Google’s line on SEO being helped by running ads has forever been, more or less, “Google Search Results are not impacted by running Google Ads”.
There are plenty of articles about how organic search is not helped by running Google Ads.
Makes sense right?
Google wants people to use Google as much as possible as a search engine, so that they aren’t elsewhere, on someone else’s search engine, potentially clicking on those ads instead of Google Ads.
If they are on Google most of the time, the real product, Google Ads, can make as much money as possible.
However – behind closed doors, SEO professionals have long suspected that running Google Ads might also help push up organic Search results too.
We’ve noticed that in our local SEO agency, and plenty of SEO professionals we’ve spoken to also feel this way.
Earlier this year we started running a very low cost Google Ads campaign for a local Arborist client we have, and saw a boost in their organic search results almost instantly.
I raised my very large eyebrows when I saw that.
Earlier this year, we came across this article on well respected website Search Engine Journal, by Roger Montti, titled “Why Google Seems to Favor Big Brands and Low Quality Content”
Rogers opening paragraph:
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The article goes on to explain that yes, it’s highly likely that “not the best content” ranks up the top, due to people preferring recognized brands, and familiarity, rather than strictly “the best”.
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What this DOES show me, is that Google isn’t always necessarily serving up the BEST results for a search, based on what normal users might define as “best”.
So it’s also possible that they’ll bias results in other ways, for example rewarding websites for spending on ads, with higher organic search results as well.
We thought we’d run a survey, in a popular Facebook Group called Google SEO Mastermind, a group with over 170K members.
Here is what we have found:
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This proves nothing, but certainly 86% of respondents voting YES is a resounding result.
There are many anecdotes in that survey from people actively working in the field, running both organic SEO campaigns as well as paid Google Ads campaigns, and noticing / observing better organic SEO results once Ads start.
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Some quick research shows that the individuals above are all working actively in digital marketing, and have been for some time.
It certainly makes sense if you think about it – if 2 websites are competing for the same keywords, and they are similar quality, why wouldn’t Google reward the site that’s paying them for ads?
It’s not hard to imagine that this is true.
OR – perhaps people are noticing things such as the below:
We asked Google “Do Google Ads help SEO?”
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Maybe the SEO people are noticing results because of those things mentioned?
Let’s go back further in time.
This has been discussed on Reddit, ironically a new darling of Google Search, several years ago:
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Well known SEO practitioner Fery Kaszoni recently made this observation on LinkedIn:
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The link between “I spend with Google or engage more fully with them financially, and now I am seeing SEO results” most certainly gets noticed by longer term SEO people.
But – how much of this is hearsay and how much is driven by data?
It’s hard to say, because while Google Ads data is pretty easy to follow – organic Google data, or even the reality of “how does the pagerank algorithm work?”, has been a mystery for years, and continues to be.
Me personally?
I’m much like the Facebook survey above – I’m about 90% sure that running Google Ads at the same time as an organic search (SEO) campaign will help your SEO outcomes.
So yes, I believe, that simply running Google Ads probably IS a Google Organic Ranking Factor.
But I’m not 100%, and it’s hard to conclusively prove anything when it comes to Google!
Extras:
- How Google is killing Independent Sites like ours: https://housefresh.com/david-vs-digital-goliaths/
- Does running Google Ads affect my SEO? https://www.clairejarrett.com/does-running-google-ads-affect-my-seo