If you own a local wellness business, such as a spa, yoga studio, or health clinic, you probably considered investing in SEO and/or Google ads. Both can help you drive traffic and leads to your website, but which one is better for your business?
Let’s Compare Cost
One of the main differences between SEO and ads is the cost. SEO is a long-term strategy that requires consistent effort and investment, but it can also generate free, organic traffic for your website. Ads, however, are a short-term strategy that usually requires you to pay for every click.
According to LocalIQ/Wordstream, the average cost per click (CPC) for smaller local businesses in 2022 was $2.96 (note that CPC rates can vary widely depending on the industry and location of the business). This means that if you want to get 1000 visitors to your website through ads, you would have to pay $2960. On the other hand, if you rank well on search engines through SEO, you can get 1000 visitors for free.
Of course, SEO is not completely free either. You might have to pay for tools, services, or professionals to help you optimize your website and content. However, the cost of SEO is usually lower than the cost of ads in the long run. According to ZipZipe, the average cost of SEO services ranges from $750 to $2000 per month. This means that if you invest in SEO for a year, you would spend $9000 to $24000, which is still less than what you would pay for ads.
Let’s Compare Results
Another difference between SEO and ads is the results they produce. SEO is a slow and steady process that can take weeks or months to see significant improvements in your rankings and traffic. Ads, however, can deliver instant results as soon as you launch your campaign.
However, the results of ads are also temporary and depend on your budget and competition. As soon as you stop paying for ads, your traffic will drop and your competitors will take over your spot. SEO, on the other hand, can provide lasting results that can compound over time. Once you rank well on search engines through SEO, you can maintain your position and enjoy consistent traffic without paying anything extra.
Let’s Compare Benefits
Finally, let’s look at the benefits of SEO and ads for your business. Both SEO and ads can help you increase your online visibility and generate leads and sales for your business. However, SEO has some unique advantages over ads that make it more valuable and effective.
Some of the benefits of SEO are:
- Higher credibility and trust: Users tend to trust organic results more than paid results because they perceive them as more relevant and authoritative.
- Better user experience: SEO involves optimizing your website and content not only for search engines but also for users. By improving factors like site speed, mobile-friendliness, navigation, readability, and usability, you can enhance the user experience and increase engagement and conversions.
- More targeted traffic: SEO allows you to target specific keywords and phrases that match the intent and needs of your ideal customers. By creating content that answers their questions and solves their problems, you can attract more qualified and interested traffic to your website.
- Higher return on investment (ROI): SEO can provide a higher ROI than ads because it generates more traffic, leads, and sales at a lower cost.
What About SEO & Ads At The Same Time
If you just built a new website or you just recently began working on SEO for a certain keyword it can take several months to start ranking, especially if you are in a highly competitive market. In this situation running ads will get you traffic right away and will allow you to get Google to learn how users are engaging with your website. This has the additional benefit of improving your SEO because successful user experience is a key metric that Google looks for when ranking your website. By having paid users browse your site clicking around and booking your services, Google will have more confidence that your website offers a valuable experience for organic traffic as well.
