The Difference Between Paid Search Results & Organic Search Results

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is topic with a terminology that can be quite confusing. SEO constantly evolves, and many people find it challenging to grasp, so don’t feel overwhelmed if you can’t keep up with SEO lingo. The purpose of this blog entry is to help clarify the difference between paid search results and organic search results.

When performing a Google search (same goes for Yahoo, Bing, Chrome or any other search engine) you are presented with two types of results: paid results and organic results.

Paid Results

Just like it sounds, paid search engine results show the advertisers who are paying for the search engines to list their text ad when particular keywords are searched. In search results, they are clearly identified as “Sponsored Results” and appear either above or to the right of the free (organic) results. Advertisers compete by bidding on keywords, and depending on their bid and ad budget, the search engines determine the placement or ranking of their ads. Typically placement is based on how much an advertiser is willing to pay for 1 click. In a pay-per-click (PPC) campaign, the advertiser pays each time someone clicks on the link inside of their text advertisement. The price increases with the competitiveness of the keyword used.

Organic Results

Organic Results are search engine results that are returned by indexing pages based on their content and relevance of keywords. It is much more valuable to be listed highly in the organic search results than in the PPC advertisements, as searchers tend to trust these results more than paid ones. Most consumers feel these results are a more accurate reflection of what they might want when searching for a specific phrase. They are also generated by popularity and usage. Being listed in organic results has minimal cost, gets your site more traffic, and provides you with a longer lasting rank. Getting your pages to appear high up in organic results is a combination of relevant page content, proper title tags, keywords and meta tags – all parts of proper SEO.

Benefits of Appearing in Organic Search Results

Low Cost – Only $1 billion of the $6.5 billion spent on search engine marketing last year was spent on organic SEO. Once organic rankings are obtained there is no cost, other than maintaining those rankings. There is also no ongoing cost for each click generated to your website.

Credibility – High search engine placement in organic search results not only increases your websites visibility and traffic to your site, it also increases your credibility and strengthens your brand image. Search engines place penalties on low-quality sites. Sites that naturally appear at the top of search engine results have a greater perceived credibility than sites that are lower on the list.

Flexibility – Organic SEO is built into the site and can be modified at any time to meet changing consumer trends, or changes in the competitiveness of keywords.

Search Patterns – Search patterns reveal that more search engine users visit organic sites than paid search sites. Four out of five search engine users report that they never click on paid search results.