If you’re involved with your organization’s marketing efforts at any level and are new to the digital space, there can be a lot to learn. One of the most basic parts of digital marketing is driving traffic to your company’s website. From raising brand awareness to generating leads to increasing sales, more visitors to your site can help you achieve your goals.
For many people, a search engine such as Google is the first place they point their browser or mobile device. The number of search users is counted in the billions and the number of individual searches in the trillions. The goal of any form of search marketing is to tap into this immense volume to help grow your website and your organization.
To help you better understand the basics of paid search, it’s essential to compare it to its counterpart, organic search. By learning how these elements can work together, you can develop a more effective marketing plan for your business.
What’s the difference between paid and organic search marketing?
Search engines are designed to deliver websites that match a user’s query in the search bar. The results are based on a complex algorithm that ranks these results by a number of factors, such as matching keywords and the number of pages that link to it. One of the ways that search engines make money is by selling top placements for a given search to the highest bidder, usually through pay-per-click (PPC) advertisements. This is generally known as paid search results, while the results generated naturally by the algorithm are called organic search results.
The practice of optimizing your website for organic search results is called search engine optimization (SEO), and it’s a critical part of digital marketing. Since organic search results are unpaid and essentially amount to free advertising, it may be easy to ask why someone should invest in paid search at all. There are a number of reasons why paid search can be effective, including:
- It can help balance out underperforming organic search areas.
- Paid search can help you gain visibility for branded searches for competitors.
- Search-based advertising can be helpful when quick traffic is needed in a short time frame.
- Paid search campaigns can yield valuable information that helps organic search efforts.
Experienced marketers know how to properly balance PPC-based paid search with organic SEO to achieve solid return on investment (ROI) for businesses.
Burg & Co. has extensive paid and organic search experience
From keyword research to crafting compelling landing pages for both paid and organic search, the Burg & Co. team can work with you to craft a fully integrated, highly personalized campaign that achieves ROI for your marketing dollar.
Contact us today to learn more and schedule a free and comprehensive marketing consultation.
