Both SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and Google Ads can boost website traffic.
The key difference?
SEO grows your organic traffic over time, while Google paid ads can deliver instant traffic at an ongoing cost. Both have their pros and cons.
So, how do you choose between SEO and Google Ads?
And if you can use both, how do you get the best results?
In this guide, we’ll explore the best use cases for each digital marketing strategy, their pros and cons, and when to use both. We’ll also explain how they work and how to combine the two for maximum ROI (Return on Investment).
Further Reading:
- Explore 12 awesome ways to use Google Ads for B2B business growth and expansion.
- Discover if you should focus on technical SEO or content SEO. Find out how each tactic impacts your site’s success.
- Is your website traffic dropping? Explore the top six reasons and how to fix them.
- Discover 3 reasons your impressions are strong but clicks are low, plus the steps to fix it.
This Article Contains:
- When to Choose SEO Vs. Google Ads
- How Does SEO Work?
- How Do Google Ads Work?
- How to Combine Your Google Ads and SEO Efforts for Maximum ROI
- 3 FAQs About SEO and Google Ads
When to Choose SEO Vs. Google Ads
Whether you invest in SEO or Google ads depends on your immediate and long-term goals.
Generally speaking, Google Ads is a good investment for short-term results, but SEO is a better investment for companies that are thinking long-term. It saves a ton of money in the long run.
For example, we created an article for our client which targets a keyword with a CPC (Cost-per-Click) of $10. This means they’d have to spend $10 every time a person clicks on their Google Ad.
Instead, we helped them secure the top spot and the featured snippet in organic search results. This position gets them the (roughly) the same number of clicks that would’ve cost $7.3K in ad spend.
And this is the traffic value for just one keyword. It doesn’t count the many additional keywords it also ranks for.
That said, there are times when Google Ads might be the right choice for you. So, let’s explore the best-case scenarios for investing in these two marketing strategies and their pros and cons.
1. When to Choose SEO
You should consider investing in SEO when:
- You want to build consistent traffic that you don’t have to pay for on an ongoing basis.
- You’re okay with a long-term strategy that doesn’t see immediate results but compounds into huge traffic gains over time.
- Ad costs are too high, and you want a more cost-effective solution.
Pros and Cons of SEO
| Pros | Cons |
| Sustainable traffic you can rely on for the long term | Can take at least 3-6 months to rank among the top search results. |
| No cost for clicks or impressions. | Needs regular updates and maintenance. |
| Organic results are more trustworthy and get a higher CTR (click-through rate) than ads. | Google’s algorithm changes can hurt rankings. |
| Builds website authority, compounding ROI over time. | Popular keywords take more time and effort to rank. |
| Works for all buying stages. | Rankings are unpredictable. |
2. When to Choose Google Ads
You should consider investing in Google Ads when:
- You want to see immediate results.
- You’re okay with an ongoing cost to keep the ads running.
- You want to run ads for a promotion or seasonal offer.
- You want to rank for highly competitive keywords and can afford the ad spend.
- You’re okay with losing traffic when you stop paying for ads.
- You want to retarget website visitors who haven’t converted.
Pros and Cons of Google Ads
| Pros | Cons |
| Get traffic as soon as your ad is live. | Traffic and conversions stop when you stop paying. |
| Offers targeted advertising options based on location, demographics, and interests. | You pay for each click, so your traffic plateaus according to your budget. |
| Control and adjust your budget anytime. | Costs can rise fast in competitive markets. |
| Get detailed analytics to track ROI. | Google ads management can be complex. |
| Quickly test ads, landing pages, and strategies. | People find paid ads less trustworthy. |
3. When to Choose Both SEO and Google Ads
You may consider investing in both SEO and Google ads when:
- You want immediate traffic while you wait for SEO to improve your search result rankings.
- You want to test keywords and see if they convert before spending time and effort on SEO.
With the use cases and pros and cons clear, choosing between Google Ads or an SEO campaign (or both) based on your business goals should be easier.
But here’s the thing: Success with SEO or Google Ads is not simple. Each strategy has its complexities and requires a certain level of expertise.
Here’s a quick overview of each strategy.
How Does SEO Work?
SEO (Search Engine Optimization) focuses on increasing organic traffic from search engines like Google, Bing, Yandex, and Yahoo. It makes your website easy for users and search engines to find and understand.
Basics of SEO include:
- Keyword research: Find popular keywords your audience uses and develop your content marketing strategy around them.
- On-page SEO: Use the keywords in the URLs, titles, headings, and content to make it easy for search engines to understand your website page. Optimize your website design to make content easy to read and use internal links to connect related content. Most importantly, include clear call-to-actions (CTAs) to guide visitors on what to do next.
- Off-page SEO: Build trust, site authority, and visibility by earning backlinks or social media mentions from credible sites or people in your field.
- Technical SEO: Helps your website load quickly and work well on mobile phones or tablets. It also ensures your site is easy for users and search engines to navigate.
Pro tip: Create a Google My Business profile to boost your local SEO. It’s a free tool to help your business appear on Google Search and Google Maps.
How Do Google Ads Work?
Google Ads (formerly Google AdWords) is a paid advertising platform where you bid to show your brand for relevant keywords. These ads are also called pay-per-click ads (or PPC ads).
Your PPC ad can appear on Google’s search results or partner sites like YouTube, Gmail, Google Maps, The New York Times, and Amazon, to name a few. The main goal for Google paid ad campaigns is to drive conversions.
Note: Google Ads is not the same as Google AdSense. The latter helps website owners earn revenue from ads displayed on their sites.
Google PPC ad management involves:
- Campaign objectives: Choose from PPC advertising goals like sales, leads, website traffic, app downloads, awareness, consideration, or local store visits.
- Campaign types: Select your ad placement:
- Google search ads or search engine marketing (SEM): Text ads on Google’s search engine results.
- Google display ads: Visual ads across the Google Display Network.
- Performance max: AI-driven ads across all Google channels.
- Google shopping ads: Product ads with images and prices.
- Video ads: Ads on YouTube and across Google’s Display Network.
- App promotions: Ads promoting your mobile app
- Google smart campaigns: Automated campaigns for leads and sales.
- Demand gen: Image and video ads to drive awareness.
- Bidding: Choose a bid strategy based on goals like awareness, website traffic, or conversions like sales or sign-ups.
- Targeting: Identify high purchase intent keywords, which include terms like ‘buy now,’ ‘best price,’ or ‘reviews.’ Specify locations, languages, and audience segments like age, gender, income, or people who’ve recently interacted with your business.
- Ad creation: Clearly communicate your offer in your ad copy. For display and video ads, use eye-catching visuals. Irrelevant ad copy or landing pages can impact your ad rank.
- Budget: Set your daily or monthly budget. Start small and gradually increase once you see results.
- Conversion tracking: Use Google Tag Manager to track important actions such as sales or form submissions.
SEO and Google Ads can shine independently, but they can work together, too. Let’s see how to integrate them into your digital marketing strategy.
How to Combine Your Google Ads and SEO Efforts for Maximum ROI
Using both SEO and Google Ads in your digital marketing gets you the best of both worlds; i.e., you can build your long-term sustainable SEO traffic while getting immediate results from ads.
Below are some tips for combining them effectively:
1. Experiment with Google Search Ads
Set up Google search ad campaigns with your keyword list. Ensure to check Google Keyword Planner to get estimates on the search volume and cost-per-click (CPC) before launching. Let your campaigns run 3-4 weeks to collect enough data.
Then, identify which keywords drive the most traffic and conversions. Next, review the search terms report to see which Google searches triggered your ads. These terms reveal the topics and questions people are interested in and can help you understand the search intent. For example, searches like ‘what is group health insurance’ show that people are looking for information, while ‘best group health insurance’ suggests they are ready to make a decision.
2. Fine-Tune Your SEO Strategy
Once you know what works for your Google ad campaigns, use those insights to develop and optimize your content marketing strategies and landing pages. This can help you build organic traffic based on proven data.
3. Remarket to Site Visitors
As your organic traffic grows, use Google Analytics (GA4) to track key actions like visits to your pricing page or e-book or product brochure downloads. Ensure to link Google Analytics to Google Ads to set up remarketing. You can show personalized ads to encourage them to return or offer special discounts.
3 FAQs About SEO and Google Ads
Here are some common questions and answers related to SEO and Google Ads:
1. Can a Google Ads Campaign Improve My Online Visibility and Search Engine Rankings?
Google ads can place your brand above the organic search engine results for specific keywords but won’t improve your SEO ranking. For example, if you run a 30-day ad campaign for ‘CRM software,’ you can bid to secure the top spot in Google search rankings. But once the campaign ends, so does the top spot.
2. How Much Does SEO Cost?
SEO costs will depend on which agency you work with or whether you do it in-house. Agencies typically work through retainers, which can vary depending on your budget.
However, as a frame of reference, at Startup Voyager, we offer a minimum retainer at $2,000/month, which would get you 3-4 SEO-optimized articles, depending on their length. Those articles could bring in hundreds or thousands of visitors per month.
As a comparison, if we go back to our earlier example where we targeted a keyword with a $10 CPC, $2,000 would only get you 200 visitors total (i.e., you’d have to pay another $2,000 if you want another 200 clicks).
The traffic you gain from an SEO-optimized article would be ongoing without additional costs (save for potential updates now and then).
3. How Much Do Google PPC Ads Cost?
Monthly spends on Google Ads range from $100 to $10,000. The average CPC falls between $0.11 and $0.50, but more competitive keywords can go up to double or even triple digits.
Costs can vary depending on your industry, the keywords you target, market trends, and the quality and relevance of your ads.
Generally, the two biggest factors that raise the CPC of a keyword are:
- Targeting keywords that show a strong intent to buy.
- Advertising a product or service that has a high customer lifetime value.
If you hire an agency to run your ads, you can expect to pay an additional $500 to $1,000 or up to 15% to 30% of your Google ad spend.
Skyrocket Your Website Traffic and Conversions with SEO and Google Ads
SEO and Google Ads are powerful marketing strategies to boost website traffic and conversions.
SEO traffic doesn’t cost for each click, but it takes time to show results. Google Ads can deliver immediate online visibility, but traffic and conversions stop once you stop paying. The best approach is to combine the strengths of both for maximum results.
If you want to improve your SEO ranking, contact Startup Voyager. Our team can develop your SEO strategy and help you grow organic traffic by 10x in six months or less.