it remains relevant. Continuous SEO practices are necessary to maintain your website’s position or ranking.

Final thoughts

To maintain a strong online presence, many businesses gravitate towards a combination of organic and paid results to achieve the best outcome. We highly recommend to all our clients to opt for this hybrid model to get the optimal returns. While SEO strategies are better for sustainability and long term results, Google Ads provides a higher ranking at a rapid pace. Essentially, both SEO and Google Ads are effective for increasing website traffic but you will need to consider your budget and business goals.