Should you use both SEO and Google Ads for your Small Business?
In the current economic climate small businesses need to make their online marketing budget work hard to find new customers. Often SEO or Google Ads are the main marketing tools used by small business.
As a result, we are often asked ‘Which is best for my small business – Google Ads or SEO?’ However, the better question is ‘Should I be using both SEO and Google Ads for my small business?’
1. What the answer is dependent on
The answer to whether you should be using both Google Ads and SEO for your small business is dependent on a number of factors:
- the size of your online marketing budget
- how quickly you want results
- how competitive is your industry
A great place to start is to highlight the differences between Google Ads and SEO.
2. Google Ads
Using Google Ads is the quickest way to get people to visit your website. However, Google Ads can be expensive as every time someone clicks onto your website, Google charges you. If your campaign is not managed well, costs can blow out in a short space of time.
Also, if your website is difficult to navigate, slow to load or looks out of date, you may get lots of traffic to your website that doesn’t convert to sales. Meaning you are not getting a return on your online marketing spend.
3. SEO
The goal of Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is to get your small business to rank on page one of Google search results. This ultimately leads to a visit to your website and then a conversion. To effectively use SEO you need patience, especially if you are in a competitive industry. This is because many of your competitors will be using similar strategies and if they have been doing SEO for a while, they will have an edge over you.
That’s why it can take months for strategies to work. You need to be committed to the long term and not pull out after a few months – as this will only waste money.
4. Why we recommend Combined SEO and Google Ads Campaigns
We always recommend SEO as a long-term strategy, as it is the most cost-effective way to get people to your website. There is usually a higher conversion rate when people find your business via SEO rather than Google Ads.
However, it can take some time for SEO to start generating results, therefore a lot of small businesses can’t rely on it alone.
That’s why we recommend that you run a Google Ads campaign alongside your SEO campaign. As your SEO position starts to improve, you can gradually decrease the amount you spend on Google Ads, until you are generating enough sales from SEO that you can stop Google Ads altogether.
Dynamic Websites specialise in small business web design. We are based in the Melbourne suburb of Hawthorn and provide services throughout Australia. We understand what it takes to get a small business online at an affordable price and with the minimum of fuss. Along with designing websites for small business, tradies and NDIS service providers we provide online marketing services. Our online marketing for small business extends to Google Ads, Google My Business, Microsoft Advertising, search engine optimisation (SEO), content writing and, blog writing.
