Why start with Paid Advertising before doing SEO? In the fast-paced world of digital marketing, businesses often face the dilemma of whether to focus on paid advertising or SEO to drive traffic and sales. While both strategies have their unique advantages, starting with paid advertising before diving into SEO can provide a solid foundation for your online marketing efforts.
Understanding why this approach is beneficial can help businesses make informed decisions and optimise their marketing strategies for better results.
Understanding Paid Advertising
Paid advertising, also known as pay-per-click (PPC) advertising, involves paying to place your ads on search engines, social media platforms, and other websites. Popular forms of paid advertising include Google Ads, Facebook Ads, and Instagram Ads.
One of the primary advantages of paid advertising is its ability to deliver quick results and immediate traffic. Unlike SEO, which can take months to show results, a well-executed paid advertising campaign can start driving traffic and generating leads almost instantly.
For example, a local bakery in Sydney might launch a Google Ads campaign to promote its new line of gluten-free products. Within hours of launching the campaign, the bakery could see an increase in website visits and online orders, showcasing the immediate impact of paid advertising.
Understanding SEO
Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is the process of optimising your website to rank higher in search engine results pages (SERPs) organically. This involves a combination of on-page SEO (like optimising content and meta tags) and off-page SEO (like building backlinks).
SEO is a long-term strategy that, when done correctly, can provide sustainable traffic and higher search engine rankings.
The primary advantage of SEO is its cost-effectiveness over time. Once your website starts ranking well, you can enjoy a steady stream of organic traffic without continuously paying for ads.
However, the downside is that SEO takes time, effort, and patience to yield results.
Benefits of Starting with Paid Advertising
Starting with paid advertising offers several benefits that can complement your overall digital marketing strategy:
Quick Results and Immediate Traffic
Paid advertising can drive traffic to your website within hours of launching a campaign, providing immediate visibility and potential sales.
Flexibility and Control Over Budget
Paid advertising allows you to set a budget that fits your financial constraints, and you can adjust it as needed based on performance.
Data-Driven Insights for SEO Strategy
Running paid ads can provide valuable data on which keywords and ad copies perform best. This information can then be used to inform your SEO strategy, making it more effective.
While organic reach is crucial, it often requires patience to see significant results. Kickstarting your business with paid advertising can provide an instant lift. By running ads from the get-go, you can swiftly draw the right customers to your website and social media platforms. These early visitors generate momentum, creating an active and engaging presence. This initial push also amplifies your SEO efforts, making them more effective and quicker, laying a solid groundwork for long-term success.
For instance, a Melbourne-based e-commerce store might use Facebook Ads to promote its winter clothing line. The data collected from the ad campaign, such as which products and keywords generated the most clicks and sales, can help shape the store’s SEO strategy for long-term success.
Integrating SEO with Paid Advertising
Using paid advertising to inform your SEO efforts can create a powerful synergy:
Keyword Testing
Before committing to a long-term SEO strategy, you can use paid ads to test which keywords are most effective. This reduces the risk of investing time and resources into optimising for keywords that may not perform well.
Building Brand Awareness
Paid advertising helps build brand awareness quickly. When users repeatedly see your ads, they are more likely to remember your brand, which can positively impact your SEO efforts as users search for your brand organically.
Data Utilisation
The data from paid advertising campaigns provides insights into customer behaviour and preferences, which can be leveraged to enhance your SEO strategy.
For example, if certain ad headlines or content pieces perform exceptionally well, they can be incorporated into your website’s SEO content.
Many businesses have successfully used paid advertising to kickstart their marketing efforts.
For example, an online fitness program might start with Google Ads to promote its new workout plans. The immediate traffic and sign-ups from the ads provide valuable data on which keywords and demographics are most interested in the program. This data then informs their SEO strategy, helping them create targeted content that ranks well organically and attracts a steady stream of traffic.
Conclusion
Starting with paid advertising before focusing on SEO can provide quick wins and valuable insights that pave the way for a successful long-term SEO strategy. By integrating both approaches, businesses can maximise their online visibility, drive more traffic, and ultimately achieve their marketing goals.
For more insights on paid advertising and SEO, check out our blog posts about Organic Leads vs. Paid Leads.
Don’t have the time to manage paid ads yourself?
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We can handle it for you. Check out our blog about the 6 Advantages of Working with a Digital Marketing Agency or you can directly message us to see how we can help boost your business.