When you start a new website and want to get traffic, you need to compare these two options, paid vs. organic traffic. Each type of traffic has pros and cons that you can read below. So, the best choice for you depends on the strategy and the path you want to follow.
Organic Traffic vs. Paid Traffic: What Is The Difference?
When internet marketers talk about paid traffic, they mean traffic that they can get from paid ads. You can put these ads on search engines, social media, and other websites. The most common type of advertising is pay-per-click (PPC) advertising. When you place PPC ads, you pay a small amount of money for each click that you get.
Organic traffic is the type of traffic that you get from the organic results of search engines. If your site gets ranked on the first page of Google under a specific keyword, many people will visit your site. Organic traffic is free, but Google ranks the best websites or web pages for each keyword. So, you have to compete with other great websites. Below you can read the pros and cons of each type of traffic:
Pros Of Paid Traffic
1. Fast Results
Most people who love paid traffic want to get quick results. It does not mean that there is no process or skills you need to learn. However, everyone can create a Google Ads account and create an advertising campaign. So, the first benefit is the quick entry into the biggest advertising program in the world.
The first results will come soon. In the next few days, you will start getting views and clicks on your ads. These clicks are people who visit your website.
2. Multiple Platforms
You don’t have to limit yourself to Google Ads, even if it is the biggest advertising program. It is ok to get traffic from multiple platforms. While it is not suggested for a beginner, many marketers who focus on paid traffic put their ads in different places.
For other PPC alternatives, you can consider Bing Ads or Facebook Ads. While social media ads follow a different process, you can still pay for clicks. Facebook Ads allows you to advertise both on Facebook and Instagram. Today most social media platforms and search engines have an advertising program.
3. Test and Improve
When you create an advertising campaign, you can get feedback right away. Most programs show metrics that you can use to understand the performance of your ads. So, you optimize your campaign and get traffic at a specific price.
You can improve the results by testing your ads. You can test different headlines, calls to action, landing pages, and offers. There is no limit on how many tests and improvements you can make. Often times, this is referred to as split testing or A/B testing.
Cons Of Paid Traffic
1. Paid Traffic Costs Money
Some people avoid paid traffic because they don’t want to spend money. If you do all the wrong things, your costs can add up quickly. Also, the keywords that convert have a lot of competition, so they are expensive. Just because someone clicks, it does not mean that they are making a purchase or scheduling a call.
2. People Trust Organic Results
You can find the best post on a topic when you visit the first websites of the organic results. So, most people tend to trust these results instead of your ads. It does not mean that you can’t get results, but your audience may prefer these organic listings.
Pros Of Organic Traffic
1. Organic Traffic Is Free
When people think of organic traffic, they believe that the first page of Google is a goldmine they can get for free. In many cases, it can bring a lot of traffic and revenue. When you get traffic, you can earn money with ads, sell products, sell services, add affiliate links, etc.
At the same time, organic traffic is free. It means that you don’t pay for the clicks on the search result page. However, getting ranked on the first page of Google may require an investment on your part while you build your website and your content.
2. Organic Results Get More Clicks
While there is a bidding war for the paid listings of Google, organic traffic gets 90% of the total traffic. It is an obvious sign that people prefer and trust organic results. The process of optimizing your site for Google is called SEO. Today most websites base their strategy on SEO for their traffic. While it is not their only source of traffic, SEO is their primary source of traffic.
3. Organic Traffic Is A Long-Term Strategy
When you start getting organic traffic, you can expect to keep that source of traffic for a long time. Usually, you get ranked for various keywords, and your rankings will not change unless you change something on your page. It is possible to get traffic for years from any targeted keywords.
Your competitors may try to get these keywords. Also, your content can get outdated after months or years. In both cases, you can make updates to reclaim your position. Lastly, Google and other search engines favor the old websites compared to the new and untested ones.
4. You Can Win The Competition
First, you need to have a website that is in the first position for any branded keywords like the name of your website or business. If you fail to be in the first position for branded terms, a competitor will steal your traffic.
Next, you can outrank competitors for niche keywords. This traffic includes potential customers for any business. Each sale that you make is a win against your competitors. Lastly, most people trust the websites that they can find through Google. So, they assume that you are a trustworthy source of information.
5. Stay Up-To-Date
Google makes sure that the website on the organic results has quality content and can provide a great user experience. If you want to be the best in these two components, you need to stay up-to-date and relevant.
First, your content needs to include the latest information. It’s unlikely to get organic traffic with outdated content and information that used to work a few years ago.
Second, a great user experience means that you have a fast website with a nice design. So, you need to update the technical parts of your site regularly. In both cases, you will always be up-to-date when you focus on organic traffic.
6. Organic Traffic Impacts The Buying Cycle
Whether you run an agency, an online store, or an affiliate marketing campaign, you want to make sales. Usually, organic traffic includes customers that are in the early stages of the buying cycle.
When people need information, they search on Google. They will visit your site to learn more but are not ready to buy yet. They want to solve a problem, so you can give them a solution to their problem that is your product or a free guide in exchange for an email address.
7. Discover New Opportunities
If you get organic traffic and track the keywords that bring you this traffic, you will discover new opportunities. Many times content gets ranked for keywords that you did not expect. Usually, it means that you have discovered a new audience for your website and a new source of income.
You can track the keywords that get traffic from Google Search Console. It gives detailed metrics about each part of your site. Another free tool you should use is Google Analytics.
Cons Of Organic Traffic
1. It Takes Time
If you read only the benefits of organic traffic, you would expect that everyone should focus on SEO. The truth is that many people are scared of organic traffic and SEO because it takes time and the right skillset.
If we assume that you do everything right, it can take from a few months to a year to get to the top of the search engine. Keywords have varying difficulties. It is a very slow process because Google does not trust new websites. However, if you don’t quit in the first year, things are easier later.
2. No Guaranteed Results
If you start with paid traffic, you will pay for each click on your website. You need to set up your ads correctly and then sit back to see how many clicks you will get in your budget. However, no one guarantees that you will get results from your SEO strategy. Google will find and rank the best websites on each keyword, but many websites don’t get traffic at all.
3. No Full Control
If you create good content and promote your website, you will not have any problems with Google. However, many websites that followed spam and black hat SEO methods in the past got banned by Google. Also, Google often changes the algorithms that affect the rankings of every website. These are reminders that we can’t control organic traffic.
Paid and organic traffic are two completely different methods to drive traffic. Paid traffic is faster and easier to control, but it can cost a lot of money when you make major mistakes. Organic traffic is free and can provide you tons of traffic. But it will test your patience.
