Paid vs Organic Strategies: Pros and Cons

Search Engine Optimization(Pros):

It boosts your Credibility: a business that is starting out requires a boost to be found by consumers. How can a consumer trust a brand-new site? How can a business bring consumers to their websites? ” Spend time improving and addding your site speed and researching keywords to help your site rank even higher.” (Muthoni,2021)
It doesn’t have to cost you anything: a new business depending on what they sell, does not have funds to hire a particular person to run marketing for them. “SEO does not cost anything like other marketing strategies such as pay-per-click.” (Muthoni,2021)
It supports content marketing: if a business has an instagram account for the business SEO can also help keep bring consumers to the instagram handle as well. ” But SEO can support your content marketing efforts too.” (Muthoni,2021)
It gives you a competitive advantage: a business that is starting out has already identified its competitors, but if we want a bit of a boost for our brand, the keywords we use still require us to invest in SEO. “Those who invest heavily in SEO often outrank the competition in search engine results and gain market share.” (Muthoni,2021)

Search Engine Optimization (Cons):

You have a radically new product or service: depending on the business at hand, any new product and/or service would require new keywords to track. ” Companies offering something really new have many exciting marketing options to chose from- but SEO is not one of them. ” (Shorr,2018)
Your website is an SEO disaster: keywords are a business’s best friend, but what happens when keywords are repetitive and or the same and the tags used within the business are confusing. ” Old or poorly constructed websites will need to be overhauled any investment of SEO makes sense.” (Shorr,2018)
Your budget is too small: Even if a business is just starting, it needs to set off with at least a small amount of budget for its marketing. “SEO does not lend itself to mechanical, assembly-line, formulaic execution.” (Shorr,2018)

Search Engine Marketing (Pros):

increased traffic: a business that has the ability to afford SEM, this allows the business to place ads within their websites. “Search engine marketing boosts traffic by putting your search ads at the top of the results page.” Lanier,2025)
Maximized ROI: using paid search ads like(Google Ads) to generate the highest possible revenue for the lowest cost possible. “This helps reduce wasted spend and boosts returns to make the most of your budget.” (Lanier,2025)
Competitive opportunities: using SEM enables businesses to outpace rivals by identifying, analyzing, and capitalizing on competitors’ weaknesses. “SEM campaigns allow brands to keep a competitive edge by appearing above organic search results for high-value, relevant keywords, even in crowded markets. (Lanier,2025)

Search Engine Marketing(Cons):

High and constant costs: if a business is trying to save on costs. SEM is not free.”Compared to other digital marketing strategies, SEM can be quite costly as you’ll be paying based on the number of clicks.” (www.brandswift.com)
Ad blockers: some consumers find ways to place ad blockers on their computers so as to avoid getting ads within simple websites likes Forbes.com and while watching YouTube.”As we all know, there are users who make use of ad blockers on their browsers. Thus, when ad blockers are activated, the ads will not be displayed.” (www.brandswift.com)
Consistent monitoring and tracking is required: a business that has been able to afford SEM needs to keep track of the campaign that its using SEM on. “The SEM campaigns requires constant monitoring and tracking to achieve successful results and high return of investment (ROI).” (www.brandswift.com)

Reference:

Muthoni, J. (2021, June 14). 10 Key Benefits of SEO for Your Business. Forbes. Retrieved January 25, 2026, from https://www.forbes.com/councils/forbesagencycouncil/2021/06/14/10-key-benefits-of-seo-for-your-business/

Shorr, B. (2018, July 12). 6 reasons why SEO might not be right for your business. Forbes. Retrieved January 25, 2026, from https://www.forbes.com/sites/allbusiness/2018/07/12/reasons-seo-not-right-for-your-business/

Lanier, S. (2025, June 10). 12 Search Engine Marketing Benefits (+ Expert Tips to Do It Right). HawkSEM Digital Marketing Agency. Retrieved January 25, 2026, from https://hawksem.com/blog/search-engine-marketing-benefits/#opportunities

(2024, December 31). Advantages And Disadvantages Of Search Engine Marketing. BrandSwift. Retrieved January 25, 2026, from https://www.brandswift.com.my/advantages-disadvantages-search-engine-marketing/

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