An advertorial and Google Ads buy two different things, and the question "which is better" only has an answer once you say what for. Google Ads buys clicks from people searching right now; an advertorial buys an article that stays, on a publication people read before they search. This guide puts the figures side by side on a concrete case and says when they complement each other, because most of the time it is not "or" but "and, in which order".
What you actually buy
With Google Ads you pay per click, for ads shown to people searching a specific phrase, for as long as you pay. When you stop the budget, the ads disappear. The cost per click depends on the field and on the competition for each phrase; Google's Keyword Planner shows an estimate for your phrases before you spend anything, and fields such as law, dental clinics, insurance or loans are usually among the most expensive.
With an advertorial you pay once: on Comunicate.eu, 45 lei excluding VAT on any of the 109 publications in the own network (the other publications in the catalogue show their own price), for an article with its own address that stays on the publication and in the search engines' index. It brings readers from the publication in the first days, then from search for months, if it answers a question people look for. What it is and how it is written, in the advertorial guide.
The calculation on a case: heating installer, mid-sized town
A heating installation company in a town of 200,000 wants bookings for boiler inspections. The figures below are assumptions to replace with your own, not promises or measured results.
- Google Ads, 500 lei per month: assuming 2 lei per click, 250 clicks a month; at a 4% conversion rate, ten bookings. Per year: 6,000 lei, 120 bookings, 50 lei per booking. The day you stop, it stops.
- Advertorials, about 500 lei once: eleven publications from the own network at 45 lei each, chosen among the local press and home and construction sites. At the same 2 lei per click, each article has paid for itself once it has brought 23 visitors over its whole life, from the publication's readers first and from search later. The eleven together need about 250 visitors to match one month of Ads; every visitor after that costs nothing extra, and the articles are still online the following year.
Whether an article gets there depends on the text: an article saying "company X, a leader in installations" brings almost no visits from search, while one whose headline answers a searched question ("what a boiler inspection costs in Brașov") keeps bringing them. The difference is explained in the annotated advertorial example.
Where Google Ads wins
- When you need customers this week. The ad is up in two hours; the advertorial brings search visits in weeks.
- When demand is strictly transactional: "emergency locksmith district 3". Nobody reads an article while locked out.
- When you are testing a message or a market and want figures in a few days.
- When you can measure the whole chain to the sale and adjust daily.
Where the advertorial wins
- When the decision takes time: clinics, home services, B2B, education. The reader wants to understand before calling, and an article persuades better than a three-line ad.
- When the cost per click is high. At 10 lei per click, a 45-lei article pays for itself with the fifth visitor.
- When you want something that stays: the article is cited, forwarded, found a year later.
- When trust matters: an article on a publication known in town says "they exist, we know them" in a way an ad cannot.
How to combine them
The usual order: advertorials first, on the publications your customers read, answering the questions they ask before buying; then Google Ads on the transactional phrases, with the ad pointing either to the order page or to the already published article, when the customer needs arguments. The article lowers the ad's cost per conversion, because someone landing from an ad on a persuasive article buys more often than someone landing on a bare product page. Publications and price are on advertorial publishing; how to choose them, in how to choose the sites.
What nobody tells you
Google Ads is easy to measure and easy to lose money in: a large part of a small budget can go on the wrong phrases in the first months. The advertorial is hard to measure precisely and easy to write badly: a text about the company instead of a text about the customer's problem brings nothing. Neither is "set and forget". The real difference is that Ads mistakes show up in the report the next day, while advertorial mistakes show up as missing visits a month later.
Frequently asked questions
Does an advertorial bring guaranteed traffic?
No. It brings the publication's readers in the first days and search readers over time, if it answers a searched question. Nobody can guarantee visits, just as nobody can guarantee clicks at a given Ads budget.
Can I measure an advertorial like an ad?
Partly. For publications connected to Google Search Console you see the article's impressions and clicks in your account; visits to your own site show in your own analytics, with a tracking parameter on the link.
Google Ads to the article or to my site?
To your site for transactional phrases; to the article when you need to persuade before the sale. Test both for a month each, with the same budget.
What does an advertorial cost compared with a click?
On Comunicate.eu, 45 lei excluding VAT per publication on the 109 own-network sites, and 31 lei with the 100-publication package; other publications show their own price. Divide by your cost per click to compare: at 2 lei per click, one 45-lei article costs as much as 22 or 23 clicks. All prices are on the pricing page.