SEO vs PPC: which should you invest in?

SEO (search engine optimisation) earns you a place in Google's free results. PPC (pay per click advertising, such as Google Ads) buys you a place in the paid results above them. Both put you in front of people searching for what you sell, so the question isn't which works, but which suits you right now.

How they compare

• Speed. PPC can bring visitors the day you launch. SEO usually takes three to six months to build, longer in a competitive market.
• Cost. With PPC you pay for every click, and the traffic stops when the budget does. SEO costs time and expertise up front, then keeps bringing visitors without paying for each one.
• Control. PPC lets you choose exactly which searches, locations and times to show for, and test messages quickly. SEO gives you less control and more staying power.
• Trust. Many people skip the ads and click the first free result. Ranking well signals that Google trusts you.
• AI search. Google's AI answers and tools like ChatGPT draw on the same signals SEO builds: clear, useful pages and other sites mentioning you.

When to start with PPC

• You need leads or sales quickly.
• You're launching something new, or testing which messages and offers work.
• Your website is new and won't rank for a while.
• You sell something seasonal or time-limited.

When to put more into SEO

• You're building for the long term and want lower costs over time.
• Your paid clicks are expensive and you want to rely on them less.
• People research before they buy, reading guides and comparisons.
• You want AI tools to recommend you.

Many businesses underrate organic search because it's slow and hard to see. Done well, it's often one of the biggest growth opportunities they have. For an ecommerce store, for example, improving your category pages one at a time can be some of the best value work you'll do.

Why they work best together

• Use PPC to test which searches convert, then build SEO pages around the best ones.
• Cover the searches you don't rank for yet with ads, and pull back spend as your rankings grow.
• Being in both the paid and free results for an important search builds trust and takes more of the clicks.
• Search Console and Google Ads data together show you the full picture of what people search for.

See what each costs in our pricing guide, or talk to our SEO and Google Ads teams about the right mix for you.