Your online marketing strategy can make or break your business, no matter whether you’re running an e-commerce or a brick-and-mortar store. Nowadays, a high percentage of sales happens on the internet – and having the right spot-on search engines is crucial to boost your sales.

There are two ways of getting to the top, using Search Engine Optimization (SEO) strategies or paying for an AdWords campaign.

In this article, we’ll explain why SEO is better for small businesses, as well as the many benefits the right SEO strategy will give you.

People don’t trust ads

The number one reason against AdWords is simple: people do everything they can to stay away from ads. Most people click on promotional content by mistake – and it’s no different when it comes to search engine results.

Multiple marketing studies point out to the truth. Whenever someone searches for something online, they’ll quickly scroll past the two or three ads on top so they can get to the number one search result.

So, what do you think would be better for your small business? Using SEO to land the number one spot, or paying to be the first ad someone sees? It’s not a difficult choice.

SEO is cost-efficient

The second reason small businesses should steer clear from AdWords is important: money.

At first glance, paying for a few ads may seem inexpensive – but pay per click costs add up quickly. If you start an AdWords campaign, you’ll be paying more money than you’re making from it before you know it.

While losing money on ads is the worst-case scenario, it’s far from an unlikely one.

ROI is smaller with AdWords

Following the previous point, you’ll make less money per sale when you’re investing in AdWords – if you make any money at all from it. That’s right: you can spend a lot of money on ads and end up with nothing to show for it.

The great thing about search engine optimization is that you’re not paying for better results alone. Instead, you’re investing in a business makeover that’ll help you land the right search engine results, among other things we will soon discuss.

Once you change a couple of things in your business, you will experience a greater return of investment than ever before – and you will do so for a long time.

You will learn about your business

There’s no way to improve your search engine optimization strategy unless you study your business.

You will find there are no magical solutions when it comes to SEO. It’s hard work. Then again, it’s hard work that pays off tremendously.

When you use AdWords, you simply pay someone else off and get to the top without doing any work. That won’t help you fix your small business’s sticking points.

SEO helps build your entire social media ecosystem

The right SEO specialist will not focus on your website. Instead, it’ll work to improve your entire business online presence. That, of course, includes your website – but it’ll also include e-mail campaigns, social media, sales, discounts, and a lot of things you may not be thinking about when you think about SEO.

Building your social media ecosystem from the ground up will help you increase interactions, drive up traffic, and, eventually, see a profit boost like never before. And all of that will come from deploying the right SEO strategy.

SEO deployment shines a light on your business’s weaknesses

Do you know how long a user stays on your page? How long does it take a customer of yours to buy something? How much has traffic changed on your website last year?

Those questions may seem hard to answer, but they’re metrics every SEO specialist will be able to tell you when he starts working alongside you. By learning about your website’s metrics, you will figure out your weak spots – and, by solving them, you’ll improve your SEO and overall business strategy.

The right strategy will help you grow your brand

Back in the day, SEO was all about writing the right keywords in the right place. Things have changed, though. Algorithms have evolved – and they’re not looking for keywords anymore.

Big search engines, like Google, have developed incredibly complex algorithms that can scan a website and its traffic. In doing so, they will know whether you have good or bad interactions with your customer base.

Because of that, perfecting your SEO strategy will force you to improve customer relations. That will bring a fundamental change in your business brand for the better.

It’s more than search engine optimization

Creating the perfect SEO strategy for your brand has one goal: making it to the top of every popular search engine. And while doing so will help you tremendously, there are several byproducts of having a SEO professional working alongside you.

For example, improving your content. That’s one way to rank better in search engines – and it’s also a great way to increase your sales. Better content means higher traffic, and higher traffic translates to more sales. That’s how SEO helps your profit line without you having to do any extra effort!

You must think about that: with AdWords, you paid to get listed. With SEO, you work for better results.

The competition is using SEO, not AdWords

Both small and big businesses know how important search engine optimization is – and you can bet the competition is making the most of the right SEO strategy. You can probably guess why that happens: because SEO works.

You can try to run an AdWords campaign, invest money, and see what kind of returns you get. In the meantime, everyone else is gunning for the number one spot: they’re building backlinks, generating traffic, and curating their content. That way, they’re creating an ever-growing distance between your business and theirs.

At this point, the choice between SEO and AdWords is clear. All you must do is get started with the right SEO specialist – and land the number one spot your business deserves.