What is the difference between Google AdWords and SEO?

seo and google adwords
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Last updated on October 17th, 2023 at 04:11 pm

Do you know the difference between Google AdWords and SEO? Whether your online business is old or new, you should enjoy the E-commerce adventure! As with any business, you need clients otherwise it wouldn’t be a business now, would it? But how do you ensure clients can find you? The best place to start is the internet of course. Do a little research to find out how you can make your business discoverable.

You have done some online research and slowly but surely, you start to pick up on reoccurring words such as Search Engine Optimization and Google AdWords which leaves you chewing the back of your pen in uncertainty. Which is better? Do I need both? Or just the one? What is the difference between SEO and Google AdWords? Well, chew your pen no more! We will help you understand the difference and how they can help your business. Let’s get cracking!

what is SEO

What is SEO?

SEO, Search Engine Optimization, is the act or process of optimizing your website to achieve the best organic ranking among search engines. You’re able to reach your audience organically by means of your higher ranking which is affected by the content on your site, relevant keywords, improved metadata, website code and more. Ranking high in Google searches gives you and your business credibility and therefore consumers are more likely to trust you and your products. To top it off, you don’t pay a single cent for traffic.

How does SEO work?

Here’s an easy example of how Search Engine Optimization works: A user goes online to search for a plumber. Google has an index of all the websites it has crawled. From the content on your site, it understands (to a large degree) that you offer plumbing services. If Google determines that your result is relevant to the user’s search it will show your website in its search results.  Your position or ranking in those results is determined by how much more relevant it believes your site (or page) to be in relation to all the other websites.

You might also have heard the term SEM (Search Engine Marketing). Search Engine Marketing is considered internet marketing which will increase your website’s visibility to online users and includes the use of paid searches such as Pay Per Click. We won’t get into too much detail on SEM, but it’s good to understand the difference between the two even though they work hand in hand.

What is Google AdWords?

Google AdWords is a Pay Per Click service run by Google that allows companies like yourself to advertise your website and reach your target audience through specific keywords. This means exactly what it sounds like; PPC Advertisers ‘’Pay Per Click’’ on their advertisements. These adverts are then shown on the top of the search results page, normally the first three listings are adverts.

How does Google AdWords work?

what is google adwords When it comes to PPC you decide on a daily budget, meaning you determine the amount you are willing to pay for a user to click on your advertisement. You set the rules! Once your budget ends for the day so will your advert. Your budget will influence where on the page you show and generally speaking the more you Pay Per Click the higher the ranking. To start using Google AdWords follow this link https://ads.google.com/intl/en_ZA/home/.

So, which strategy do I use?

Our advice to you is to find an even balance between the two tools. SEO is there to grow your traffic by getting you higher on the search engine’s rankings. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is an ongoing, long-term strategy.

Google AdWords (PPC) is a great short-term way to jump-start your business and boost traffic to your website. It’s a way to showcase any current specials you have running or introduce a new range of products or services. Search Engine Optimization and PPC (when done correctly) can be hugely beneficial to any online business and to get your name on that front page of the search results.

Get in touch with us for all your SEO needs!

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