It’s 2021 SEO Social Media or Google Ads Who is the winner?

So now in 2021 if we compare the three major online methods of Digital Marketing, who is the real winner? Before I get into this I hate articles that conclude by saying, “you need to do both” or “The best approach is to do all three.” No, I am not going to do that. If you had to chose between these three options, say you were on a limited budget, which approach would be the best, which would be the least favourable. Let’s acknowledge one important aspect.

It is not longer 2010, and it is no longer 2015. For years acquiring traffic organically via Google Search has been King. SEO for a decade or over has been the top dog. SEO experts have ranted about how ranking organically in the long run is the best long term approach. Well it’s now 2021, let us see if this rhetoric still holds true. Finally, I am agnostic, I am being objective in my opinion. I don’t favour any of the above methods. Without question there is a winner in 2021 and it has lapped the other two forms of Digital Marketing.

The winner is Social Media Marketing. When I say Social Media Marketing I am specifically talking Facebook, Instagram and Youtube. So Google is also still up there. It really is about getting quality video content in front of your potential customers. Video content is very powerful and these platforms are highly sophisticated at targeting the right customers, using data, artificial intelligence and so on. This is the best way to advertise in 2021, this is far more powerful that SEO which has clearly been dethroned. The content is visual, powerful and you can create multiple ads and within a day or two compare which ads and which campaigns are having greater success. I love the video content aspect of social media, it’s creative and fun. Just look at our website, it is now full of video content and also helps with engagement and credibility. People can see your work and will trust your brand all in a few seconds.

Now lets look at SEO. The internet, and Google Search has changed a lot over the past few years. It has gone from being competitive to being super ultra competitive. Reality is if you have a new business and invest in SEO for several months you may still never rank. Why, because there are probably 10 no 100 website who have invested in SEO and have been doing the right thing in Google’s eyes for many years so why should they push these sites back to rank you. Simple answer, they wont, and that means you wont rank. Now an SEO expert will say, ‘oh you just need to rank for less competitive key words.’ Really who wants to do that. Rank for key words that no one is search for, that is basically the advice. Now I have championed SEO for six or so years and it has literally been lapped by Social Media Marketing. Why would you constantly spend money in SEO hoping to rank and seeing no improvement month after month. Worse, you actually rank for a while then suddenly go to the bottom of page 3. Many businesses especially new businesses only have SEO as a Digital Plan and 90% of these businesses typically fail in the first 3 months. That’s right, not one year, three months and they are gone.

Finally let’s look at Google Ads particularly Google Search. I am leaving Youtube Ads out of this as I consider Youtube Marketing to be part of Social Media Marketing. I am specifically talking here about Google Search and to a lesser extend Google Display. A few years ago people were encouraged to run Search Ads and bid in an auction for key terms if their site was not ranking organically. It was combining SEO and Google Ads. People were encouraged while there site was slowly gaining organic rankings to in the interim use Googele Ads. Today I think it is still an acceptable approach if you have a very new business but reality is Google Ads is a plan B if your SEO is not working or you are going through seasonal quiet months. Well today SEO is now plan B or even plan C. Ideally you would have two Social Media plaforms to serve as plan A and B. That means Google Search Ads are an absolute last resort. They are way too expensive and if you spend half the money on Facebook, Instagram or Youtube Ads I am sure it would go a lot further.

The biggest single issue with Google Ads is the assumption, if a customer clicks on your Ads and visits you site they will become a customer. Websites do a very poor job at selling a product or service, You many need to get hundreds of visits to your site to make one sale. What about conversion optimisation for your site. What about it? It might improve a fraction, not much. On the whole websites, even ones with conversion optimisation do an awful job selling. Google Search and Display Ads are really a last resort and you can often lose money running such campaigns. Yes, even if they are managed by a so called expert.

It’s 2021, the future of our business is creating awesome video content for our clients to use in Social Media Campaigns. That’s right were are going to help your business get right in front of your customers and impress the hell out of them. It’s a lot more fun than working on SEO or boring Google Text Ads. We will still offer these services but we know what our preferred method of Marketing is. Finally it’s for serious clients, ones who actually have a monthly Marketing budget that is realistic to their desired goals. We can help from as low as $150 per month.