Even if you aren’t a marketing professional by trade, it pays to know the difference between organic and paid search. By enabling the appropriate marketing strategies, you can help people find your company online.

What is Organic Search?

Organic search occurs when potential customers search for a variety of services and goods by typing a query into their web browser’s search engine. The results that appear algorithmically (as opposed to paid ads) are organic search results. It is always best practice to ensure that your website is featured on the first 3 search result pages. You can do this by selecting a variety of commonly searched keywords and distributing them throughout your website. Prepping your website for organic search is all a part of the SEO process. Just don’t overdo it!

 

What is Paid Search?

Paid search, or pay-per-click (PPC), is a form of digital marketing that allows you to create an ad that will be featured on the first 3 search results pages (SERPs). Oftentimes, this paid search ad will rank higher than how your website appears organically, thereby helping you get much-needed website traffic. The great thing about a paid search ad is that you only pay when potential customers click on it. The best way to tell an organic search result from a paid ad is to locate the SEO Title (the blue wording), and find the URL above it. You’ll see the word “Ad” in bold to the left of the URL.

Which is Better?

Well, that would depend on your goals and finances. If you have money to invest in marketing, we highly recommend trying out a paid search campaign every once in a while. You will want to ensure, however, that your website is always properly optimized for organic search by way of best SEO practices. Here’s a past blog about SEO to get you started! Once that’s underway, keep in mind that you won’t see the instantaneous results that you might from a paid ad. It takes weeks- even months- for your website to climb through the other millions of results while gaining credibility with Google’s algorithm.

We recommend boosting your web traffic with paid search while your website is still climbing through the ranks in the realm of organic search. In other words, organic search is king, but paid search is a great supplement- especially if you’re just starting out or if you have a new product or special promotion going on!

If you’re a small company that doesn’t have a marketing department, this can be a lot of work- but that’s why Promotion LA is here to support you. For decades, we have been serving the small businesses of LA county by providing them with outstanding paid ad work and organic search engine optimization. Do you have an amazing product that is ready to fly off the shelves, but you’re just not sure how to make your presence known online? Contact us today, and we’ll level up your online presence with SEO and paid ads!