SEO vs. SEA: Which strategy brings long-term success in online marketing?
Online marketing is as essential as it is confusing for many companies these days. Numerous channels, from social media to search engines, relevant websites and apps are available, but not every measure leads to the desired goal. It’s easy to lose track.
When it comes to promoting your own website, two measures are generally recommended: SEO and SEA. How do you best reach your target group and where should you invest which budget?
What is SEO?
SEO stands for search engine optimization and describes the process of designing a website so that it appears as high as possible in the organic search results of search engines such as Google. The goal of SEO is to increase the visibility of the website and generate organic traffic, i.e. unpaid clicks. SEO is a measure that every website operator should use if they want to exploit the full potential of their website.
Search engine optimization consists of 3 areas: on-page SEO, off-page SEO and technical SEO. On-page SEO focuses on optimizing the content and structure of a website, such as using relevant keywords, writing high-quality texts and optimizing meta tags. Off-page SEO aims to increase the trust and authority of the website through backlinks. Technical SEO deals with the technical infrastructure, such as page loading time or mobile optimization. All of these factors are taken into account when evaluating the website. Only if it scores positively in as many cases as possible will it appear in the top search results. Not only your own optimization strategy is important, but also that of the competition.
When creating a new website, it is worth investing in an SEO strategy and implementation. Existing websites can also be analyzed and improved. There are technical tools such as Yoast SEO for the ongoing optimization of new content.
Advantages and Disadvantages of SEO
+ The results are long-term and sustainable if the strategy is implemented correctly.
+ Organic search results are always considered more reputable than paid ones, which builds trust among users.
+ In the long term, SEO is a very cost-effective investment because it is the basis of your visibility on the World Wide Web, which will remain even if you do not place any ads.
– SEO requires time and patience , because success usually does not come immediately, but only over the course of weeks and months.
– If you operate in a highly competitive market, SEO measures may not be enough to really get your website to the first page of search results.
– All content on a website must always be considered under SEO criteria, which can sometimes be limiting.
Which factors influence your ranking?
Not all SEO measures need to be adapted constantly. Technical SEO aspects, such as loading times, should be optimized when the homepage is created and then only checked from time to time. You should always pay attention to the file sizes, especially if you offer blog posts or news with a lot of images or videos.
You can promote backlink building in all possible ways, e.g. with guest contributions or advertorials on other websites or with simple links on the pages of customers or cooperation partners.
On-page SEO is particularly well suited for ongoing optimization because this is where you have the greatest long-term influence when creating new content for your website.
Important factors for your on-page SEO
Keywords and meta tags
- Define meaningful keywords for your goals.
- Analyze your competition. There may be niche keywords that your competitors aren’t using yet.
- Try to maintain a keyword density of around 1-3%. However, the quality of your text is more important than the exact number. You can also use synonyms for your keywords so that you don’t constantly repeat yourself.
- Put your most important keyword in the URL, title and high-level headings, as well as in image titles and alt descriptions.
- Create a meta description for each relevant page.
- Make sure to offer unique content and not use the same keywords on every page.
- Important keywords should also be included in your menu navigation and website description.
- Monitor your success in Google Search Console and Google Analytics.
text structure and topicality
- Make sure your website texts are of an optimal length, ideally over 500 words per page. Pages with a low word count cannot be ranked well by search engines.
- Make sure you keep your content up to date to maintain your position. Blogs or longer news stories are good for this.
- Make sure that individual pages are well structured with meta tags and that the entire website has a good and intuitive structure.
- Increase the time spent on your site with infographics, videos or tutorials.
Left
- Use internal links to connect your pages. Important pages should be linked in the main navigation.
- Use external links to link your site to other relevant websites. Useful links increase the value of your content and therefore your ranking. But don’t use external links to your own important keywords.
What is SEA?
SEA stands for search engine advertising and describes paid ads that appear in search engine results. These are usually ads that are positioned above or next to the organic results. Companies pay for clicks on their ads. A click can cost different amounts depending on the keyword. The good thing about it is that you don’t pay anything for the ad itself, but only when someone actually interacts.
Advantages and Disadvantages of SEA
+ SEA enables direct visibility, as the ads are displayed shortly after they are placed. This means that companies can very quickly direct traffic to their (new) website. This is a good option, especially for start-ups and the promotion of new products, to quickly appear high up in the search results and become better known.
+ Even established companies can permanently increase their traffic and win new customers with ads.
– The positive effects on your traffic only work as long as you invest money. This can quickly become expensive . Depending on the industry, click prices can be high, especially for highly competitive keywords.
– The measurability of the results is already very good, but search ads are still paid per click and not per conversion. Some clicks happen unintentionally and lead to nothing.
– In order to track data correctly, the website must also be connected to Google Services. This is relevant to data protection law. Your users must also be able to reject this tracking on the website. The possibility of rejection naturally means that the data collected is less accurate.
– Experience is necessary to achieve success with Google Ads, because every ad is treated as an auction. Your ads fight for ad space against relevant competitors every time they are broadcast. To ensure that your ad wins and is displayed more often than your competitors, you must constantly monitor it and adapt it if necessary.
Test Google Ads for your business
Nothing ventured, nothing gained. Google Ads are a traffic guarantee for your website. You should test them at least once to see what advantages they bring for your marketing goals. Be sure to estimate a campaign to last at least 3-4 months, as the search engine algorithm first has to get to know your target group and results are only representative after a certain period of time. You should choose your budget depending on the keywords and target group. It is usually worth targeting a smaller target group in a very targeted and intensive manner. Specific is better than general, closer is better than everywhere. If you want to advertise a local business, you can choose a specific radius around the location in which your ad should be displayed. The higher your budget, the further the radius can be. To start with, you can start with a monthly budget of €500-1000 for an ad in (parts of) Austria. If there is a lot of competition and hotly contested topics, you can also start with a higher budget. You can then continuously adjust your ads and your budget to do justice to the market.
Google Ads are particularly recommended for:
- start-ups
- New Products
- Special promotions
- online shops
- Ongoing traffic especially in poor SEO conditions or with strong competition
A successful online marketing strategy combines SEO as a basis and targeted SEA measures for maximum visibility. At PlonerCom you can have your current website checked and improved, as well as have a new SEO-optimized and modern website developed . We will create your ads for all areas that you would like to advertise additionally .