Everyone wants their website to be highly visible in the organic Google results but it’s easy to get put off when faced by the reality of needing to invest budget and time on organic SEO.

While there are sometimes SEO experts that can get good results for a reasonable fee, the majority of SEO professionals need to charge a higher rate over a period of time in order to get results.

This means that organic SEO is often seen as something to commit to at a later stage.

However, there are people/companies that get caught out by doing this:

1. They want to be visible in organic search results.
2. They find an SEO expert who is happy to get them to commit to their fees and the time it’ll take.
3. THEN (months later) they are disappointed when their new organic search engine visibility doesn’t result in strong levels of new customers.

The problem is with both the customer and the SEO people they choose.

Both the customer AND the SEO people should be asking this very important question for each website page they are optimising for:

Is the website landing page (and supporting pages) strong enough to convert visitors to business?

If you, the customer, have not identified that your website pages aren’t strong enough, then an ethical SEO person should effectively be telling you:

1. Make the website page(s) as strong as possible (from a human perspective).
2. Ideally use paid advertising (e.g. Google Ads) to send quality traffic to the website landing page.
3. Measure the outcome from those paid advertising clicks.
4. If the return on investment from those clicks isn’t strong enough then revisit the strength of the page that people land on (and any supporting pages they may click through to).
5. Then return to organic SEO when you know the page is capable of converting clicks to enquiries.

 

Let’s go into more detail on this …

 

Using Google Ads before spending on organic SEO

Here’s a detailed explanation of why I feel it’s essential to optimise website performance (and test it via Google Ads) before investing in organic SEO …

 

Fast insights into whether the landing page performs effectively

Paid advertising such as Google Ads (when set up correctly) attracts people who are actively looking for what you offer.

One of the most compelling reasons to utilise Google Ads is to test the ability of a website landing page (and supporting pages) to convert clicks to enquiries.

The outcomes from those paid ad clicks will tell you whether or not the website landing page (and supporting pages if they click off from there) are giving them enough.

This is far more attractive than all the time and waiting involved with optimising the website for organic SEO visibility, and THEN seeing whether the website can convert visitors to enquiries.

What’s the point in waiting weeks and months to see that a website isn’t performing well enough?

 

Make the Most of Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO)

Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO) is fundamental to the success of any online platform, and Google Ads provides a useful platform for experimentation and fine-tuning to maximise CRO.

Through diverse tests involving website page elements such as headlines, subheadings, imagery, calls-to-action (CTAs), contact form placements, and overall design, it’s possible to determine which elements resonate best with the target audience.

By analysing the conversion rates resulting from various combinations, you can make informed decisions to further optimise the landing page for higher conversions from those Google Ads clicks.

Obviously, if Google Ads clicks result in conversions from website pages that you have been adjusting, then you are putting yourself in a position where the same pages will convert well from organic SEO.

 

Strategic Marketing Budget Allocation

Optimising the allocation of resources is a crucial consideration for any business investing in marketing.

Making the wrong choice with marketing budget can result in unavailability of budget for other marketing activities.

Consider the following scenario:

1. Marketing budget of £XXX is available.
2. It’s spent on organic SEO that (after it takes effect) drives traffic to a weak landing page.
3. Poor return on investment dulls enthusiasm for spending more budget.

Compare that with:

1. Marketing budget of £XXX is available.
2. Website strengthening is the initial focus.
3. Google Ads spend on the right keywords is directed to a well-converting page.
4. Good return on investment creates willingness to spend more budget on more Google Ads keywords, or other activities (such as organic SEO).

Running preliminary tests with Google Ads across a small group of targeted keywords offers a cost-effective strategy to understand the performance of specific keywords and advertising messages, plus the page people click through to.

This is preferable to dispersing resources across all potential keywords.

 

Comprehensive Insights into Keyword Performance

Keywords form the backbone of SEO strategies and Google Ads offers a treasure trove of insights into the performance of keywords.

Not only does it provide data on which keywords drive traffic to the website landing page, but it also sheds light on the keywords that translate into actual conversions.

Armed with this data, you can refine the strategy to accentuate the keywords that get better results, including considering them for your organic SEO strategy.

 

Identification of Weaknesses and Areas for Improvement

You may believe that your website landing page is strong enough, and so decide to send Google Ads traffic to that page.

If you are wrong then it will quickly be clear because metrics like high bounce rates or low conversion rates will be red flags, indicating areas that need attention.

Such feedback will be invaluable to you because it will influence adjustments in content, layout, or user experience, before commencing extensive organic SEO activity.

 

A/B Testing and Ongoing Page Refinement

A/B testing is a methodological comparison of two versions of a webpage and is a powerful tool for ongoing refinement.

With Google Ads, you can implement A/B tests and send traffic to a choice of landing pages, which will help you to understand which version of the landing page performs optimally.

The end result is that you will discover which of the A/B tests gets the best results and you can then create a new A/B test by using the better-performing landing page as the base vs a new variation on that page.

You will get to the point where, via Google Ads testing to different landing pages, you will reach the best conversion rate possible (bearing in mind that not all clicks will be from people who make an immediate choice to take the actions you want them to after landing on the website).

When you get to that point then you are able to consider working on organic SEO to the website pages that have proven themselves via Google Ads traffic.

 

Data-Driven Decision Making

Data reigns supreme and Google Ads provides a wealth of data that leads to refinements, ultimately providing you with a good view of which keywords get the better results.  That data becomes the bedrock for informed decisions in organic SEO strategy.

By tailoring your organic SEO efforts based on successful elements identified through paid advertising campaigns, you set the stage for a more efficient and effective SEO campaign.

 

Mitigating Risk and Optimising ROI

Investing in organic SEO without prior testing carries inherent risks, whereas testing the waters through Google Ads mitigates this risk substantially.

It’s like dipping your toe in the water before diving into the pool and ensures that your organic SEO budget is directed towards webpages with proven conversion potential, mitigating the risk of wasted resources.

 

Summary

In summary, using Google Ads to assess webpage strength before delving into organic SEO is a prudent and strategic approach.

It provides immediate and actionable feedback, cost-effectiveness, and data-driven insights that are essential planning for a successful organic SEO campaign.