Utilizing both paid search and search engine optimization (SEO) for your company’s online marketing plan will provide the most efficient results in standing out against competitors.
I recently began a new marketing internship with a local New Orleans candle company, Fleur De Light New Orleans. 
With my internship, I have been using my knowledge of e-marketing to find ways to better communicate the company’s meaningful CSR initiative to target markets.
Thus, in my recent work with search engine marketing, I’ve been wondering: is SEO or paid search the best route when it comes to e-marketing? The answer is both.
A little background
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is crafting a webpage so that it will rank high for organic results on the search engine results page (SERP) due to its relevance to the search terms. Paid Search is a strategy where a company purchases keywords so that when these keywords are searched for, the company’s ad will appear in the sponsored/paid ad section at the top of the page. Paid ads are located at the top or side of the SERP.
According to Stukent, Studies show that 79% of people (4 out of 5 people) will click on the organic results found on a SERP. 80% of people never click on the paid results. Given that organic results are proven to be more successful in driving traffic over paid results, why even bother with paid ads?
The answer: While having your webpage rank highly on a SERP ‘s organic results is a benefit for long-term relevance and traffic, it would be unwise to underestimate the power paid ads can have when we’re talking about conversion rates. Hosting paid ads are bound to attract a percentage of consumers seeking to make a quick choice.
For example, suppose I want to buy a new pair of rain boots online. When I Google the keyword “rain boots”, the results on my SERP show paid ad images of different styles of rain boots. Seeing the paid ad images at the top of the page, I decide to avoid the hassle of sifting through the organic results to find the right pair by instead clicking on the paid image. In this case, a paid ad led to a higher response and a conversion.
The Whopper versus The Big Mac
I’d like to expand on this idea as it applies to product marketing. A company can utilize search engine marketing for a specific product. If a product is controversial, paid ads can attempt to offset negative publicity.
Let’s look at the example of The Whopper and The Big Mac. Despite sustained popularity over the years, both burgers are known for its high levels of oils and fats. 
When we Google the keyword “The Whopper,” no paid ads are shown. Among the top organic results is a link to a landing page that compares The Whopper to the Big Mac—not very ideal for a company that is second in market share to McDonald’s.
On the other hand, we see that McDonald’s has employed a better strategy through paid search ads. After searching “The Big Mac” as a keyword, the first four results on the SERP are paid ads linking to The Big Mac Museum, a Wikipedia article, and two more links to the McDonald’s national website about the contents of a Big Mac. This is an excellent marketing strategy on behalf of McDonald’s because the company can leverage itself against the negative publicity (such as the lawsuits relating to the Big Mac that are in the news) that is also shown on the same SERP.
What are your thoughts on search engine marketing strategies?
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