Online marketing can encompass many different areas, and at times it may feel as though everything is merging together. This is exactly where real value creation for your business begins. When you can get all your channels working together and complementing one another, you achieve maximum “value for money”.
There are two areas in particular that complement each other exceptionally well when you are able to communicate and coordinate across specialisms – namely SEO and Google Ads. By creating synergies between SEO and Google Ads, there is a great deal of value to be gained for both areas. In short, it benefits both your organic efforts and the time and money you invest in paid advertising.
But how do you create synergy between SEO and Ads? That is precisely what I will cover in this blog post – from an SEO perspective. If you would like to learn more about the differences between SEO and Ads and see synergies from a Google Ads specialist’s point of view, I recommend you read my colleague Martin’s blog post here.
The fundamental differences between Google Ads and SEO
Before we dive into the synergies between SEO and Google Ads, let’s take a look at the main differences between the two.
What is Google Ads?
Google Ads is part of what we call PPC marketing – Pay Per Click. As the name suggests, you pay a certain amount per click your ad receives in Google. It works as an auction, where you bid on specific keywords. The highest bidder gets the best placement.
How much you pay per click depends greatly on the level of competition for the chosen keyword – the price is set at the moment someone makes that particular search. It is therefore important to consider what a click is worth to you and to continually adjust your bids as needed.
For B2B companies, where a single click could potentially be worth £10,000, it may be reasonable to pay £100 per click. In contrast, if you are a B2C company selling clothing, and a click has a much lower value, a click price of £100 would never be profitable.
Google Ads includes various ad types, each with different objectives, which are displayed in different places across Google’s services. It is important to stay updated on this, as Google frequently makes changes to formats that may affect the campaigns you are currently running via Google Ads. Most recently, Google has added the ad type Performance Max, which my colleague Mark explores in depth here.
Would you like to generate more B2B leads from Google Ads? Get one essential tip in this podcast episode.
What is SEO?
Put simply, SEO stands for “Search Engine Optimisation”. It refers to all activities that help optimise a website for search engines, with the aim of increasing traffic and sales through organic search results.
At WeMarket, we often describe SEO as a three-legged stool:
- Leg 1: Technical SEO
- Leg 2: On-page SEO
- Leg 3: Off-page SEO
If the stool loses just one of its legs, it becomes unstable and uncomfortable to sit on. Lose two out of three legs, and it is virtually unusable. In other words: When working with SEO, it is important to focus continuously on all three “legs” to ensure you get the best possible results from your efforts. If you neglect one leg, you will not get full value for your investment.
Unlike Google Ads, which is paid advertising, SEO is what we call organic marketing – in other words, you do not pay per click or advert. If you choose to focus on SEO, your main investment is your time. You can also invest in an SEO specialist to assist you. But regardless, you do not pay a fee each time someone clicks a link to your website on Google.
SEO is relatively complex, and as you may have gathered, it covers a range of areas. If you want to learn more about SEO, I recommend reading about why you should invest in SEO and getting our tips for creating an SEO-friendly website here.
How Google Ads data creates synergy with SEO
Google Ads holds a wealth of data serving various purposes. For example, you can see which searches generate the most conversions – giving you insight into what your target audience is most interested in. You can also see which ad types and messages have the highest CTR, conversion rate and much more.
Through your Google Ads data, you can check the quality of your ads – including Quality Score and Landing Page Experience. Both affect the click price you pay Google for a given keyword. The better your Quality Score and Landing Page Experience, the better your placements and click prices.
Using this data, you can gain an idea of where you should focus your SEO strategy. For large websites with many category pages – especially e-commerce businesses – it can be difficult to know where to start prioritising your SEO efforts.
Structure your SEO strategy with Google Ads data
It makes sense to start with the pages that generate the most conversions: Ensure your landing pages are optimised for the keywords you are advertising on. This includes the title tag, meta description, page content, H-tags, and similar elements. The faster Google recognises the connection between your Google ad and the landing page you send users to, the better it will perform.
Another good place to start your SEO efforts is with landing pages that perform poorly in Google Ads – those with low landing page experience and Quality Score. To improve the quality of your ads, and thereby achieve a better price per click, you should implement SEO on these landing pages. A strong collaboration between your Google Ads specialist and SEO specialist is absolutely essential!
Use Google Ads data in your keyword analysis
If you have worked with SEO before, you will almost certainly have heard of keyword analysis. A keyword analysis should be carried out before you start working on SEO.
This gives you an overview of which keywords “belong” to which landing pages, how competitive different keywords are, and much more. It also helps you identify whether you have duplicate pages – i.e. pages that have the same intent in terms of content or keywords.
There are a range of different tools you can use for your keyword analysis – some are free, while others require payment. Personally, I always use at least Ahrefs, Google Search Console and Google Keyword Planner when conducting keyword research.
Gain valuable insights into keywords with Google Keyword Planner
The latter is a free tool available in your Google Ads account. This programme is ideal for finding the keywords that are most relevant to your business, based on your services or products. By searching for a word or phrase, Google Keyword Planner will find new keywords you may not have considered, but which could be highly valuable for your business.
Additionally, the tool also provides insights into search volume – i.e. how many times per month specific terms are searched for, and how search trends have changed over time.
This is particularly useful if you are in a sector affected by seasonal fluctuations, but also because we live in a world where everything changes much faster than before. You can therefore gain a much better understanding of how your efforts are truly performing, compared with how trends and tendencies in the market are evolving.
This is where a synergy is created between SEO and Google Ads, giving you even greater insight into your target audience’s search behaviour, as well as how trends have developed for particular keywords. This gives you the opportunity to stay ahead when prioritising your SEO efforts.
Summary
SEO and Google Ads are two areas within online marketing that have significant synergy potential. If you can leverage and combine the strengths of each area, you will see the benefits in your organic search results as well as in the quality outcomes of your paid advertising through Google.
This covers everything from utilising the vast data available in Google Ads to structuring your SEO strategy, to using Google Keyword Planner to enhance your keyword analysis and uncover new opportunities that could be highly valuable for your business.
If you need help gaining an overview of the synergies between Google Ads and SEO for your business, our SEO team is always ready to help you get started.
