If you want to appear as high as possible on the first page of the Google search engine with your own company, you have two options: search engine optimization (SEO) or ads ( SEA).
Maybe you are spoiled for choice and don’t know which type of search engine marketing (SEM) you should choose. But why decide when you can combine the two marketing strategies and achieve even greater success? In this article, we will tell you how.
The most important thing in Brief
- Search engine marketing (SEM) is divided into the areas of SEO and SEA.
- With SEO, the organic ranking op timed while a SEA campaign is serving targeted ads.
- A well-thought-out combination of these strategies will bring your offer to the top of Google.
What is SEO?
The abbreviation SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization. SEO includes all measures that help a website rank higher in the SERPs, the result pages of search engines such as Google.
The position of the website is called ranking. Google is quite secretive about which parameters are used for a good ranking, but SEO professionals know what is important.
As part of an SEO campaign, the website is optimized for specific subject areas with the help of technical improvements and regularly published high-quality content.
The search engine recognizes that users will find suitable content on these topics here. The page is therefore played out more presently with corresponding search queries.
Successes with SEO take some time and your site will not immediately end up at number one in the SERPs. With constant optimization, however, the increase in ranking is very sustainable. In addition, users trust organic results more than advertisements.
What is Google Ads?
In contrast to search engine optimization, SEO, SEA means Search Engine Advertising. The Google Ads are not aimed at organic, free search results, but at the paid places in the advertising area. As with SEO, topics are also advertised with Google Ads.
Each ad and landing page should target a specific topic. Once the keywords relevant to the topic have been selected and the budget for the campaign has been determined, you can get started.
It is important to note that there is only a limited number of ad spaces. Therefore, you compete for these with others promoting the same topic. As in an auction, when searchers enter a specific request, the highest and highest bidder wins the bid.
You will not be charged until someone clicks on your ad. However, as soon as you no longer put any money into the campaign, you can no longer bid and the range fizzles out.
5 tips for the perfect SEO-Ads combination
Maybe you’ve already noticed: SEO is a bit slower but more sustainable; Ads are flexible but short-lived. So why not use the strengths and weaknesses of both campaigns to work together to get the most out of your business?
1. Ads for the start of the sprint
First boost visibility with ads, especially for start-ups with a new website and domain. It is precisely in these cases that SEO takes a while to successfully pick up.
2. SEO content provides ads benefits
If SEO optimizations on landing pages of ads campaigns take place, it can improve its Quality Score and give you an advantage in the Google auction process.
3. Ads cover suitable topics
Some topics just don’t do well in SEO. In such cases, use ads to place your topic specifically on the Google results page.
4. SEO for info topics, ads for sales
You want to convince people of your expertise and persuade people to buy from you. SEO is suitable for information (e.g. on your blog), and ads for sales (e.g. product landing pages).
5. Be found twice
Once your SEO campaign has started, do not deactivate the ads. In the best case, you can be found twice on page one and get more conversions.