The Amount of Leads Possible with Search Engine Optimization Overshadows Google Paid Ads
Search Engine Optimization, or SEO for short has a certain mysticism attached to it. Over the last couple years, the constant algorithm updates executed almost daily by Google have left a large portion of the SEO agencies scratching their heads. I can’t say that I blame them. If you don’t have associates constantly testing and tweaking what you’re implementing in your SEO for your clients, you have no idea what has changed with the algorithm and you have no chance of ranking using 1 or 2 years old tactics.
That’s why most SEO agencies don’t really do SEO anymore. They run paid ad campaigns for their clients, just to get their phones ringing. When it all comes down to it, the clients don’t give a flip whether they’re ranking or not anyway. They just want their phone ringing and new customers coming through the door. So, doing Google PPC isn’t such a bad move.
The Amount of Leads From SEO Blows Away Paid Ad Campaigns
But wait just one minute. The sheer volume in the amount of leads you can get doing a successful SEO campaign will blow away any PPC campaign. This is not just some frivolous statement that I’m pulling out of my “you know where”. This is hard – cold data you can easily Google to find. Read this trusted publication to see the comparison of SEO vs. Google PPC.
On most Google search results pages for local searches, there will be on average 7 paid advertisers. Sometimes a couple more… sometimes a couple less. This remains true for national and global searches as well. Well all 7 of those paid advertisers will only get 10% – 15% of the clicks (or leads) from the page.
That means all 7 advertisers are getting only 1/7 of all the leads. Well, guess how many clicks and leads the top 3 organic results will get? In other words… the website owners that have good SEO agencies working for them. Well, it’s up to 65% of the leads. Sometime the number 1 result can get as much as 40% all by themselves.
Top 3 Organic Results in Google Will Get Up To 65% of All Leads
So, for example, if 1000 people (possible customers) per month are typing in the search term: “San Diego Roofer” into Google, those 7 paid advertisers will be splitting 100 – 150 leads between the 7 of them. But that number 1 organic result could get as much as 400 of those leads.
I realize that’s a rhetorical question, but true nonetheless.
Paid Ads Have Their Right Time and Place
By now you’re probably thinking I’m against running paid ads. Absolutely not! We use them for our clients. But not as a primary source for driving new customers and phone calls. We use a couple different paid ad platforms to provide the best possible service we can for our clients. Google PPC, YouTube ads, Facebook ads all have their correct time and place. When we see any of these ad platforms can be effective in driving some business for us or our clients… we will use them.
At Netzone Digital & SEO we’re not going to get caught up in that mindset that some SEO professionals have, that they’ll never do paid ads. Some SEO’s look at running paid ads almost as if it’s sacrilegious or something. That’s just sheer craziness… and borderline stupidity. The way we look at it… if it works and gets business, we will do it. That’s only right for our clients.
Paid Ads Can Get Your Phone Ringing on Day 1
Really the only advantage I feel paid ads of any type and on any platform have is that they can get the phone ringing immediately. I do mean immediately. I’ve run Facebook ads before and had the phone ring before I even got logged out of the ads manager.
This speed which these ads can produce results is perfect for us as a digital marketing and primarily SEO agency. Because SEO campaigns are slow to produce results. In a medium competition industry, for a local business, it can take 3 – 6 months before we have that client ranking at the top of page 1 and in the 3 pack. This is another change that’s happened over the last couple years with Google’s organic search results algorithm. They have slowed it down quite a bit. It just takes longer to build trust and power with Google now, so while we’re working on the SEO campaign, we will have paid ads running to get the client’s phone ringing. This helps tremendously when you can help to offset the client’s SEO investment until the SEO really starts kicking butt.
The best part of PPC or any paid ads is also the worst part of paid ads. They are lightning fast to start producing results… but they are just as fast to stop producing results. In other words, if you stop paying for the ads… the phone stops ringing just as fast as it started ringing. That is maybe the biggest difference between paid ads and SEO. I have sites still ranking in the top 3 on page one in Google that I haven’t touched with SEO in over 2 years. I’m not paying one cent to keep them there. We just did proper SEO in the beginning and they keep on giving and giving.
Paid Ads Also Great Tool for Creating Brand Awareness
It seems that branding has become tremendously important in all industries nowadays. I mean… it really always has been, but definitely more so now with the internet. No matter whether you’re a local plumber, a roofing company, a pizzeria, or a corner store selling fidget spinners… you need to grow your brand. It’s more important than ever to create brand awareness in your market.
Social media has exploded in the last couple years, even for local service type business. So, leveraging social media is something we’ve been giving a lot more focus to here in 2018. But whether it’s social media or Google search results, running paid ads can be a highly effective method of getting your brand in front of people, and keeping it there. With re-targeting now, you can leverage paid ads to the point now, in a very cost-effective manor, to get your brand noticed.
Going forward, branding will become even bigger, so we expect to be utilizing paid ads to help build brand awareness for our own agency, and all our clients.
When it Comes Down to it… SEO Beats Paid Ads Hands Down
To wrap it up, there is a right time and a right place to pay for ads. But the end game, and long-term strategy for any business should be to develop a well-executed SEO strategy so that your business is achieving page 1 rankings in Google. Use paid ads wisely, and where they’re most effective. But make sure to develop your business online as a valuable digital asset. Because that’s what it can be.
Be sure to contact us today if you want help building your long term digital asset. What’s your end game? Do you eventually want to sale your business? If so, having a fine-tuned, high converting digital marketing system in place will increase your business’ value and also give you a strong negotiating tool.
We’ll be waiting to hear from you. To get started and find out if we’re the right agency for you… and if you’re a good fit for us, complete our Breakthrough Form now.