Usually, Google shows two kinds of results: organic and paid search. The organic search are on the left hand side of the screen while the paid search are on the right hand side. There are times that paid results are displayed on top of the first organic result. These advertisements are displayed with a colored background. Notice too that the word “Ad” is shown above the paid results on the right and when they appear above the organic search results.

The organic results are the free results. If your website has been indexed by Google, then it can be part of the search results for a specific keyword. The relevancy of your web pages for a given keywords is taken into consideration, so even if you think you should appear, Google might not. Conversely, paid search – which are also commonly called pay per click (PPC) – are advertisements. When someone clicks on these paid search results, advertisers have to pay Google.

Another distinction between free and paid search is how the results are arranged by Google. To be part of the free search results, your web pages should employ appropriate search engine optimization techniques. Both off-page and on-page SEO should be done to attain a higher position in the search results. If you are unsure how to optimize your title tags, Meta tags, or build links, contact professional SEO services.

A completely different set of factors are involved in ordering PPC ads. Google has to consider impressions, ad quality, bid price and click through rate. Even if these are paid advertisements, the significance of the ad to the query is still taken into account. Getting on the first page using pay per click is a lot easier than doing SEO (assuming that you have the funds). Though it can be quite expensive if you want to get the first position (or even just a high position) on the results page, as you’ll have to pay more per click. Note however, you can also gain a higher position, by testing out different ads in order to improve your quality score.

Ideally, you should try to appear in both types of search results. However, if you have very limited budget, I suggest that you focus your attention on optimizing your web pages with off-page and on-page SEO. In the long run, it will give you more web traffic volume. Another advantage of concentrating on SEO is that most searchers trust the organic search results over the paid listings.