Difference Between Organic and Paid Search

October 21, 2022

Organic search and paid search are two completely different but equally valuable traffic sources in digital marketing. The method for get traffic from organic search is search engine optimization (SEO) and the method for get traffic from paid search is search engine marketing (SEM). In this tutorial we’re going to discuss about the difference between organic and paid search.

Organic Search

Before learning what is organic search, we should know what is organic results. When we search something on Google or any other search engines, a list of links will be appeared as the result. We called it “organic results”. According to the quality and content of the page, the links will be listed. The traffic comes from people who find your site among these results, is called “organic search traffic” or “organic traffic”.

Organic traffic is the most valuable traffic. Here are the reasons for it.

Google directs the highest amount of traffic. Organic traffic is the most trusted source for people researching a purchase also.
Google is very particular about their rankings. If your content is high quality then you will be able to get a better position in ranking.
Moving up in the rankings is difficult. It will take some time. But if you are done it correctly you w get the benefits for a long time.
Results on the first page of Google which means the top 10 results get 92% off all search traffic on Google. On the second page, the traffic drops by 95%.
33% of clicks from organic search results go to the first listing on Google.

The only problem with Google is it takes some time to find you site, get index and start generating traffic from organic search. If you wanna get your site indexing fast, go for a any other search engine. It’s quite difficult to get a better position in search results.

Making website with few articles about a subject was not enough to get a better rank. Because there are many competitors in today. Almost every business has their own website. Google has cracked down on keyword stuffing also. Some marketers use Black Hat SEO methods for getting better SEO. Black hat SEO methods are illegal methods that against Google rules.

Organic search vs paid search

We mentioned before that getting your website would take some time. Specially your website is a new one, it will take time to get traffic from organic search. Even though there are some factors you need to consider.

57% of B2B marketers have said that SEO has the biggest impact on lead generation.
Organic search leads have got a 14.6% close rate when it is compared to 1.7% of outbound marketing leads.
Many spenders are more like to turn to organic search for information.
Every month, there are more than 10.3 billion Google searches all over the world to find products and services online. More than 78% of U.S. internet users use Google.

Now you might have some idea about how much search engine optimization and organic traffic are important.

Paid search

Some companies pay to appear at the top of search results. They appear above the organic search results. You can easily find paid ads in the results list. Because there is a little yellow box next to ad title reading “ad”.

Organic search is really competitive. But paid search has been more popular in past years. In organic search, you need to wait some time until SEO is built up. But in here there is no need to waiting. Just pay and get a chance to seen on page one of Google immediately.

Google’s AdWords program is the most popular pay-per-click (PPC) advertising program that available today. Being tactful is really important when you starting your first campaign on Google AdWords. If you done it correctly you will get ton of targeted traffic to your website much quicker than getting traffic from organic search.

What is the difference between Organic and paid search?

Paid search is outbound method for marketing. Therefore many of inbound marketers used to avoid from paid search. But now it seems common them to work together with Social Media Ads and tools like HubSpot Ads.

Normally, it takes three to six months to start your website getting rank in organic search results. If you don’t wanna wait such a long period, you can go for the paid search. It will get visitors to your website today. It speeds up the process of optimizing your landing pages for higher conversions also.

You can select the best option from organic search and paid search looking at your timeline, budget, advantages and disadvantages of using them. If you’re looking for getting results quickly, paid search is better. But if you wanna get most cost-effective results, it’s better to use organic search.

Within the attention to landing page optimization and right tweaking to your campaign, you can make paid search cost-effective as well. Look at your goals and do some experiments to pick one that suits to you.

Related posts

What Is Paid Search (Beginner’s Guide)

Frequently Asked Questions

Can you pay Google for SEO?

You cannot pay Google for SEO because Google does not offer SEO services. Google is a search engine. It has created its own algorithm to rank websites. If Google offered SEO services, you’d be paying to be at the top of the search results. Because they would know exactly what to do get your site on the highest rank.

What is organic search marketing?

Organic search marketing is a type of organic marketing. It improves your website’s ranking in search results list through optimizations. When users search something in Google or any other search engine, search engines generate organic search results based on the site’s relevancy with the user’s search query.

Can I do SEO on my own?

Of cause yes. You can do SEO on your own. You don’t need to hire someone who expert with this to improve your SEO. Through learning factors that effect to SEO and the way they work, you can do it easily.