The Australian online market is booming. With over 62 billion AUD spent by consumers in 2021, it’s no wonder that more and more people are starting an online business venture during 2022 and beyond.
Competition is fierce. So how do you set your offering above that of your rivals, and how can you ensure you stay ahead?
First and foremost potential customers need to find you. So it’s little wonder that many entrepreneurs are looking at the benefits of organic vs paid searches. Overall, paid searches in 2022 will give a quicker result than organic searches. For the cost, organic search results come out on top. Paid searches can boost searches and customers quickly, while organic search will grow steadily over time.Continue reading to discover why your business must be taking stock of the benefits of both organic and paid services.
Why do I Need to Consider Organic vs Paid Search in 2022?
When nearly three-quarters of Australian businesses earn at least a portion of their revenue online, those who don’t certainly risk missing out on this growing revenue stream.Since the global pandemic of 2020, more and more businesses are seeing the benefits of joining the online marketplace as many physical locations were forced to close during lockdowns.
Internet research
With over half of the respondents in a Statista survey reporting they use the internet to research products, it’s vital that your online business is the go-to website. The consumer journey has come a long way since buying the latest novel on Amazon. These days users want to search around products and actively solve their problems.
Consumer journey
For anyone who wants to compare organic vs paid search in 2022, it’s crucial to understand your customers' needs and what they are doing when they start searching.The tried-and-tested method of a ‘sales funnel’ where customers move from being aware of your company, considering and then purchasing doesn't always fit with today’s online consumers. Often a direct route is preferred where customers know exactly what they want, rather than being warmed up in advance of a sale. So whichever way your potential clients and customers are most likely to find you, through an organic or paid search, it’s important to understand that search is evolving to meet their more intricate requirements. It’s important to understand search is no longer just about keywords. If you want to compete in the ever-evolving world of search, it’s crucial to provide your potential customers with the right content they are looking for at the right time in their buying journey, based on exactly what they’re searching for. So what are the differences between these types of searches, and how can they help your Brisbane business in 2022?
What’s The Difference Between Paid and Organic Search?
While both types of searches have their benefits, let’s start with the most important consideration for many Australian startups and other small businesses, the cost.
Paid vs organic search: cost
It can be said that organic searches cost nothing. When investing in marketing spending, it’s often a clear monthly cost. But it’s worth understanding that although the prices are often lower, to build organic searches, there is a time commitment required in researching, optimising content and paying the best writers to deliver that work. You might also decide to hire an SEO strategist to maximise your organic search campaign or some paid tools to help you discover keywords and other types of organic search knowledge. So yes, on first look, it could be that organic search is the most pocket friendly. You can go ahead without hiring the best SEO specialists or using paid tools. However, as any business owner understands, time is money, so you will need to factor that in.
Paid vs organic search: speed of results
When building good quality content and hoping to gain top listings in Google searches, depending on your own website's authority, it could be some time before Google deems your site worthy of indexing, ranking in search results, and showing to its searchers. This one major obvious downside of organic searches is that it can take a fair amount of time before you start to see the results you’d hope for. In most cases, this is calculated in months. It can take three to 12 months for organic traffic to start paying dividends. Paid searches such as google ads mean any business can begin to see results instantly. It also pushes you to make landing page optimisation a priority, which can also mean quicker conversations.
Paid vs organic search: position on Google
When we put paid and organic searches head to head, it could seem obvious that a paid search will always sit in Google rankings above any content driven by organic searches.However, the click-through rate of ‘top of funnel’ searches, for instance, is high for websites that have organic search content at the top of SERPs (search engine results page). This type of search is for customers who are ‘interested, but not ready to buy’ type. They might use terms such as ‘cheapest X’ or ‘what type of ‘X’ is best for ‘Y’. By building content organically, you can grab these viewers, and once they’re active on your site, you can benefit from conversions and returning visitors.
Paid searches vs organic: targeting a specific audience
In the paid vs organic search for the 2022 debate, those who want to target a particular audience quickly would be best to use a paid search. One of the chief benefits of paid searches such as Google Ads is that they offer users the opportunity to target a precise audience. Facebook ads are particularly good for business owners' ability to choose the location and other demographics important to their offering. Facebook PPC (pay per click) ads allow users to target their ads based on interests, life language, life events, and many other custom fields.
By using segmentation on paid ads, you can make sure any potential clients at the top of the buying cycle or even just fit into your ‘target customer categories are hitting your website. Making sure you have a robust SEM or search engine marketing strategy means you will be better able to focus on your customer's interests, intent, behaviour, and the device they search on. So, what’s the honest answer, and are paid or organic searches better for your Australian business?
Paid Searches vs Organic: What’s Better for Your Business?
It could be that your business would benefit from either paid searches, organic or both. Our expert SEO team here at Anchor Digital recommend organic if you are looking for a longer-term strategy. We also think it’s the way forward to increase the value of your site by building its authority and creating content that will bring long term results.If you are looking for immediate results, promote a specific sales campaign or target a particular segment of your audience, then paid searches would bring you the most benefit.
Here’s a quick and simple table that broadly outlines the main differences between organic vs paid searches. Organic SearchPaid SearchCost of investmentLow to MediumMedium to HighSpeed of resultsSlow (usually months)Fast (days)Expertise RequiredMedium to HighLow to MediumDemographic targettingGeneralSpecificROI (after costs)Slow - Medium to HighFast - Medium
In A Nutshell
If you want to get your business on the first page of Google, let our team at Anchor Digital transform and future-proof your business. We offer in-house writing talent to keep your organic traffic ahead of the competition and offer a full-service digital agency. Let us take your business to the top position on Google rankings with our meticulous keyword research, link building and content, and create the best SEM strategy for your business.
For more information on how we can take you to the top of Google searches, don’t hesitate to drop us a line!
