Paid vs Organic Marketing Strategies

SEO (search engine optimization) and SEM (search engine marketing) are two critical elements to a business’ success. SEO is a long-term strategy using keywords and web content to increase organic search traffic and visibility on search engines. SEM is a more short-term approach involving paid promotional advertisements on search engines to produce quick results. First, I will discuss the pros and cons of SEO.

Search engine optimization can be competitive, slow-paced, and time-consuming; however, there are also many benefits- one major benefit is that SEO is free! Quality content that draws attention must be produced first, and with consistency, the business should rise within the search engine rankings. As with any form of advertising, SEO brings exposure to a business by appearing when relevant keywords or phrases are searched. Another benefit is that leads generated by SEO have a significantly higher return on investment than email or print advertising. SEO is also a key factor in establishing the business’ place within its market niche, which further leads to site visits and conversions (Kaushik, 2017).

The largest drawback to SEO is the amount of time it can take to see results. Because the results are organic, it can take a significant amount of time before search engines pick up on the content a business is producing. It can also take a lot of time and effort to find the correct keywords within the business’ niche- especially if it’s a competitive market such as fitness or food. There is also no guarantee that SEO will lead to top rankings on the first page, especially with constant changes in the algorithm (Kaushik, 2017).

Search Engine Marketing makes measuring a business’ campaigns quickly, efficiently, and in real-time. Another major benefit regarding pay-per-click ads is that the business only has to pay for the engagement it receives. A business can even put a cap on the budget, setting a limit to how much it’s willing to spend per day. This of course lends to quick results- meaning weeks or even days, which is drastically different from SEO. Another benefit is that campaigns can be targeted to specific demographics, particular interest, and previous history (Cyberclick, 2023).

SEM has disadvantages including the cost, which can grow rapidly depending on the length of the campaign. Another disadvantage is the competitive nature regarding keywords. In competitive fields, the price to rank high using critical keywords can be pricey, and at times consumers will purchase ad blockers to prevent any advertisements from appearing. People in general can find ads to be an annoyance and may click out to access the original content they were searching for (Cyberclick, 2023).

In conclusion, SEO and SEM are beneficial to all businesses. If the funds are available, I think using a combination of the two would be the ultimate marketing strategy. Paid and organic web traffic both have their benefits and downfalls, but researching and using these marketing strategies should be an effective use of time and resources to help a business grow.

Cyberclick. (2023). Retrieved from https://www.cyberclick.net/sem#d

Kaushik, L. (2018). Retrieved from https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/what-pros-cons-seosearch-engine-optimization-lokesh-kaushik/