Google Ads versus organic search results
Many are hearing about it for the first time, others are already familiar with it: if you type your search term into the search bar on Google, you are confronted with two different results. This does not refer to the entire snippets of the SERPs (Search Engine Result Page), which are of course more than two, but instead to paid ads (the so-called AdWords) and non-paid ads (the so-called organic search). While it does not make a particularly serious difference for the user if they do not know the two versions, the situation is different for a website operator. Because if you want to rank highly, you should familiarize yourself intensively with the Google search engine ranking system. Because which is better? Paid ads or unpaid ads? SEA or SEO? Each form of search engine marketing comes with its own advantages and disadvantages.
Search engine marketing: SEO and SEA
Now both forms of search engine marketing (SEM) appear as results of a search query in the search engine, but how exactly can you tell the difference? The ads always appear on the right-hand side of the search results. The snippet is distinguished by a yellow box, which identifies it as an ad. Not in every search result, but relatively often, the AdWords are also displayed above those of the organic search and marked exactly as on the right-hand side. These are then followed by the organic results.
They are all displayed in the form of a snippet, the term of which was already mentioned at the beginning. SEO and SEA follow a similar principle. Because a snippet, as the name suggests, is a snippet with the most important information about your website. This is made up of the meta title and the meta description and is the first point of contact between you and the user in the search engine (also with Bing and Co.). In search engine optimization as well as in search engine advertising, the snippets must be convincing. Because if you are at the top of the ranking and have a less appealing description that promises more than you deliver – or nothing at all – the user will probably leave the website in frustration. For SEO, this means a high bounce rate, which has a negative impact on the ranking, and for SEA it means wasted CPCs. Not a nice outcome in either case. The meta title should therefore be concise and arouse interest. The meta description should then contain the most important information in short sentences and all the necessary keywords.
Search engine advertising
SEA (Search Engine Advertising) is the paid form of advertising. The primary goal here is direct visibility. In other words, to be seen by as many users as possible in the shortest possible time and to be placed in the top positions. These measures allow you to increase your traffic quickly and secure important conversions – your sales. A high conversion rate is also one of the main objectives of search engine advertising. By clicking on the advertisement, users are forwarded directly to the respective product/service in order to purchase it in the best case. This involves targeting leads with precise keywords, because in the best case only potential customers should click on the ad. But why is that?
In addition to the advantages of achieving high visibility very quickly, SEA also comes with certain disadvantages. SEA is undoubtedly a form of investment that requires a large budget. On the one hand, your relevance must have a certain high value right from the start in order to achieve favorable auction prices. Because if a competitor of yours is clicked 100 times a day, he is more valuable with a CPC (cost per click) price of 1€ than you, if you only generate 10 visitors a day in comparison. Each click on your ad will cost you the set amount that Google will then receive from you and therefore the top rankings will be given to those who are most profitable for the search engine. As you can see, money alone is not enough. In addition, you always monitor the ROI and have the marketing skills to use the tools. Because if you don’t monitor your ad closely, your Google Ads budget can skyrocket faster than you think.
However, one advantage that also results in a disadvantage is the handling of campaigns. You can start and stop campaigns whenever you like. However, with the stop also comes the abrupt drop in traffic, which you have to be aware of.
Search engine optimization
SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is the unpaid form of advertising. Organic search results are all about long-term success and aligning with the Google algorithm. While it can be seen as a disadvantage that SEO takes time – even before successes are clearly visible – SEO still comes with a range of benefits that can even support future SEA measures. Because the goals are the same. Here, too, the aim is to secure visibility and high rankings in order to increase awareness and boost traffic in the long term. This is not about short-term measures that will be stopped at some point. The top positions should last a long time thanks to good SEO maintenance of the website. Once the basic structure is in place, you can concentrate on other marketing measures, because a search engine optimized website needs regular checks, but a basic structure is irrevocable.
In addition, your website will be brought up to the optimum standard. You don’t just add a few new keywords to your marketing strategy. In fact, everything you can imagine is optimized. Is the HTML crawler-friendly, for example? Are ALT tags set? Does your page load fast enough? Do you have a mobile version? Are you indexed at all? Is the URL correct, are the links/link structure correct and what about the backlinks? How are your texts written, is there relevant content? Keyword: unique content/duplicate content. These are just some of the factors that your SEO agency or SEO expert will take care of to ensure that everything is ideally optimized. Things that are missing or inconsistent are added and made consistent.
So you understand why search engine optimization takes time to secure you a top position in the search engine. In the best case scenario, you will have a website that has been polished from the ground up and is absolutely relevant for Google. If the user now starts a search query that you have covered with your keywords (search terms), they will notice that you are displayed at the top of the search results and tend to click on your website rather than that of your competitors further down the list.
Why SEO is so important
We have already covered this in detail in a blog post. In principle, Google is always changing and SEO in particular needs to be flexible. After all, we optimize for the search engine that makes the target group reachable for us. A current change for the year 2022 mainly concerns advertisements (specifically personalized) – because tracking will be officially discontinued. This means that it will be much more difficult to reach your target group via advertising and continue to be able to measure success. SEO is and will remain unaffected and therefore all the more important. Because if many advertising platforms can no longer reach your customers, you can still make it in organic search. So if you are worried about your visibility now, investing in SEO can ensure your relevance in the search results in the long term and continue to generate traffic. If the user now feels the need for a bouquet of flowers, he will enter this search term in the search engine and select the search result that appears at the top of the ranking.
SEO is therefore a long-term and safe marketing measure and although Google is changing a lot, the search engine as such is absolutely certain to continue to exist and dominate the market. If you invest in a long-lasting, secure and significantly cheaper form of marketing such as SEO, you can invest the remaining budget in other advertising measures and business objectives. Because SEO is and can be your foundation with which you continuously secure conversions and corresponding sales.
The nice thing is that you don’t have to plan an SEO agency into your company. Instead, you can turn to SEO agencies or SEO experts you trust, who will take all the necessary measures for you externally and inform you transparently and honestly about all content.
