Business owners and companies often look to Google as a source of new customers and sales. Google is used by everyone to find answers to every question, and solutions to every problem, and it’s one of the primary ways prospective clients search for products and services they’re interested in purchasing.

It’s therefore easy to recognise the value of a website ranking on the first page of Google for a product or service related keywords.

Such a ranking can help drive sales, generate new customers, and help propel the growth of a business.

But what does it take to take to get a first page ranking in Google? What’s the best method for achieving this?

How to Rank on the First Page of Google – The Options

Within the SERPs (search engine results pages) there are two main categories of results:

1. Paid ads
2. Organic site listings

For the majority of web users, there is little or no distinction between these two types of listings. However these two types of listings are very different.

Although they ultimately achieve the same goal: allowing website owners to place their website on the first page of Google; there is a big contrast in the way this is achieved.

While appearing in the paid ads section of the results page requires setting up a Google Ads, and paying Google directly for clicks; appearing within the organic results is achieved through SEO, or search engine optimization.

Google Ads Vs SEO

Costs

Possibly the most salient difference between Google Ads and SEO, is the cost of these two forms of marketing.

With Google Ads, advertisers pay Google directly for each individual click on their ad. Advertisers enter an auction together for each keyword they’d like to target, and the cost per click is therefore determined by the level of competition.

Clicks for the most lucrative and the most competitive keywords have therefore become very expensive, with the average cost per click in some sectors reaching as high as £30 or more.

Conversely, website owners do not need to pay Google to appear within the organic listings. But as implied by the term ‘search engine optimisation’, they do need to optimise their website. And this process of optimisation costs either time or money, or both.

Time Span

To succeed in the organic rankings, websites need to have an excellent user experience, and a high level of promotion.

Although a responsive, fast loading, website, with engaging content can be built relatively quickly; the promotion required to rank a website for competitive keywords can be a lengthy process.

Websites require backlinks (links from other websites) to build their authority, and this process can take weeks, months, and even years.

Ranking a website organically can certainly be a worthwhile endeavor, but it does require persistence and patience.

To have a website placed within paid ads section of the results page, only requires a Google Ads account, and the budget required to pay for clicks.

It doesn’t take years, months, weeks, or even days to achieve a first page ranking, it can take as little as a few hours.

Because of this, a business owner can rank their site on the first page of Google for their chosen keyword, and begin generating new sales and clients, almost instantly.

Position Within Results

These days web users won’t navigate past the first page of the results. This means that if a website is not placed on the first page of the results for a given search term, it likely won’t see much in the way of traffic from that term.

Web users also generally don’t scroll down to see all of the results on the first page. This makes the top of the page prime real-estate.

Google knows this and so has clevely position the paid ads (where Google generates its revenue) at the top of the page.

The organic listings are then placed below the paid ads.

This gives an inherent advantage to Google Ads.

Conclusion

Google Ads and SEO are two very different forms of marketing which ultimately achieve the same goal.

Because of the differences in time span, costs, and position, business owners will need to decide which form of marketing will best enable them to meet their marketing objectives.

However, it is not a question of either Google Ads or SEO, as both forms of marketing complement each other.

Need Help With Your Google Ads Account?

If you feel your campaigns are not working as effectively as they could, and would like an expert to review your account, then feel free to get in contact with us and we’ll have one of our specialists get in contact with you.