Organic vs paid search: Which is more cost effective in the long run?

More than 80% of people turn to Google when looking for answers online, which equates to approximately 3.5 billion searches every single day. This figure alone should explain why marketers invest so much time and energy into developing strategies that align with the search giant’s best practices.

In return, Google provides marketers with two highly valuable sources of traffic: paid search and organic search. Search engine marketing (SEM) and search engine optimisation (SEO) are the methods marketers use to acquire traffic from paid search and organic search respectively. But which is more cost effective over the long term?

Paid search

If you want to achieve quick results, paid search is primed to deliver immediate outcomes from your efforts. Real-time data can be used to refine your ads to ensure you are consistently maximising the potential of your investment, but to do this properly additional time and attention will need to be invested on at least a weekly basis. This time can be difficult for some businesses to justify, especially because paid search is most frequently used to drive short-term results.

Organic search

There are zero upfront costs associated with organic search, which means your business won’t need to find and allocate a monthly advertising budget. If and when you do decide to invest in your approach to organic search, you will be free to choose precisely how and when to spend your budget. This might come in the form of paid optimisation tools or the hiring of a team offering professional SEO services in Colchester who can use their expertise to refine your approach and drive even more impressive results.

Reasons to Invest in SEO services in Colchester

When approached correctly, organic search has the potential to deliver an unparalleled return on investment (ROI) that will have a positive impact on your bottom line. Similarly, although the best SEO strategies take time and commitment, they have the added benefit of delivering results that can be built upon. The process of creating high-quality content, for example, will increase traffic, shares and attract links from other sites, which will lead to more leads, increased revenue and higher rankings. Importantly, you will continue to generate results as you continue to create content, which will drive even more impactful outcomes for your business.

Working with a team delivering professional SEO services in Colchester will ensure your strategy is consistently refined and shaped to maximise the results you are able to drive for your brand. And unlike with paid search, you can enjoy these outcomes for free as you won’t have to pay every time someone clicks on your advertisement in search engine results pages (SERPs).

Both organic and paid searches have their own benefits and most businesses will find that a combination will drive both the short and long term results needed to survive and thrive in competitive modern marketplaces.