Whenever a term is searched in the search engine, two kinds of results are produced in relevance to the searched term, paid search results and organic search results. The paid search results are shown with the word ad or sponsored writer in tiny words, whereas all other results are organic search results.
So, to appear in search engine results, a website can go for either paid search method or the organic search method. Today we will discuss these methods and which one can prove to be better for the growth of the business. Let us have a look:
What is Paid Search?
Paid search is a kind of digital marketing in which businesses have to pay search engines for displaying their ads in the results when a relevant term is searched by the user. The ads are normally displayed at the top or bottom of the search engine result page.
The advertiser has to make a bid for the ad about the cost he has to pay. The advertiser will have to pay only when his ad is clicked and this payment is on the basis of the pay-per-click method. The cost-per-click is never more than the amount of the bid.
This third helps the business to reach the target audience in a fast way. It is an effective method to increase your visibility in a short time.
What is Organic Search?
This is the method of getting traffic from search engine results through natural and unpaid ways. When a user searches for a term, Google makes use of algorithms to decide about the relevant websites to be shown as results. The websites that have good SEO are shown higher rankings. Thus to ensure your website’s presence in the top results, it is necessary to go for expert SEO.
Organic vs Paid Search:
- Cost Effectiveness: Organic search is more cost-effective as the business has nothing to pay to the search engines, whereas in the case of paid search business has to pay-per-click. But in organic search, some amount has to be spent on SEO.
- Placement of the Website in Results: In organic search, the websites are displayed according to their ranks decided by Google algorithms, whereas in the case of paid search, the websites are displayed in the form of ads at the top or bottom of the search engine results pages.
- Kind of Traffic: Organic search helps to get long-term and consistent traffic, whereas paid search helps to get short-term and targeted traffic.
- Click-through-rate (CTR): Organic search gives a lower amount of CTR as compared to paid search.
- Conversion Rate: The rate of conversion in the case of organic search is higher than the paid search because the website gets good rankings due to its content and authenticity.
- Time Taken to Produce Results: The organic search takes more time in generating the desired results than the paid search, but the results produced by the organic search are long-lasting. The results of paid search are quick but stay for the short term.
- Need for SEO: Organic search continuously needs SEO to improve and/or maintain rankings, whereas paid search needs ad optimization.
- Visibility of the Website: Organic search increases the visibility of the website and improves awareness about the brand over time, whereas paid search improves the visibility in a very short time period.
- Targeting the Audience: Organic search depends upon the quality of the website to target the required audience, whereas, in the case of paid search, the required audience can be targeted very easily.
- Return on Investment (ROI): Organic search gives a higher return on investment as compared to paid search. The paid search can give a good return on investment only if it is managed effectively.
Conclusion:
Both methods have their own advantages and disadvantages. The selection of one solely depends upon the requirements and budget of the business.
