Organic Search vs Paid Search: What's the Right Strategy for Your Business?
We can all agree that with 8 billion daily searches and $265 billion in Google ad revenue, both paid search and organic search are alive and kicking.
But you might be wondering, which of the two strategies is right for your business?
When marketers ask, ‘What’s the difference between paid search vs organic search?’ we know they’re not only asking about the cost.
Which one gives you more benefits, and is there anything besides the cost that makes them so different? As both an SEO and PPC agency working with clients with varying budgets, it’s safe to say we have an insider scoop on the subject.
Keep reading for insights about these two powerful digital marketing strategies. By the end of this post, you’ll know exactly what each marketing channel offers, what benefits you can expect, and what you should keep in mind before getting started.
What's the Difference Between Organic Search and Paid Search?
To get the most obvious question out of the way, the main difference between organic vs. paid search is the cost.
But there’s more to it than that.
Organic search, or search engine optimisation (SEO), is a set of keyword, technical, on-page, and off-page strategies and techniques used to drive your content to page one of search engine result pages (SERPs), thereby increasing visibility, clicks, conversions, and ultimately, sales.
Paid search, or pay-per-click (PPC) is advertising by any other name. You bid for your ad to appear at the top of Google SERPs for specific search terms and only pay when a user clicks on your ad (hence the apt name).
SEO Resources
PPC Resources
SEO: The Fundamental Digital Marketing Channel
Main Goal: To increase targeted organic search traffic to your website by appearing on page one SERPs.
Methods: Keyword strategy, on-page optimisation, off-page optimisation, SEO content
Turnaround time for organic search results: 0-12 months
Cost: Free
Real cost: Time; in-house SEO team overhead, or SEO agency monthly retainer
How SEO Works
To attract the right users—those who are ready to buy or are considering their options—your web pages need to rank high on page one (roughly 91% of users don’t even make it to the bottom of the page), match their search intent, and offer real value. That starts with finding the keywords your audience is using and the content gaps that your competitors haven’t fully pounced on yet.
But that’s only part of the SEO story.
Google also considers external signals, like backlinks from reputable sites, to decide which pages deserve to rank highest. That’s where off-page SEO comes in and works on building authority and trust to support your content and brand.
Why Is Organic Search Engine Optimisation So Effective?
SEO may take longer to yield results, but it offers many benefits, such as turning your website into your main lead generation machine. The more targeted traffic you receive, the better your marketing ROI will be. SEO is also a sustainable way of achieving long-term marketing results. Once you publish your optimised content, the benefits start to compound.
The longer it’s live, the more authority it has and the more data it can collect. All of that for the price of scheduled maintenance and content updates.
PPC: A Strategic Digital Marketing Investment
Main Goal: To increase brand visibility by appearing above organic search results on page one of Google, Bing, etc.
Methods: Keyword research and targeting, ad copy creation, landing page creation and optimisation, bidding strategy, conversion tracking, remarketing
Turnaround time for paid search results: Immediate
Cost: Flexible (e.g., could start as low as $2/day)
How PPC Works
Paid search ads are often designed to attract high-intent users who are ready to convert. But it takes more than just a hefty daily budget to get users to click on your link. You also need to use keywords with high commercial intent that align with your ideal customer.
To appear on Google for those search terms, you need to bid on them at auction, and your placement is determined by your ad’s bid amount and quality score. A high quality score is made up of a series of factors that include ad relevance, landing page experience, and click-through rate.
And, to make the most of your spend, every part of the funnel—from keyword to conversion—needs to be tested, tracked, and optimised. When done right, paid search delivers immediate visibility, measurable ROI, and a steady flow of qualified leads.
Why Is Paid Search So Effective?
There’s a reason roadside restaurants do so well. They’re positioned right in front of a target audience who is actively searching for their product (or in this case, a bathroom, followed by greasy food, questionable coffee, and overpriced souvenirs). And if done properly, this is what happens with PPC.
Paid search puts your solution in front of users who are actively looking for what you offer—right when they’re searching for answers. Paid results also start happening immediately, which feeds your team with the data it needs to support your SEO efforts. Best of all, your company can control how much you want to spend.
Key Differences Between Organic and Paid Search
Let’s look at these paid search/organic search differences side by side.
Should Businesses Focus on Organic Search Results?
There’s really no logical argument for B2B businesses not to engage in organic search techniques. Look at any business marketing statistic floating out there. It’s quite clear that decision-makers are using search engines and generative search engines as their first port of call to find business solutions.
But should you just focus on organic search marketing? Let’s take a look at what SEO can offer you:
Advantages of Organic Search
We worded it like that because, of course, SEO isn’t free in the sense that your efforts are carried out and delivered by angels. Of course, you have to pay for your strategists, technical experts, content writers, etc., to do the work. But once your pages are live on Google and other search engines, they stay there until you take them down.
And you’re the one who gets to choose your SEO budget, not a search engine. If your resources are stretched a little thin, you might only hire an SEO consultant and a freelance writer at first. Once your results start coming in and your budget starts to grow, you can work your way up to hiring your own in-house team or outsourcing to an agency.
Users often trust organic results more than paid advertisements because it’s generally understood how hard companies have to work to earn their number-one spot,unlike paid search results. Plus, there’s also an assumption that search engines show the best organic results first (perception is everything). From Google’s perspective, trustworthiness and authority are measured by the quality and quantity of your backlinks, mentions, and even your content.
And then, of course, there are things like Google’s Helpful Content Update and E-E-A-T or experience, expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness, which show just how important high-quality content is to your visibility.
Incorporating SEO strategies into your digital marketing campaign leads to a fast and user-friendly website, and content that appeals to both users and search engines. All of these things combined lead to more trust and credibility, which ultimately increases your targeted organic traffic.
As soon as your pages start to rank, they pull in new and returning users for months and even years to come with minimal ongoing investment without you having to spend a penny on page-one visibility. Sure, it takes time to build the foundations for top organic search rankings. But in the meantime, your cost-per-lead tends to go down, and the data you collect generally means that your smarter campaigns lead to more conversions and more sales.
Is there an argument for focusing your marketing budget on a paid search campaign instead of SEO? Sure. For example, if you’re looking for immediate results and visibility because you have short-term or seasonal campaigns, you might want to focus on PPC. If specific keywords you want to rank for are dominated by high-authority pages from big industry names, you can use paid ads to appear on top of those organic listings.
We mentioned in this post that paid search is flexible on the daily budget front, but the more resources you’re willing to spend on creating decent and relevant ads, the more likely you’ll win the top ad placement on Google Search. Remember, it’s not just based on bid amount but also on quality score.
Advantages of Paid Search
Even if your competitors are sitting pretty on page one with their highly authoritative content that hasn’t moved in years, paid search gives you the chance to fast-track your way to the top of the page.
With the right keywords, ad copy, and bidding strategy, your search ads will appear even higher than those highfalutin’ pages. And if you’re using highly competitive keywords that would take SEO content years to reach page one, PPC is your best solution.
How quickly can you start seeing traffic from ads? You can get your paid advertising campaign up in as little as a few hours.
Paid search gives you immediate insights into what tone, messaging, and keywords are actually working. This granular data can significantly improve your other marketing efforts, even beyond organic search. Email marketing, page design, content, branding, and even your core messaging can also use a generous boost of reality and insight, so that you’re pouncing on what works and retooling what isn’t contributing to your ROI.
That is to say, when you know which search terms are driving the most conversions, you can prioritise these topics across every marketing channel.
Marketers love how flexible paid search is. You really don’t need a big budget to put out a single campaign and keep it running for a limited time. The ability to scale your advertising efforts as you go is what makes paid ads also perfect for seasonal businesses or e-commerce sites whose sales are tied to specific events, etc.
It’s not always true that the higher you’re willing to spend on ad placement, the more likely your ad will be placed at the very top of organic search results. With data-backed targeting and a campaign strategy, you can generate quite a few leads even with a smaller budget.
A Winning Marketing Campaign: Paid and Organic Search?
Why just have your cake when you can also eat it, too?
Imagine this: your website is in trouble and it needs help before it slips into Google obscurity, or as we flippantly call it, page two. Who you gonna call? Steady and sustainable SEO that promises rankings and results for years to come if only you give it a minute? Or quick and powerful PPC advertising that’s got the juice to take you to heights you would never have imagined possible, but for a price?
Organic search vs paid search? We say, why not both!?
Together, organic vs paid offer a balanced strategy that gives you both short- and long-term results, as well as in-depth insights to continuously improve your marketing ROI, reach new audiences, and outshine your competitors.
