Everyone has heard of these terms but to a website or business owner, the success of his venture depends on how well he or she understands the difference between them. Let me give you a clue. They are both related to advertising in one way or the other. Once you read this article, you will know how to go about using each method of advertising in the most effective manner possible.
Search Engine Optimization:
As the name suggests, Search Engine Optimization is the process by which your web page is optimized to appear in the first few results of Google’s search page also known as SERP (Search Engine Results Page). This is not as simple as it sounds unfortunately. To get your page onto the first page you must actively promote your site using legitimate and natural means by which the site gets more visitors, reciprocal links, backlinks and ultimately high quality traffic. Google will promote your site to a high position in the search engine rankings only if you have gained your reputation through thoroughly natural means and this a includes a wide variety of white hat methods as mentioned above.
So why does a high rank in Search Engine Results matter?
The answer to this question is quite simple. It matters because if your site appears in the first few results for any particular search phrase you have decided to optimize it for, then your potential visitors who search for the same phrase will most probably click on the first few results displayed in the search page and would ignore lower ranking ones just as you would. Hence, a lot of value is attached to being as high as possible on rankings as this is the best source for high quality targeted traffic which would bring profits to your website or service you offer.
However, it must be said that it is very difficult to get a top ranking for an already established keyword as the competition for such a keyword is intense and one cannot expect much improvement in this regard. Much depends on the choice of keywords the webmasters use for optimizing the site.
Google AdWords:
This technique of gaining visibility on the internet has long been the staple of millions of website owners who want a share of the popularity Google affords them. This is how it works. When you start a blog, website or forum which has substantial original content and abides by the rules of Google’s TOS (Terms of Service) you can advertise your website to gain more visitors and benefit from this exposure. The Ad words campaign allows website owners to choose certain keywords that are most relevant to their websites and depending on the competition for this keyword a price is fixed by Google for each click a visitor makes on the ad. This price is known as the Click through rate (CTR) for the ad and can range from a few cents to even dollars for competitive niches.
Google associates every keyword with a bunch of slots, each of which is auctioned away at a bidding price to the customer. The cost of buying a slot depends on factors like the location of the ad, the quality of the landing page, the competitive nature of the niche among other factors. The cost of buying a slot and the CTR will determine the total cost an advertiser needs to spend to use AdWords.
Thus it can be seen that by using Google AdWords one can bring dedicated and targeted traffic to one’s site in a direct manner whereas when SEO techniques are used to increase a site’s popularity, natural traffic arrives at the site. It is hence important that webmasters should use both these tools in a healthy manner to gain the maximum advantage from the high quality traffic they bring.
