Businesses that want to increase the traffic to their website must engage in suitable marketing activities. Two of the most common ways in which people find sites for the first time are ads and search results. Advertising is straightforward in that you pay for a certain spot that allows more individuals to see links to your site. With search results, you don’t have to pay to get a good rank. The algorithms find the most suitable search results based on the keyword entered. If your pages happen to be relevant, then they will organically float to the top. Here is why the latter is often better than the former:
Cost
One of the biggest reasons why businesses choose to go organic is the cost. If they resorted to ads all the time, then they might blow their budget very quickly. It is difficult to target a lot of keywords by paying for ad space. On the other hand, organic searches will not cost them any money for people to see their links. Clicks don’t equate to cents. That is because they can climb to the top of the ranking of their own merit. The algorithm simply sees them as being more relevant than others for what people are looking for. There will be initial outlay in terms of SEO services from specialists but then it will be cheaper in the long run.
Duration
Businesses will sometimes resort to ads if they want to get quick results. For instance, they might be promoting an upcoming event and need to get the word out fast to sell tickets. This is a valid and logical use of the strategy. However, it is unsustainable in the long run because a long-term ad campaign will cost a fortune. With search engine optimization, the pages are created in such a way as to make them more appealing to the algorithm in a more stable manner. It can take longer to develop but it also stays longer at the top without additional funds.
Effectiveness
Although ads allow anyone to jump to the top without much work, the results can be a hit or a miss. Increased visibility is certainly good but people may not necessarily click on the link and visit the site. Online surfers have developed a feel for what is organic and what is not. If they think that they are being fed an ad, then they may simply ignore it and skip to the legitimate results. When this happens, those who used SEO eventually win. Ads are still effective but not as effective as before when people didn’t know how to differentiate between the two. Businesses may want to check the studies and statistics to make a more informed decision regarding the effectiveness of both methods.
Scalability
Search engine optimization is also more scalable than posting ads. SEO is basically a set of techniques that can be applied to the whole site and to each page individually. There are changes that can be made on a macro level such that they instantly cascade down to every page. For example, the post title can be echoed in the page title, as well as the URL, for greater emphasis. When it comes to advertising, every single target keyword needs to be paid for and each click has a monetary value. If you offer a new product or service, then you will need a fresh supply of funds to promote them every time.
Both advertising and SEO have their strengths. It is up to the business to apply them when they are suitable for the job at hand.