Are Organic or Paid Search Results Better?

Do organic results beat out paid ads?

How effective are paid search results in comparison to organic listings? PPC ads are those listings often seen at the top or on the right sidebar of the Search Engine Results Page (SERP) of the major Internet search properties like Google, Bing and Yahoo. These PPC ads are bread and butter for the search engine providers, and have been effective marketing venues for many law firms and other businesses.

Internet users have developed certain expectations about the SERP. They are very likely to click on the top results, which is why those ubiquitous PPC ads are always seen at the top and to the right, following the natural patterns of human eyesight. These ads are almost always surrounding the top three results, which happen to capture almost 70 percent of all clicks. For a bankruptcy attorney in a busy city where individuals must rely search results to find the best attorney, being one of the top three listings of the SERP will guarantee a steady stream of clients.

According to Internet research firms, users are far more likely to click on the organic listings at the top of the SERP than on the PPC ads they recognize. This should be a clear incentive to all law firms to follow Google’s guidelines for delivering quality sites and content as well as deploying search engine optimization and social media marketing campaigns that will eventually increase a site’s SERP placement. Still, PPC campaigns should not be dismissed.

For the bankruptcy law firm described above, a PPC campaign set to appear during daytime hours anytime someone in their county searches for “bankruptcy lawyers” can be costly but effective. The debate on just how effective PPC ads are in comparison to organic search results is a matter of Return on Investment (ROI). It takes a lot of hard work and effort to achieve a high SERP rank, and this can be very costly in the long run. A higher ROI may be achieved with a well-crafted PPC campaign in less time.