Getting the business website to rank high on Google’s search engine results is the main challenge faced by many organizations when marketing and promoting their services. The two most common options available in this regards are Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) and Google AdWords. Should you put in efforts to play the long game of SEO or opt for AdWords advertising? Well, that’s a tough question to answer and it’s something you need to carefully consider before embarking on one out of the two or both. Read on to find which would be the better choice out of the two – SEO or AdWords!
What Is SEO?
SEO is the process of increasing the quality and quantity of your website traffic through organic search engine results on search engines like Google, Bing and Yahoo. A website that is optimized for search engines can be used easily by the users. The whole idea of SEO is to have a functional and fast website with high-quality, unique content to offer a great experience to the end users. If you are new to this concept, you can hire professional SEO services India.
What Is AdWords?
AdWords is Google’s advertising platform, which can be used by advertisers for bidding on specific keywords so that their clickable advertisements can be listed in the search results of Google. This is a paid service for which advertisers need to pay and this is how the search engine giant makes money.
SEO and AdWords: The Similarities
The most obvious similarity between the two is that both the approaches are used to boost your website’s ranking, helping your web page to rank higher in the search engine results.
SEO vs. AdWords: The Differences
By now, you would have got a basic idea of what SEO and AdWords are. Here’s a brief comparison between the two, which can help you decide whether you should opt for SEO or AdWords.
- The principles of SEO can be applied for optimizing sites for all search engines, whereas AdWords is exclusive for Google websites and sites that make use of AdSense.
- The general conception in the industry is that SEO traffic is free, but AdWords traffic is paid.
- AdWords can provide immediate results when compared SEO because you can devise ad campaigns instantly and begin to get targeted traffic. On the other hand, you will need a longer time with SEO to get good traffic and rankings.
- If you happen to stop the AdWords campaigns, the traffic to your website also ceases. However, this is not the case with SEO as the results are likely to last for the long term.
- AdWords advertisements are displayed on the topmost and bottommost of Google’s search result pages. But, with SEO, you need to strive harder to get to the first page of the organic search results.
- You can target several keywords at a time in AdWords, but with SEO it’s important to focus on just a few keywords to get the best results.
Now that you know the pros and cons of both, decide which one would be the better option out of the two – SEO or AdWords – after carefully considering your needs. If you are looking for quick traffic generation, AdWords would be a better option. But, if your goal is to get a steady growth that can last long-term, then you need to put in efforts and employ appropriate SEO techniques. If you need professional help in making the decision, a digital marketing agency can help.