AKR Solutions

• The right-hand column and the first three results on the left column – all shaded in red – are ‘sponsored links’ that have been paid for. Every time somebody clicks, the advertiser pays a fee.

• The left-hand column, shaded in blue, hosts natural listings that Google has selected as the most relevant websites for the search term (in this case ‘car insurance’).

Which is better? Paid or organic search?
Both have their own strengths and weaknesses, but, like any dynamic duo, they are better when used together as part of the same marketing strategy.

Organic search is essentially free – you don’t pay for clicks, but you will need to invest in other areas (e.g. website improvements, content and copywriting, link-building and PR) to get to the top of the search engines. It takes longer to achieve these results. The upside can be massive.

But until you get there, embracing paid search can provide you with high visibility in the short term. It can support your best performing pages. Paid search can also be used to plug gaps in your natural search strategy, where your website’s pages don’t rank so well in the organic listings.

You should also consider how people use websites. Typically, the eye will automatically aim for the left of the page, rather like reading a book. As such, content that appears on the top left of a web page tends to see the most action. Because most paid search ads are placed on the right they receive fewer clicks, as can be seen on the image below (the peaks indicate click activity).