ORGANIC SEARCH VS. PAID SEARCH
PROS AND CONS INTRODUCTION
If you own a website, you have probably heard the terms “SEO” or “PPC” being thrown around. While they both deal with gaining placement and (hopefully) traffic from search engines, these two methods have very different ways of yielding those results.
By reading this article, you will understand the pros and cons of organic search vs. paid search.
COMMONLY USED TERMS
SEO: Stands for “Search Engine Optimization”. This is creating web pages that search engines like Google can read.
PPC: Stands for “Pay Per Click”. Search engines like Google will charge per user click on your ads.
URL: The address used to reach your website, Link
Web Page: A page within a website.
Keyword: A relevant word used to describe or signal something.
Search Query: What the user typed into Google.
SERP: Stands for “Search Engine Result Page”. This appears after you enter a search query.
Index: The position of a web page within SERPs.
AGENDA
What is Organic Search?
What is Paid Search?
Pros and Cons of Organic Search:
Pros and Cons of Paid Search:
WHAT IS ORGANIC SEARCH?
Organic searches are the results within search engines like Google that appear below the ads. Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of focusing on a keyword for your web page, so search engines can identify the content to index it within a SERP
. You can differentiate between organic results and paid results by finding the “Ad” identifier before the URL. An example of a SERP is given below.
WHAT IS PAID SEARCH?
Paid search results are ad placements in search engines like Google, labeled with the “Ad” identifier. Users bid for these placements in auctions, “pay per click” is a bidding system where businesses pay for each click they receive from that search engine.
Each ad placement for different search queries will cost a unique amount based on the popularity and intensity of bidders. Generally, ad spend is budgeted by the day, and tools like Google Ads will manage placement for you.