SEO x Adwords: Investing in good positioning in Google searches is so essential for the success of a company on the Internet that it has become a consensus in digital marketing.
Just remember that 90% of the 66 million internet users search the website in search of information, news, products and services of interest to them.
Today, the most significant question faced by entrepreneurs, managers and marketing professionals who come to us is no longer ” why invest?” but rather “How to invest in Google?” Which is better: doing optimization work (SEO) or focusing on sponsored link campaigns (Adwords) to position yourself in the top positions in searches and gain the attention (and clicks) of customers?
Both have pros and cons, and it is necessary to analyze them before concluding.
Sponsored Links
Pros
- It is the form of advertising that generates the greatest return in the shortest amount of time.
- Even with a low budget, it is possible to start a campaign and generate results. Compared to other forms of advertising, such as newspapers, radio and TV, it is one of those that requires less investment.
- It allows the company itself to produce and manage campaigns, controlling its budget, without necessarily depending on the intermediation of an agency.
Cons
- In segments where there is significant competition, the cost of campaigns (based on the purchase of clicks on specific keywords) tends to increase, turning into an auction.
- If it does not constantly evaluate the return on advertisements, the company runs the risk of losing control and exceeding its budget over time.
- Ads tend to have lower visibility than natural search results. Many people also avoid clicking on ads because they know it is advertising.
Optimization (SEO)
Pros
- Sites that appear in the top positions of natural searches are more visible and generate more credibility, therefore tending to be more clicked on.
- You don’t (theoretically) need a monthly budget to stay on air. In other words, Google does not charge for the site to appear in your natural searches.
- Sites that are well positioned in natural searches become a reference for the public searching for their products and services.
Cons
- Aiming at the quality of its searches, Google has become more strict in relation to its rules and increasingly prioritizes sites that present up-to-date, quality content. This means that to appear at the top of searches, there is no point in resorting to tricks and programming techniques. It is necessary to present information of interest and be recognized for it.
- Because of this trend, website optimization has become more laborious and complex, involving the work of professionals specialized not only in SEO but also in writing, programming and design. As more qualified and specialized work is required, investments in SEO also increase.
- SEO requires constant improvement and updating, and the results (better positioning in searches) are not immediate, as they depend on Google indexing. And since Google, not SEO professionals, control the process, there is no guarantee of success. Changes to relevance criteria can “bring down” a website’s positioning overnight and require months of work to recover.
- Having analyzed the positive and negative points of each one, what is the best investment option, sponsored links or optimization? The answer is simple: both.
You can invest in sponsored links to quickly appear in searches and obtain short-term results while your site is optimized. When the website appears in the first search results, your company will gain more credibility and will be able to direct part of Google’s budget to other digital marketing actions. If a new rule takes your site down, you can reinforce your link campaign and maintain your positioning in searches.
It is also essential that there is prior planning to coordinate these actions. After all, each business segment has its characteristics, and it is necessary to study what customers and consumers look for on the Internet and, consequently, what opportunities they represent.
Also Read: What Is It, And Why Invest In Local SEO?