SEA

SEA, short for Search Engine Advertising, is advertising in search engines. You pay to appear with an ad at the top or bottom of the search results when someone searches for words you've chosen yourself. In practice, this is mostly done via Google Ads, although there are other platforms too, such as Microsoft Advertising.

The big difference from SEO is how you earn visibility. With SEO, you work on your website so that you're found organically, meaning without paying. With SEA, you buy that visibility per click or per impression. As soon as you stop paying, your ads disappear.

How does a search ad work?

Every time someone runs a search, Google holds an auction between the advertisers bidding on that keyword. Who ends up on top doesn't depend on the bid alone. Google also looks at the expected relevance of the ad, the quality of the landing page and the expected click-through rate. So a well-built campaign can sometimes outperform a competitor who bids more.

You usually pay per click. A click doesn't mean a customer yet: only when the visitor fills in a form, calls or buys something do you have a conversion.

When should you choose SEA?

SEA is especially useful in situations where you want to be visible quickly or want to target very precisely:

• when launching a new service or website, while your organic rankings still need time to grow;
• for temporary promotions, seasonal peaks or events;
• for searches with a clear buying intent, where every customer is worth a lot;
• to test which messages or keywords resonate before you build content around them.

A landscape gardener in Yorkshire, for example, can advertise on "garden landscaping quote" in his area in spring, while working on informational pages that attract organic visitors all year round.

SEA and SEO together

SEA and SEO aren't mutually exclusive. They often reinforce each other. Data from your ad campaigns shows which searches lead to enquiries, which is valuable input for your organic strategy. Conversely, strong organic content can help reduce your advertising costs over time, because you become less dependent on paid clicks. Do make sure you aren't simply paying for visitors you'd already get organically, such as with a branded search with no competition.

Common mistakes

• Keywords that are too broad without negative keywords, so you pay for irrelevant clicks.
• Ads that lead to your homepage instead of a suitable landing page.
• No conversion tracking, so you don't know which campaigns actually deliver results.
• Letting campaigns run without regular monitoring and adjustment.

SEA in the age of AI search

Google also shows ads in and around AI-driven results, and the way it does so is still evolving. At the same time, more and more people search via assistants such as ChatGPT and Perplexity, where classic search ads don't appear, or appear differently. Paid visibility is still useful, but it no longer covers every channel where customers search. That makes organic and AI visibility an important complement. Curious how to combine the two? Discover how Spacebird strengthens your organic and AI visibility alongside your paid campaigns.