Organic Ranking vs. Paid Ads – Which Is Best For your Business
Modern life is connected with search engines, and more than 5.8 billion searches per day are carried out worldwide on Google. This shows how important search engines are in our life, and the newer generations prefer Google over going to a library.
Understanding the difference between organic ranking and paid ads is crucial if your business has an online presence. However, before we dive into it, you should learn why organic ranking is better than paid ads, and there is a straightforward reason for it.
Why Organic Ads are Better Than Paid Ads in the Long Run
Paid ads might give your web pages the boost in rankings you need to score massive sales in festive seasons. Still, experts don’t recommend sticking to paid ads only, even when it’s cost-effective. One of the reasons for this is that keywords tend to get expensive as they start converting traffic into sales. So in time, your affordable ads might become more costly than the product or service you are selling.
This is because the Google search engine algorithm values quality content and wants its users to find relevant sites in response to their keywords. This is only possible when a business leverages organic ranking power and uses Search Engine Optimization (SEO).
What Is SEO?
According to Wikipedia,
“Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of improving the quality and quantity of website traffic to a website or a web page from search engines.”
This sums up what SEO is for people who know how it works. However, for beginners, this definition might be challenging. In simple terms, SEO is the process of optimizing your web pages by using targeted keywords in the content to appear on Google’s search engine results. A web page that’s search-engine-optimized with relevant keywords would appear in search engine results when online users search using those keywords. They would rank high depending on the quality of keyword usage. Keywords are the search terms users type in Google’s search bar and hit enter. In a fraction of a second, you will find various websites that have used this keyword very subtly and organically.
While previous SEO strategies might be focused on keyword stuffing (adding search terms without making sense), newer Google updates tend to focus on the quality of content and use of keywords to make sense and accomplish the searcher’s goal.
So, to perform SEO and rank your website on Google without paying Google, you need to write compelling content while using relevant keywords that people tend to use in their online searches.
What Is Organic Search Ranking?
Organic search results are the ones you will find “naturally” listed on Google after searching your keyword. They are natural so that Google analyzes all websites it has crawled and fetches the most relevant ones containing the keyword the user entered.
It would surprise you to know Google searches 30 trillion web pages, 10 billion times a month. Even though ranking in such an immense competition might seem nearly impossible, your odds are increased thanks to unique and new keywords created by online users. Google processes 6 million keywords every day. Out of this number, 15% are 100% unique. You can do the math and see how many new keywords are created on Google every day this way.
To optimize your page according to the searcher’s query (keywords), you need to use SEO techniques to make your website seem relevant to the Google algorithm. However, SEO is a long-term process, but it’s necessary to survive in the digital realm. Don’t despair, though; basic SEO techniques aren’t as complicated as you might think, and they are plenty of guides that can help you learn the ropes.
What Are Paid Ads?
Paid results or ads are basically paid-for by businesses to rank their website on top of Google search results. Digital marketers invest in paid ads when they know their product will convert, and the traffic will respond to their ads. This becomes possible with the help of Google Analytics and various tools that help in decision making.
However, just like organic search uses SEO techniques, paid ads rely on Adwords. It’s an online tool that finds keywords for you to bid on. Several factors decide which website will rank above if two or more websites have paid for the same keyword. These factors include quality score, bid amount, and domain and page authority. The business that meets all these elements will have their website rank higher on that specific keyword they paid for.
Side-By-Side Comparison of Organic and Paid Ads
To help you understand the difference between organic and paid ads, I have created a side-by-side comparison that explains what these terms stand for and what they deliver.
| Organic Ranking |
Paid Ranking/Ads |
| Costs nothing | Generates instant results |
| Results are permanent | Temporary ranking boost |
| Excellent ROI | Poor ROI |
| Delivers credibility | Accommodates ad budget |
| Trusted by users | Most users avoid clicking on ads. |
These are just the fundamental differences between organic ranking and paid ads. However, it doesn’t say that organic ads are the best choice for digital marketing. Sometimes, paid ads become necessary to boost sales. For instance, if your website is ranking on the 1st page of Google for low-traffic keywords, you might want to run an ad for high-traffic keywords during festivals. There might be several differences between organic and paid ads; however, each has its own use.
4 Benefits of Ranking on Organic Searches
While paid ads have their benefits like instant ranking and quick results, organic searches have a slightly upper hand when it comes to long-term planning. Here are four benefits organic rankings offer when you do proper SEO.
1. They Cost Nothing
Aside from salary expense (if you are a business owner), you won’t have to pay any additional costs for ranking. Moreover, if you are a blogger or an individual who knows how SEO works, you can rank web pages and online content yourself without hiring anyone.
What makes organic ranking so great is that you don’t need to pay anything to maintain your ranking on Google. All you need to do is invest your time and stay focused on your strategies. Most of the tools like Google Analytics are free, and they help you collect data about your keyword performance.
2. Organic Ranking Can Make You Famous in Your Industry
Aside from its monetary benefits, organic ranking can make you an industry leader. Many websites related to your niche would backlink your website to make a connection with you. Google bots take note of this connection, and if a high-ranking page puts up a link to your website in its content, it would conclude that your website has valuable information and hence, should rank higher.
When other websites start linking to you, online users realize that you have valuable information to share. This development will automatically build your credibility, and even your competitors will realize that you are a market leader. All you have to do is write compelling content and use keywords to rank.
3. You Can Attract Your Target Audience
While paid ads help you rank on top of Google search results, it doesn’t do much when choosing your target audience. The best you can do is select a country of your choice in Google Adwords and hope your target audience clicks.
On the other hand, organic ranking helps in choosing who clicks on your link through your content. It’s a relatively straightforward concept; to rank for the “best sunglasses” keyword, your content title and website must contain the keyword “best sunglasses.” People interested in buying this product will click on your link.
If you think clicks are good for your website, whether it’s from your target audience or not, think again. Bounce rate is a metric for gauging website relevance that tells whether your webpage is appealing and/or relevant to the user or not. If irrelevant people click your web and quickly navigate away from your site, your bounce rate will increase, and your ranking will drop.
4. Organic Searches Provide Actionable Data
Data is the new gold in the 21st century, and when marketers have information about their target audience, you can expect your product to be sold quickly. With organic searches, you can access real-time data and decide on the go. For instance, your Google analytics track how many users are on your website, and tools like Hotjar can tell you where the users are currently looking on your website.
These tools allow digital marketers to make quick decisions and adjust their websites according to their users. Some digital marketing experts use neuroscience in predicting their target audience’s behavior and preferences, and all of this becomes possible when your website ranks organically on Google.
4 Benefits of Ranking on Paid Searches
Paid searches hold their value, and only the best marketers know how to generate massive ROI through paid ads on Google. Here are four ways paid ads can benefit your business and help you generate enormous revenue.
1. Instant Results
You can pay Google to run links of your website on targeted keywords as paid ads. Google charges you on a cost-per-click (CPC) basis meaning every click from a searcher has a price. While it may seem too expensive and daunting for some people, experienced digital marketers know how to use this to their advantage. The trick lies in bidding on the right keywords, and this requires extensive and excruciating research. However, once you find keywords that are 80% to 90% similar to your business, you can start throwing money on it. Just make sure it has medium to high search volume.
2. Paid Ads Offer Keyword Data for SEO
When you advertise on Google, you get access to keyword information containing demographics. This can prove to be fruitful for your SEO strategies because once your ad budget is used up, you can launch SEO on these keywords.
3. Paid Ads Capture Ready-To-Buy Buyers
Since paid ads are highly targeted, digital marketers tend to bid on transitional keywords. These are queries that users search for when they are ready to buy. For example, keywords that start or end with words like “buy,” “discount,” or “coupon.” These keywords might have low search volume, but they convert pretty well, sometimes even better than organic search rankings.
4. Paid Ads Accommodates Every Budget
Compared to traditional marketing, online paid ads accommodate customized budgets. Whether you want to invest $100 or $1,000 in your ads, it’s entirely up to you. Whether search results aren’t guaranteed, some businesses have scored high sales by investing minimal budget.
The Bottom Line
Digital marketing is a complex process made easy by expert marketers with tremendous experience in the field. However, there are no financial barriers to becoming an expert, and thanks to the free-flow of information created by the internet, you can master digital marketing yourself. If you want to stay updated on the latest information about marketing and Google updates, follow my blog posts.
