The Ultimate Guide to Organic vs Paid Traffic
One of the largest considerations for any new business is how they intend to attract potential customers to their website. After all, without an audience, your business will never be able to succeed.
But what’s the difference between paid vs. organic traffic? Is one better? And should you prioritize one over the other?
What We Mean When We Talk About Traffic
No, we’re not talking about the annoying cars that block your path on the highway. We’re talking about the visitors who come to your website and see what you have to offer. Traffic can be broken down into two basic categories: organic and paid. Organic traffic is when people find your site through search engines like Google, Bing, or Yahoo. Paid traffic is when you pay for someone else’s audience (like through an ad on Facebook) to visit your site instead of theirs.
Maintaining a steady stream of traffic to your website is vital to sustain a thriving business (traffic is potential customers after all). The more traffic you have, the more people will see your content, hear about your products and services, and become familiar with your brand. And the easier it is to attract even more traffic (and conversions!) in the future.
What Is the Main Difference Between Paid Traffic and Organic Traffic?
Organic traffic refers to the number of visitors who come to a website through unpaid search results, such as through Google or another search engine. This type of traffic is generated by the website’s content, keywords, and other on-page optimization strategies like backlinks.
Paid traffic, on the other hand, is generated through paid marketing campaigns, such as Google Ads or social media advertising, where businesses pay for ad space on various platforms. Quite simply, the key differences between organic and paid traffic campaigns is simply that you pay for one and not the other.
Organic Traffic: An Overview
So we know that the main difference between paid and organic traffic lies within how you acquire your website ’views, but what are the more nitty gritty differences between the two? Let’s start with a deep dive into organic traffic.
Organic Traffic and Search Engine Optimization
Organic traffic and search engine optimization (SEO) go together like two peas in a pod. If you have an SEO strategy in place, you’re much more likely to see an increase in organic traffic. When people search for certain keywords on Google, Bing, and other engines, they’ll end up clicking on your website if it shows up on the first page of the search engine results. But how do you make sure your site appears at the top of those search engine results pages (SERPs)? That’s where SEO comes in.
SEO involves a lot of different steps, including keyword research, content creation that’s optimized for search engines, link-building, and more. And while all of this can be headache-inducing at times, the results are more than worth it. SEO is one of the most effective ways to increase organic traffic to your website.
Looking to tap into the power of SEO but don’t have hours to spend on research and implementation. BitterRoot can help create content that’s in line with your SEO strategy with remunerative results.
What Types of Content Are Best for Organic Traffic?
’If you want to improve organic search traffic, you need to prioritize a digital marketing strategy that implements quality content with SEO. Types of content that have been found to improve organic traffic include:
Informative Blog Posts
Blog posts that provide valuable information, answer common questions, and offer practical tips and advice are one of the largest drivers of organic traffic. Companies that maintain blogs receive 55 percent more organic traffic and 97 percent more backlinks than companies that do not.
Engaging Infographics
By presenting complex topics neatly into bite-sized images, you can quickly get the attention of visually-focused users. Share your infographics on social media platforms like Pinterest, and receive improved engagement (up to 80 percent!) in addition to traffic.
Educational Videos
Videos are highly engaging and can drive traffic. Create educational videos that address topics of interest to your audience. Share them on your website and across various video-sharing platforms like YouTube to generate paid traffic to your website.
Comprehensive Guides and E-Books
In-depth guides and e-books provide need-to-know knowledge to your audience. Offer them as downloadable resources on your website in exchange for visitors’ email addresses, which can help build your subscriber list.
Case Studies and Success Stories
Showcase the success of your products or services through case studies and success stories. These compelling narratives can attract traffic and potential customers.
Interactive Content
Include interactive elements like quizzes, surveys, assessments, and calculators on your website. They enhance user engagement and encourage sharing, driving organic traffic.
Pros of Organic Traffic
Organic search is an extremely effective tactic for getting your website in front of potential customers. And when you prioritize your organic search strategy, you can also expect to receive any of the following benefits.
Long-term traffic
In the long run, organic search is a great way to get traffic to your website. Because you’ll be ranking higher in Google’s search results, you’ll see an increase in traffic over time. What’s more, this traffic will also be sustainable.
Your rankings will improve
Another benefit of organic search is that it can help improve your website’s rankings in Google. This means you’ll see a boost in traffic as well as improved visibility and brand recognition.
Stronger credibility and trust
The more people you can engage with your content and the more positive experiences they have with it, the stronger your credibility and trust will be. This means that you’ll attract a loyal audience that is interested in your business and its products or services.
Improved ROI
Finally, organic search can help improve your ROI. You’ll be able to generate more leads and sales for your business by attracting more customers through search results.
Cons of Prioritizing Organic Traffic
While prioritizing organic search can have many benefits, there are also some potential downsides to consider.
Slower results
Organic search is a long-term strategy, and it may take months or even years for a website to rank highly in searches.
Changes to search algorithms
Search engines frequently update their algorithms, and a change in the algorithm can affect a website’s rankings. This can require revising the optimization strategy.
Dependence on search
Prioritizing organic search can create a reliance on search for website traffic. Changes in search engine performance can affect website traffic and may hurt revenue growth.
Paid Traffic: An Overview
Now that we’ve discussed organic search, let’s go over paid traffic and how paid search traffic can help you expand your reach and develop an audience.
What Are the Different Types of Paid Traffic Sources?
We know that paid traffic differs from organic traffic in that you have to pay for the audience. But what are you actually paying for and how do you do it?
Social Media Ads
Social media platforms allow businesses to connect with their target audience by placing ads on their pages. You can choose the specific demographic of your audience, so you know the ads will be targeted to people who would probably be interested in your product or service. This is one of the most effective ways to reach your audience, because it’s a quick and easy way to connect with them. You can build relationships and establish credibility through social media ads by sharing useful content that your customers want to see. And if you’re offering a discount or special offer, use this platform to promote it!
Paid Ad Campaigns
Paid ad campaigns are a way to hack the Google search page to allow your business to come out on top. Let’s take Google ads as an example: They allow you to target specific keywords and phrases, which increase your chances of showing up on page one of the SERPs. You can also set a daily budget for your ads, which means they can be adjusted as needed or turned off completely if they aren’t driving results. You can even choose where your ads appear (website vs. mobile). With paid ads, you are charged every time someone clicks on your ad and is taken to your website. That’s why it is also called pay per click (PPC) advertising.
Banner Ads
Banner ads are a form of display advertising that is usually found at the top or side of web pages. They can serve as an introduction to your website, or they can simply be used to drive traffic back to your site. Banner ads are typically small, easy-to-read images that contain text and an email address where interested parties can sign up for additional information.
Paid Traffic and SEO Efforts
SEO plays a crucial role in paid search. The goal of paid search is to gain immediate visibility and attract potential customers by placing ads on search engines. However, the performance of these ads largely depends on several factors that influence the Quality Score of an ad, which SEO can help improve.
SEO improves the quality and relevance of content on a website, making it optimized for search. Paid search ads that link to a website with optimized content tend to have higher clickthrough rates and conversions, which improves the Quality Score.SEO improves the quality and relevance of content on a website, making it optimized for search. Paid search ads that link to a website with optimized content tend to have higher clickthrough rates and conversions, which improves the Quality Score. And because Google likes to reward PPC ads that are relevant to the needs of the customer, they will lower the cost-per-click of the ad as a reward to your high Quality Score.
Pros of Paid Traffic
While it can get expensive, paying for traffic sources has its benefits.
Immediate Results
Prioritizing paid traffic can give businesses quick results. Unlike organic traffic, which takes time to build, paid traffic can be generated almost instantly by running paid campaigns.
Targeted Reach
Paid traffic allows businesses to target specific demographics, interests, and behaviors of their ideal audience. This enables better precision and increases the chances of reaching the right customers.
Competitive Advantage
By investing in paid traffic, businesses have the opportunity to outperform competitors who rely solely on organic traffic. This can help gain an edge in the market and achieve a higher market share.
Cons of Paid Traffic
Of course, just like there are concrete benefits to paid search, there are naturally cons.
Paid traffic sources can get expensive
High value keywords don’t come cheap and the cost of being number one in the search can rise exponentially. If you’re not careful, it can be easy to blow through your marketing budget.
Limited real estate
Because paid advertising is a very popular way to attract an audience, top spots can be hard to come by. As a result, you may find that your messaging gets lost in the shuffle.
Organic vs. Paid Traffic: Which Is Better for Your Business?
At the end of the day, organic traffic is still the most valuable traffic you can generate. It’s free, it builds trust with your audience, and if done right, it will continue to bring in leads for years to come.
However, paid traffic can be a powerful tool for growing your business quickly when used correctly. When it comes down to which one you should use more often—paid or organic traffic—it depends on your goals and current situation. You should consider how much money and time you have available, how fast you want to grow your business, and which one will help you reach your goals faster. In a rush and flush with cash? Paid ads are perfect for you.
As always, it’s important to consider how paid and organic search efforts can work in tandem with each other. When combined, paid search can provide a boost in short-term growth to draw an initial audience that is maintained and then grown with your organic content marketing efforts.
Let BitterRoot Content Develop a Marketing Strategy that Utilizes Paid and Organic Traffic
Looking to link paid search and organic content marketing? BitterRoot Content can help! We have a team of writers who can create content that will help you get more clicks and conversions. We’ll also work with you on SEO and social media strategies to increase your website traffic.