SEO could be cheaper to some businesses than Google ads, certainly, I believe in SEO vs Google Ads, SEO could win if executed with the right strategy and keeping long term goals and benefits.
SEO and Google ads have the same objective to meet the top positions on Google to get more traffic and indirectly traffic for the business. Many businesses run ads and many are trying their luck to rank on the first position organically, but how many actually get there?
Every Business Has Its Own Keywords Set To Target On Google
What I believe is the more the number of businesses around the globe the more the number of keywords, so every business based on its uniqueness could target keywords.
All businesses have their own uniqueness, every business has its USP. If not every business needs to figure out its USP. All businesses have something unique and somethings in common at the same time. In a similar way, each business has its own set of audiences they could possibly attract, based on the location, gender, and other demographics. It could also be based on the audience’s interests.
Yes, but the question arises, do those keywords have traffic?
Well, that you can figure it out with keyword tools available within Google ads or you may try it with Google trends. But yes trust me, every business has a unique keyword to target.
Now let’s discover why SEO could be cheaper than Google ads. For that let me take you through a bit of how SEO works, yes I know what you are thinking, well this going to be the same old explanation about SEO, but let me make it shorter and interesting to you.
What is SEO?
Search engines crawl your website and position your webpages on their search engine rankings pages. Searchers type for a few keywords and get a list of websites on the search engine’s result page. These results are based on relevance, content, media, etc and many other factors. Optimizing these factors on your website to land on the top results of search engines is nothing but search engine optimization, short-form “SEO”.
Why do people use SEO when they can rank on the search engines with Ads?
Well, that’s simply because every business has a marketing budget set, which they cannot cross to reach a certain profit or business goal. Now you will stay on the top with ads until you are paying to search engines like Google, Bing, etc. But once your marketing budget is exhausted from where do you get the traffic? This is where SEO comes into the picture, like an angel from heaven. The traffic that you get from SEO is free and organic, which means this website is loved by the readers and search engines too.
Free traffic from Google
The visitors that land on your website from the organic search results on Google is completely free and you don’t even have to pay a single penny to Google. Yes, but you need the expertise to rank on search engines like Google.
Where to invest first in SEO vs Google Ads?
SEO experts do charge a hefty amount at times, but it is your business strategy to get the ROI. I always advise my clients to first start with Google ads and see how it benefits their business. Check if you are getting clicks? Are the paid visitors filling up the inquiry form? Do the leads convert? Only if the answer is yes, don’t waste your time, and invest in SEO right away! This is business and with the business, you cannot afford to lose a single visitor who could give you business.
This is the right way to invest in your website. Start with Google Ads, only if it gives you ROI, start with SEO, try to target the similar keywords you have been targeting within Google Ad campaigns. This way you could save a lot of money, especially if your business is online.
Calculating ROI with SEO vs Google Ads
With Google ads, you may calculate the ROI based on the amount spent on it, but with SEO you never do that, you don’t calculate it with the amount you invested on SEO or the amount you paid to an SEO expert. See, SEO is a long term investment, you do get the benefits after a year or many years too if your website exists. You need to calculate the ROI with SEO based on the number of clicks you achieved. Check the number of clicks you see through Google webmaster. Compare the clicks on the webmaster with the number of clicks that you see on Google ads. Calculate whether if you had spent on ads for these many clicks which you got organically, how much would it have cost on Google ads?
SEO is great when it comes to brand awareness
You see a business ranking on the top position organically, and you realize this business is genuine. Hence, Google has ranked it, we trust Google so much for the results it gives. With that understanding, now when you first see the ads on the top, you have an idea, these are simply ads and they are paying Google to come on the top. So 30% of users do ignore them and scroll down to see the organic results. This gives your brand credibility and awareness.
Can I do it on my own?
Yes, of course, it’s not rocket science, even a 12th-grade kid can do it if they read about it. Well, learning takes effort, and it is completely your choice. If you say I have mastered Google Ads on your own, then I am very sure you could master SEO as well. Yes, it not that easy to understand too, but if you keep reading about and understanding how it works. You may rank your website in the first position within 6-7 months, you just have to choose the appropriate keywords. Accordingly, optimize your pages, build few backlinks by outreaching to other websites and you are good to go!
An important tip on SEO:
When working on SEO, never stick to a specific keyword or a page. Try to rank on every possible page and keywords. Optimize every single page. You never know which keyword or page might get ranked. Keep checking the results on Google webmaster and tracking it. You will get the best idea from Google Webmaster about which page and the keyword you need to target. Based on that result optimize your pages, create good backlinks and see the magic in a few months.