![\"Understanding](\"https:\/\/trafficradius.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/Should-I-use-SEO-Facebook-ads-or-Google-for-my-small-business-2-1.jpg\")
<\/p>\nSmall business owners today have a myriad of marketing options. It\u2019s really difficult to know which to choose. Among the most commonly used \u2013 and the most impactful \u2013 are (search engine optimisation), SEO, Facebook ads or Google ads.<\/p>\n
But how can you choose? Will SEO will be more effective than Facebook ads? Or Google ads? Or are ads better because they\u2019re more targeted? It\u2019s tempting to believe that SEO = free and therefore the best choice, but doing SEO well without the help of a marketing agency is difficult. At least if you have ambitious growth plans.<\/p>\n
Each of these strategies has its own benefits and drawbacks, and it\u2019s crucial to understand them before deciding where to invest your hard-earned marketing budget. There\u2019s no one-size-fits all answer, so real understanding is important.<\/p>\n
This article provides a comprehensive comparison of each of these three tools. And how they can boost your online visibility and your revenue \u2013 whether you\u2019re new in business, or well-established.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Ideally, SEO should be a vital part of pretty much any digital marketing strategy. It aims to improve your website’s visibility in organic search results, so when people look for businesses like yours on Google, they find you, not your competitors.<\/p>\n
By optimising your site with relevant keywords, creating high-quality blogs and page copy, and making sure your site is quick to load and easy to use, you can significantly improve your position in search results.<\/p>\n
For small businesses, SEO can provide an opportunity to compete with bigger players on level terms. Once your site ranks high in search results, it can maintain its position over time, providing consistent visibility, even over larger competitors. Secondly, it helps build credibility. Websites that appear on the first page of Google are often perceived as more trustworthy by users, so they\u2019re more likely to choose you. And it’s cost-effective. Unlike paid advertising, organic SEO does not require you to pay for clicks, making it a sustainable strategy for small businesses with tight budgets.<\/p>\n
But SEO isn’t without its drawbacks. It often requires a significant investment of time and effort before you see results. If you choose to do your own SEO, rather than using an agency<\/a>, you might find that the amount of work involved quickly becomes unsustainable.<\/p>\n And SEO is an ongoing process. Google\u2019s algorithms constantly evolve, which means you need to keep on top of what\u2019s happening, and make regular adjustments to your strategy. Without professional guidance, it can be challenging to navigate all this as a small business.<\/p>\n Google As is a powerful online advertising platform that can allow you to come top of the search results, even if your SEO isn\u2019t working yet. Any time you search for something online, the first few results you\u2019ll see will be ads \u2013 and there\u2019s a good chance you\u2019ll click on those first.<\/p>\n Google Ads can deliver immediate results. Unlike SEO, where you need time and effort to build up to good organic rankings, paying for Google Ads means you can put your business at the top of search results instantly. For this reason, we often run Google Ads with our clients at Traffic Radius<\/a> when they first start working with us \u2013 so they see fast results while we get their SEO performance up.<\/p>\n Then there\u2019s Google Ads\u2019 ability to provide precise targeting options. This means you can reach your potential customers based on location, demographics, and even their previous search behaviour. So if you know that your customers often search for a particular competitor before they find you, you can run ads to target those people.<\/p>\n Another benefit is that you get measurable results, with comprehensive analytics that make it really easy to track the effectiveness of your campaigns and tweak them if needed.<\/p>\n The biggest drawback of Google Ads is the potential cost. You\u2019ll pay every time someone clicks on your ad, even if they don\u2019t buy. This can quickly drain your budget if your ads aren\u2019t bringing in the right people. And though it seems like a quick option, setting up and optimising campaigns does require expertise<\/a> and can be time-consuming.<\/p>\n Facebook Ads is \u2013 of course \u2013 Facebook\u2019s own advertising platform. It allows businesses to display ads to a specific audience based on demographics, interests, and behaviours, providing a unique opportunity for you to reach your perfect potential customers with highly personalised content.<\/p>\n The biggest strength of Facebook Ads is its vast user base and the depth of its user data. If you\u2019re a Facebook user yourself, you\u2019ll no doubt have seen ads that are so well targeted at you that they feel spooky. You\u2019ve probably seen ads that are targeted at you based on websites you\u2019ve read, for example. And Facebook\u2019s detailed analytics means businesses can easily monitor and adjust campaigns to keep making them even more relevant and targeted.<\/p>\n But Facebook Ads can be complex to navigate. Setting up and optimising campaigns requires a certain level of expertise to do it well. Many small businesses get it wrong \u2013 as you may well have seen when you\u2019ve been shown ads on Facebook that have nothing to do with your interests.<\/p>\n Getting it wrong can be very costly. Many small businesses have lost money trying to run their own Facebook ads. We\u2019ve worked with many clients who\u2019ve been burned trying to DIY before they come to us<\/a>.<\/p>\n SEO, Google Ads, and Facebook Ads each offer their own benefits \u2013 but none of them is a perfect marketing solution.<\/p>\n In terms of cost-effectiveness for small businesses, many assume SEO is the winner. But this isn\u2019t necessarily the case.<\/p>\n SEO is a long-term investment and not a quick fix. It could give you substantial returns if it\u2019s successful in improving your website\u2019s organic search visibility. But succeeding can be hard for many, and much depends on the complexity of your website and competition in your industry. Most businesses will find that they need to invest in support from a marketing agency to make SEO work for them, which means there are upfront costs.<\/p>\n However, it can lead to high ROI as organic traffic is usually more qualified than paid traffic, which leads to higher conversion rates on average.<\/p>\n Google Ads operates on a pay-per-click model, with costs averaging $2.69<\/a> per click. This can add up quickly, but the immediate visibility and precise targeting can make it worth the investment for many businesses.<\/p>\n Facebook Ads typically offer a lower average cost per click ($1.72) and an average cost per action (e.g \u2013 a purchase or a sign up to your email list) of $18<\/a>. The platform\u2019s extensive user base and advanced targeting capabilities can result in strong ROI, particularly for B2C businesses. If you\u2019re a B2B business, you might find that Facebook is less valuable for you \u2013 unless your main audience is freelancers or micro businesses.<\/p>\n It can be easy to reach lots of people if you have a big marketing budget, but that doesn\u2019t always mean that they\u2019re engaged. And if they\u2019re not engaged, they naturally won\u2019t buy from you.<\/p>\n Because SEO focuses on improving your website’s visibility in organic search results, it tends to lead to high engagement relative to ads. It works on the basis of the things people naturally search for and are interested in, so you\u2019d expect high levels of engagement. Plus, people tend to trust organic results over paid ads.<\/p>\n SEO reach is also usually very good, because the majority of online experiences begin with a search engine. Think about how many times you use Google each day\u2026<\/p>\n Facebook has 2.8 billion active users, which means you\u2019ll get potentially huge reach if you use Facebook Ads. While most of those users won\u2019t be your customers, the fact that you can use the platform’s excellent targeting capabilities to choose who sees your ads means engagement can be high. But if you don\u2019t know how to use targeting properly, you\u2019re likely to see much lower engagement.<\/p>\n Google Ads gives you access to the best of both Facebook and SEO in some ways. You get access to billions of users \u2013 and there are 3.5 billion searches made every day on Google. A pay-per-click ad on Google can drive high engagement, as it will appear at the exact moment when someone is actively searching for your products or services. On top of that, you get strong targeting \u2013 not quite to the same degree as Facebook, but enough that you can reach ideal customers relatively easily.<\/p>\n Reach and engagement are important \u2013 but the metric most small businesses really care about is conversion rate<\/a>.<\/p>\n SEO isn\u2019t designed to lead directly to a conversion in the way that ads are. But it does significantly impact conversions by improving your organic visibility. Higher search rankings result in increased website traffic, and as long as your site is optimised for conversion, that traffic means more customers and revenue.<\/p>\n Facebook Ads has an average conversion rate of 9.21% across all industries \u2013 though of course, it might be higher or lower for your industry. Bear in mind though, that a conversion isn\u2019t necessarily a purchase \u2013 it might mean someone signing up for your email list. Which means you\u2019ll still have some work to do to see a return on your investment.<\/p>\n Google Ads has an average conversion rate of 4.40% . While this is lower than Facebook, it\u2019s worth remembering that people who see your Google ad are actively searching for businesses like yours. Which means you may get higher-quality leads.<\/p>\n The biggest issue with hiring an agency can be budget. You might be unsure whether you can afford an agency, and be worried that you\u2019ll end up paying more than you get back in revenue.<\/p>\n But if you choose the right agency, the long-term return on your investment can be substantial. A good agency will have the expertise to optimise your marketing spend across each of these 3 channels, so you\u2019re using the right one at the right time. They\u2019ll also usually have advanced tools and technologies that can optimise your ads or website that may be too expensive for you to buy yourself.<\/p>\n Then there\u2019s the fact that understanding and reaching your target audience is a complex task. Agencies bring to the table extensive experience in market research and audience segmentation. They can accurately identify your ideal customers, understand their online behaviours, and devise strategies to reach them effectively. They\u2019ll know how to balance your use of SEO, Google Ads, and Facebook Ads to get the best possible results.<\/p>\n And every industry has its unique characteristics and challenges. A marketing agency with experience in your sector might have worked with businesses just like yours before. And will know exactly how to achieve success.<\/p>\n Importantly, they\u2019ll be able to tell you whether Google Ads<\/a>, Facebook or SEO is best for you \u2013 or whether you should be looking to combine all three.<\/p>\n To summarise:<\/p>\n It\u2019s impossible to say whether you should use Google Ads, Facebook or SEO. Most businesses could benefit from using at least two, and often all three of these tools.<\/p>\n Which is right for you will depend on:<\/p>\n To get a free personalised assessment of which one you should use, and a guide to costs, get in touch with us today<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Small business owners today have a myriad of marketing options. It\u2019s really difficult to know which to choose. Among the most commonly used \u2013 and the most impactful \u2013 are (search engine optimisation), SEO, Facebook ads or Google ads. But how can you choose? Will SEO will be more effective than Facebook ads? Or Google… Continue reading Should I use SEO, Facebook ads or Google ads for my small business?<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":17749,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,30],"tags":[185,181,179,180,184,182,178,183],"class_list":["post-14862","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-digital-marketing","category-marketing","tag-best-online-platform-for-business","tag-digital-marketing-strategy","tag-facebook-ads-small-business","tag-google-ads-for-small-business","tag-google-vs-seo-for-business","tag-online-advertising-small-business","tag-seo-for-small-business","tag-seo-vs-facebook-ads","entry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/trdemo.com.au\/demo-traffic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14862"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/trdemo.com.au\/demo-traffic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/trdemo.com.au\/demo-traffic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trdemo.com.au\/demo-traffic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trdemo.com.au\/demo-traffic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14862"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/trdemo.com.au\/demo-traffic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14862\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18117,"href":"https:\/\/trdemo.com.au\/demo-traffic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14862\/revisions\/18117"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trdemo.com.au\/demo-traffic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17749"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/trdemo.com.au\/demo-traffic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14862"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trdemo.com.au\/demo-traffic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14862"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trdemo.com.au\/demo-traffic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14862"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Understanding Google ads<\/h2>\n
Understanding Facebook Ads<\/h2>\n
![\"Understanding](\"https:\/\/trafficradius.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/Should-I-use-SEO-Facebook-ads-or-Google-for-my-small-business-3.jpg\")
<\/p>\nComparing SEO, Google Ads, and Facebook Ads<\/h2>\n
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Cost effectiveness<\/h2>\n
Reach and engagement<\/h2>\n
Conversion rates<\/h2>\n
![\"Conversion](\"https:\/\/trafficradius.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/Should-I-use-SEO-Facebook-ads-or-Google-for-my-small-business-4.jpg\")
<\/p>\nShould you hire an agency to help with SEO, Google Ads or Facebook Ads?<\/h2>\n
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