Pros and Cons of Paid vs. Organic Strategies

In the world of search there are two main strategies: Paid and Organic. Each of these search strategies is unique and comes with their own strengths and weaknesses. Here is a list of pros and cons in respect to paid and organic search programs.

Search Engine Marketing (PAID Search) PROS:

1. Easily Measured. With tools Like Google Ads and Bing Ads, it is easy to show results based on impressions, clicks, geography, demographics, conversion rate and more. The results of your spending is easily quantified because Paid Search gives you all the tools to properly assess your spending.
2. Precise Audience Target. When Setting up paid search programs you choose the keywords you want to be showed under, the location target you would like to be seen in, as well as what messaging you would like to display. This makes it easy for you to tailor toward your target audience.
3. Fast and Tangible Results. Once a search engine marketing campaign is set up you can start seeing your ads and receiving calls within weeks. There isn’t much lag time or ramp compared to search engine optimization.

Search Engine Marketing (Paid Search) CONS:

1. Pay-Per-Click. With paid search you have to pay for every click that goes to your website from your ad. This can get rather expensive, especially in highly competitive search terms. Also Google changes how they rank ads regularly, so on top of bidding proper amounts you also have to manage your ad quality.
2. Disappearing Ads. Another Con is once you’ve hit your daily budget, your ads go away. You can miss out on a lot of clicks and leads simply because you’ve run out of money and your ads are no longer showing.
3. Less Traffic. Pay Per Click traffic only accounts for 15% of the clicks generated from searches. 85% of users tend to click on organic searches first.

Search Engine Optimization (Organic Search) PROS:

1. FREE FREE FREE!!!. The biggest advantage is Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is absolutely free. You can have as many clicks as you like and it will not cost you a thing.
2. Always On. Unlike Pay-Per-Click, Your ads are always in the natural results. Your placement may change, but you can always be found.
3. More Traffic. As stated earlier, 85% of users tend to click on organic searches first. People feel organic searches are more relevant and trustworthy, which leads to higher conversions.

Search Engine Optimization (Organic Search) CONS:

1. Slow Results. While paid results are almost immediate, Search Engine Optimization takes time. Changes can take months without you truly see results. For proper SEO it will take both time and money before you see the fruits of your labor. It is truly an investment.
2. Hard to measure. While Search Engine Marketing has many tools for measuring success based off of keywords and ads, it is results are not as easy to quantify through organic searches.
3. No Control. Google understands the value of being on the first page. Because of this they keep their algorithm very secret to ensure no one manipulating their site. Google is constantly changing so the best a person can do is follow best practices. There is no guarantee on placement.