If you own a business or provide some services, your primary concern would be to attract customers or consumers to it. Likewise, for a website on the internet, it is important to fetch users to see your products and learn more about the services you offer. As the number of users increases, your brand's visibility does too. This user interaction is called 'traffic' in technical language. More the traffic on your website, the more reach for your website and your brand. But what if as a brand, you are not getting enough traffic to get noticed? Here comes the utility of search engine optimisation techniques.
Search Engine Optimisation, in short SEO, is the technique of improving your website, in order to increase its visibility in various search engines like Google, Yahoo, Microsoft Bing, etc. The better the visibility of your website or brand, the higher the chances are to attract the audience and potential clients.
A well-constructed CMO training programme helps you understand the customers, formulate an effective marketing strategy design, and execute business decisions for a successful brand.
What is Organic SEO?
Organic Search Engine Optimisation, or organic SEO is the technique to acquire a higher ranking on the Search Engine Results Page (SERP) - naturally, without any paid campaign. As the search engine works in an algorithm-driven method, it is necessary to use different techniques to obtain a higher rank on the SERP. Some of these techniques include using proper keywords, link building, backlinking, and writing well-researched quality content capable enough to engage old users, as well as attract new ones.
How Does Organic SEO Work?
The term 'organic' stems from the idea of an organism, that once nurtured - shall grow over time and expand its reach. The easiest way to explain the concept of organic search is to think about the most relevant searches while enquiring about something on the internet. Organic search is the method that helps your brand to show up among the very first results when a user searches for a service you provide. If your curated content can engage an audience till they find what they are looking for, search engines make sure to rank your website higher on the SERP.
The key to ace it lies in being -
- Unique in terms of content
- Useful in terms of curation
- Relevant in terms of information
Why is Organic SEO important?
The main motive behind implementing organic SEO techniques is to increase the visibility of your business or your website. More the visibility, the better reach to the consumers. Now, when one searches for something in a search engine, statistics say - 75% of the users do not scroll down and go to the second page of search results. So, if your brand does not appear on the first page of the search results, it will struggle to boost the sale of the products and services. In extension, the revenue generation will be pretty low to sustain. So if you are not paying attention to organic SEO, then you are losing out on profit for your company.
What is Paid Search?
Opposite to organic SEO, paid search or pay-per-click (PPC) is a technique that thrives on paid advertisements. In the PPC scenario, advertisers are charged whenever one of their ads gets clicked on. When a user searches for a topic or a specific keyword, the paid search results appear at the top of the SERP with an 'Ad' level. That is the indicator of the PPC campaign.
Differences Between Organic SEO and Paid Search?
The first and foremost difference between organic search and paid search is the cost attached to the technique used. Other than the parameter of cost, there are a few more aspects that differentiate between organic search and paid search.
- Cost: organic SEO is a much more cost-effective technique to get traffic on your website that helps your brands grow. Whereas, PPC is quite costly because you have to pay every time a user clicks on your content.
- Longevity: organic SEO is a long-term strategy yielding long-term results, with a higher rate of conversion. On the other hand, paid searches are effective as long as someone's paying for them. With an apt marketing strategy design, Organic SEO consistently shows up at the top of SERPs.
- Engagement: no user likes to see ads when they are looking for some necessary information. Hence, organic SEO's click-through rate is a lot higher than paid searches.
- Credibility: with the help of proper keyword boosting and well-researched content, organic search always attracts relevant and credible users. This way, the business can maximise its reach and visibility among the relevant audience, industry, product and service providers. For the paid search option, in order to reach a certain audience - you have to subscribe to various budget brackets. Paid search also tends to produce instant results by attracting read-to-buy consumers.
- Relevance: organic SEO needs maintenance from time to time to keep up with the updated information. To stay relevant in organic searches - the content needs to be updated, and the keywords have to be more to the point. Whereas, PPC is more dependent on how much money you are spending to fetch more relevant and click-worthy ads.
Which One is Better - Organic SEO or Paid Marketing?
With multiple benefits and a few drawbacks under their wings, both organic search and paid search yield satisfactory results. But if you want to ask which one is better among them, there is no definite answer to that. Organic SEO on the one hand strengthens you with cost-effective long-term results. Paid searches sometimes are more handy because of their ability to produce results fast. Most professional digital marketers use a mix and match of both, based on their needs. A well-tailored CMO training programme helps you understand which one to use and where.
Conclusion
Be it organic SEO, or paid searches - one needs a specific skill set to properly use the techniques that produce fruitful results. From keyword researching to link building, from creating high-quality content to curating them attractively for optimum customer satisfaction - only a well-trained professional will be able to ace the whole process.
Imarticus Learning has created a Post Graduate Certificate Programme for emerging Chief Marketing Officers in collaboration with IIM Indore. This highly effective collaborative course will surely help you grasp the bits and pieces of digital marketing. Which in turn helps you to pick the right option between organic SEO and paid searches.
