what's the best strategy for b2b saas companies?

SEO vs. Google Ads

B2B startups often grapple with choosing the best strategy to attract leads and drive growth. Two popular approaches—Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Search Engine Marketing (SEM) —are frequently debated. Here, we’ll compare these strategies based on key factors to help B2B marketers find the most effective path.

SEO vs. SEM: What's the Difference?

SEO

SEO focuses on optimizing your website and content to rank higher in organic search results. This involves:

Keyword research
On-page optimization
Quality content production
Building backlinks

The goal is to attract your target audience naturally over time, fostering trust and authority in your niche.

SEM

SEM, on the other hand, encompasses paid advertising strategies to increase visibility on search engines. This includes pay-per-click (PPC) campaigns, such as Google Ads, where you bid on keywords to display ads when potential customers search for related terms. SEM offers immediate results and allows for precise targeting, making it a powerful tool for driving traffic and generating leads quickly.

In summary, while SEO is about earning your place in search results organically, SEM is about paying for visibility.

SEO vs. Google Ads

Sustainability & scalability

Good SEO comes with decreasing marginal costs, you can attract larger and larger audiences without significantly increasing your investment. There's no such thing as "cost-per-click" in SEO.

When doing search engine marketing, you can't get visitors without a constant stream of investment. Scaling your audience means scaling your marketing spend proportionally.

SEO

Immediate impact on growth

SEO builds a steady flow of organic traffic over time, which is highly beneficial for businesses with longer sales cycles - but it can be a dealbreaker for low-ticket businesses that need leads now.

Ads can drive instant traffic and generate leads quickly, making them suitable for short-term campaigns.

Ads

Targeting capabilities

SEO targets users who are actively searching for specific keywords. Choosing the right keywords can be the difference between engaging your audience or getting lost in a sea of generic content. However, SEO is far less precise targeting specific demographics compared to ads.

Google Ads gives you the possibility to target specific audiences based on demographic data, location, interests, and behaviors. Plus, you have the ability to re-engage users who have interacted with your site.

Ads

ROI measurability

Measuring SEO ROI can be challenging due to the numerous factors influencing organic traffic. Search Console and other tools provide insights, but they can be limited.

ROI is more easily measurable with real-time, detailed analytics. This also enables campaign managers to assess results and implement changes quickly.

Ads

Brand awareness

Consistent, high-quality organic content can position you as a go-to resource in your niche. In the best cases, this can create an equivalence in your customer's mind, with them identifying your niche directly with your brand.

Ads can offer quick market penetration, but they can be insufficient for leaving a lasting positive impression. Especially, in highly discerning audiences in high-stakes environments.

It depends

Loyalty-building

Through content, your potential customers can perceive value and get closer to their goals, even before they buy. This fosters a strong, positive brand perception that goes far beyond awareness.

Ads can have an impact on loyalty-building by appealing to strong values that the audience shares. However, this power is limited - and sometimes, trying to harness it can do more harm than good.

SEO

Sales enablement

Beyond attracting users to your website, high-quality content can help your sales team to engage and close qualified deals. This dual feature makes content's potential ROI far higher than it may seem at first sight.

Ads can be used for re-engaging leads. But they don't provide significant value across customer touchpoints.

SEO

key takeaway

"I recommend combining SEO and SEM to cover different strategic goals. But when it comes to enterprise-level B2B SaaS companies, nothing replaces SEO's impact. Especially for educating your prospects and keeping leads engaged through long sales cycles."

Aaron Marco Arias

ceo & cofounder
postdigitalist

Let's increase your marketing ROI.

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