What are actually the differences between search engine optimisation (SEO) and search engine advertising (SEA)? The simple answer to this is that SEO gives unpaid traffic towards the website and Google Ads is paid traffic. But then why pay for ads? You can use SEO for free move up in Google. Partly true, it depends on how you define 'free'. Indeed, search engine optimisation does involve an intensive, lengthy and time-consuming process if you want to actually appear at the top of Google's search results. What is SEO and SEA meaning exactly? What should you choose? And what if I combine SEA and SEO?
What is SEA?
With SEA, your relevant search term is directly at the top of Google's search results. SEA means Search Engine Advertising and is therefore translated as search engine advertising. Because in the Netherlands and Belgium we mostly use Google as our search engine, we also speak of advertise on Google or Google Ads. It is a paid, but also quick and very efficient way to generate more targeted traffic towards your website.
What is SEO?
SEO is an abbreviation and stands for the English term Search Engine Optimization. So in Dutch, we also call it search engine optimisation. Actually, formally incorrect, because we do not optimise the search engine. With SEO, we optimise specific web pages in terms of content, technique and authority so that they rank high in Google's search results. So search engine optimisation is about 3 pillars that require a lot of specialised attention if you really want to score with it.
Difference between SEO and SEA
These are the biggest differences between SEO and SEA:
- SEA is paid traffic and SEO is not.
- With SEA, you get immediate results, where SEO takes a lot longer to rank high.
- SEA ads can be set up specifically, where with SEO you need to optimise pages neatly.
- With SEA, you get a good overview of the ROI (Return On Investment), where SEO is a more general investment.
Benefits SEA
- You know the frequency with which people are interested in your service or product
- Search engine capabilities and refinements are on the rise
- Full control over the cost of an ad campaign.
- You choose your goals and pay only when the desired result is achieved.
- Always detailed visibility on the performance of your ad campaigns.
Benefits SEO
- Free clicks
- No advertising budget required
- With SEO you can rank higher in google
- Ensures lower advertising costs in Google Ads
- Visible in all search engines
- Free local visibility
The difference between SEO and SEA outweighs the benefits of combining them
So with SEA, you advertise on keywords relevant to you and generate traffic to your website in a short period of time. To do this, you set an advertising budget. The trick is then to get as much relevant traffic as possible from your campaigns, at the lowest possible cost. Google Ads works through a kind of auction. Every time someone performs a search in the search engine, an auction is started, so to speak. During this auction, Google's algorithm looks at a number of factors that determine which ad will appear at the top. Largely depending on your bidding strategy, but also on your quality score.
What does the quality score mean?
The quality score is a number between one and ten. It is the score GOogle assigns to each keyword within your Google Ads ad account. A high quality score lowers the cost per click (CPC) and improves the position of your ads in Google. In particular, the quality score is calculated on the relevance and quality of your webpage in relation to the keyword.
A higher quality score through SEO
With a high quality score, Google rewards the advertiser who has a relevant ad and well-connected webpage (landing page). After all, Google's mission is to give search engine users the most relevant and qualitative answers to their queries. And so that's where SEO comes in again. Because by optimising both your content, technique and authority, you thus improve the relevance and quality of your web pages. In short, by applying SEO professionally, you will mainly benefit from the lower costs and also higher position of your SEA ads.
Experiencing the benefits of SEO and SEA yourself?
Alona marketing has both experienced SEA specialists and SEO specialists in-house who know how to put together the perfect marketing strategy for your business. Also take a look at our SEO packages and SEA packages. Do you really want to score with your company, services and products? On content and quality? Take contact up and inquire with one of our marketers and discuss the most relevant opportunities for you!
