Why SEO and Google Ads aren't enemies, but friends

There’s one analogy I always use to explain the difference between SEO and Google Ads.

Google Ads is like going to the supermarket, while SEO is like growing vegetables. It takes longer for the results, but it’s a lot more rewarding and sustainable. 

As an SEO specialist, you might think I wouldn’t like Google Ads. But that’s not true.

There is absolutely a time and a place for Google Ads.

And SEO and Google Ads can be used in conjunction to create a really well-rounded traffic generation strategy. 

I was lucky enough to work closely with the Google Ads team at Officeworks, but I must admit, Google Ads still confuses the hell out of me!

That’s why I asked Casey Bryan to discuss all things Google Ads (with some SEO tips thrown in for good measure).

So Casey, introduce yourself

Hi, I’m Casey Bryan, an SEO and Google ads nerd who loves to drink wine and travel to new places (aka wine regions). After starting a wine blog in 2010, I fell in love (well, in all honesty, I became obsessed) with learning about how to get more people to a website. I quickly picked up on the power of SEO and have never looked back.

After working professionally in both in-house and agency roles focusing solely on SEO and Google Ads, I started my business with my husband, Morgan, in 2018 Grand Cru Digital.

Grand Cru is French and means ‘great growth’. In the Champagne world, it signifies that the grapes have been grown in the best part of the vineyard. It was a no-brainer that I had to tie wine into my business name; after all, it was my little wine blog that turned an interest into a passion.

Grand Cru Digital works with small to large businesses all over Australia. We manage, on average, $50,000 in Google Ads spend for our clients on a monthly basis and have been a Google Partner agency since 2019.

Your agency provides both Google Ads and SEO services. If you had to pick your favourite, which would you choose? Can you even choose?

My favourite would be when I get to use the two strategies in tandem. When used together, both SEO and Google Ads can bring great results for a lot (not all, but many) of small to large businesses.

If the people your business is trying to reach are searching for your products/services and/or content through Google, then claiming as much real estate on the search results (and wider Google network, e.g. Google Shopping, YouTube, Gmail, the Display Network) is going to be a great way to get your business in front of the most eyes possible.

When it comes to any form of marketing, as long as you are measuring the effectiveness of your strategies, then you can work to ensure you are coming out on top and making a return on your investment.

How can Google Ads and SEO work together?

Why do I love using SEO and Google Ads in unison? It’s pretty simple really; they both give me hints and ideas on how to improve the other. Therefore Google Ads helps me be a better SEO Specialist and vice versa.

With Google Ads, your changes can happen instantly or in a few hours, which means we can change messaging on our ads or have them appear quickly. This cannot be done easily through organic search.

For example, for a new website or a business new to optimising for search, Google Ads can be a great way to get to the top of the search results nearly immediately. As SEO is a long-term strategy, it means that while trying to get your organic presence in top-notch shape, Google Ads can start getting your business in front of your potential customer’s eyes today instead of in a few months.

Then once your SEO has been built up and you start ranking well for certain keywords, you can look to focus your ads on other areas which aren’t ranking so well. Or switch them off, stick with a fully focused SEO strategy, and continue building up your organic reach utilising ads when necessary for added reach.

I also find running the two together can be great for keyword research. When utilising a strategy that involves things like Dynamic Search Ads, it can help reveal keywords that bring in traffic and conversions that haven’t necessarily been optimised through SEO.

Plus, Google Ads can be a great way to test the interest in certain pages/posts and areas of your website before you invest time and effort into them from an organic search perspective.

There are so many benefits to using the two strategies, I could literally go on and on.

Not every marketing strategy suits every business. What types of businesses are best suited to Google Ads? 

Businesses with a great website!

Having a website is essential. But not only that, you need to have a website that looks and functions well and is full of useful content that your audience wants/needs. If your website isn’t mobile-friendly, takes super long to load and provides no value to people, then Google Ads is not for you.

On the other hand, if you have a great website full of useful content and your customers look for businesses like yours on Google, then my philosophy is Google Ads is worth a shot. You never know until you try these things whether they will work or not.

The key to success with Google Ads is ensuring you’re getting your return on ad spend. Whether this return is a monetary value through your eCommerce store, or via leads/enquiries or even brand awareness. You need to work out how much you’re willing to pay to acquire a customer and work with this in mind.

Having conversion tracking and analytics set up is an integral part of running Google Ads successfully.

Do you think a business owner should hire someone to do their Google Ads or try it themselves?

Like anything, if you have the time to learn and master Google Ads yourself, then I would 100% recommend it. At the end of the day, you know your business the best, therefore, if you are fluent in Google Ads, you are going to be able to make the best decisions when it comes to your Google advertising.

However, if you don’t have the time to learn (and time to keep up with all the new updates to the platform) or are not interested in learning (like me and my accounting!!), then hiring a specialist is the next best thing. 

If you do go down the route of hiring a specialist, then for the best results, you should work closely with them to provide the ‘business insight’ that the Google Ads Specialist needs to make the right decisions for your ads.

Google Ads and SEO are not ‘set and forget’ strategies, so if you think simply hiring someone and not having to communicate with them often is going to bring you the best results, I am sorry to say that is not the case. Your Google Ads specialist should be an extension of your marketing team and be as a full bottle on your business as possible.

What should a business owner look for when choosing a good Google Ads agency, and what are some red flags?

The biggest red flag is that they set up your account under their own and you pay them instead of Google for the click charges. Your account should be owned by you, and you should pay for the click charges. Therefore if you choose to move away from a specific agency, then you should be able to take your account with you and remove their access at any point in time.

I would recommend trying to choose an agency who is a qualified Google Partner as this shows that they have up-to-date qualifications, they manage a certain amount of spend (at least US$10,000 every 90 days), and they meet an optimisation score threshold.

Plus, if you sign up with a Google Partner agency, then you can utilise their promotional offers. For example, at the moment, the promotion for new accounts is once you spend $600 in 60 days, Google will credit you $600.

And as you should do when hiring anyone to help with your business – do your background research and stalk them online. Look for testimonials on places like their Google Business Profile, Facebook, etc. Plus, by checking out their latest posts on social media can also help you get a good feel for who they are and if they might be a right fit for your business.

And finally, what’s one thing you wish business owners knew about Google Ads?

Like a lot of things, sometimes there’s a bit of trial and error when it comes to finding the right strategy for your business through Google Ads. It’s great when you hit the strategy on the head from the get-go, but this sometimes doesn’t always happen, which means you may need to pivot your strategy and try something new.

Make sure to give any new direction with your Google Ads for at least a good 4 weeks to show results. Sometimes it can take Google’s machine learning and a bit of historical data in your account some time to show your ads optimally.

Google Ads always brings out new updates and ad styles, and I recommend trying something out before you put it in the ‘no’ bucket. Just because it didn’t work for someone else, or seems a little out of the box, doesn’t mean it won’t work for your uniquely awesome business