Category: Google Ads, SEO Management
In an ideal world, every local business would run Google Ads and invest in search engine optimisation (SEO) at the same time. The two work well together, and each covers the other’s weak spots. But most small businesses don’t have an ideal world budget. They have enough for one, and they want to know which.
We look after both, so we don’t have a reason to push you towards either. The honest answer is that it depends on your business, and in particular on how quickly you need the phone to ring and how long you’re prepared to wait for things to build.
The difference in one sentence
Google Ads is a tap. You turn it on and enquiries can start arriving within days, and when you turn it off, they stop. SEO is more like a well. It takes time and effort to dig, but once it’s working it keeps giving without you paying for every visit.
Neither is better. They just suit different situations.
When Google Ads should come first
If you’ve just opened, or just moved into a new area, Google Ads is almost always the right place to start. A new café in Salisbury, a new salon in Amesbury or a tradesperson who has just set up on their own can’t wait six months for their website to start ranking. They need customers now, and Google Ads can put them in front of people searching today.
Ads also make sense if you have a specific gap to fill. Maybe you’ve got capacity in the quiet months, a new service you want to launch, or a short season you need to make the most of. Ads can be switched on, turned up and turned down to match.
And if you’re in a crowded market where the free results are dominated by big national websites, ads may be the only realistic way to appear at the top for some searches, at least while you work on everything else.
The downside is that you’re paying for every click, every month, for as long as you want the results. The day the budget stops, so does the traffic. There’s nothing left behind except what you’ve learned.
When SEO should come first
If you’re established, already reasonably busy and thinking about the next few years rather than the next few weeks, SEO is often the better investment.
A trades business that has been going for ten years, with a decent website and a good reputation, is in a strong position to build up its free rankings. It isn’t desperate for enquiries this month. What it wants is a steadier flow of the right sort of work over time, without paying for every single click. That’s exactly what SEO is good at.
SEO also tends to pay off where people do a lot of research before choosing, such as solicitors, accountants, builders or anyone selling something expensive. Those customers often read several pages before getting in touch, and appearing for the questions they ask along the way builds trust in a way an advert can’t.
The downside is time. For most local businesses it takes a few months before SEO really starts to show, and longer in competitive markets. If you need enquiries next week, SEO won’t give you them.
A few questions to help you decide
How soon do you need new customers? If the honest answer is “now”, start with ads.
How long do you expect to be in business in this area? If you’re planning for the long term, SEO builds something you own.
How much is a new customer worth? If each customer is worth a lot, both can work. If margins are thin, the cost per click in your trade might make ads hard to justify, and that’s worth checking before you start.
How good is your website? Both ads and SEO depend on it. If your website is slow, out of date or hard to use on a phone, it will hold back whichever you choose, and that may need sorting first.
How much time can you give it? Ads need someone watching the account regularly. SEO needs someone who can supply information, photos and reviews. Either way, it isn’t entirely hands off.
What we’d suggest for most small local businesses
If you genuinely can only afford one, a sensible approach for many businesses is to start with Google Ads to get enquiries coming in, keeping it tightly focused on the searches closest to someone buying and the area you actually serve. At the same time, do the free SEO basics yourself: claim and fill in your Google Business Profile, ask every happy customer for a review and make sure your website clearly says what you do and where.
Then, as the business grows, move some of the budget towards proper SEO. Over time the free rankings build up, and you can reduce the ad spend for searches where you’re already doing well organically.
The search terms report in Google Ads is useful here too. It shows you exactly what people typed before they clicked, which is valuable information for your SEO later on.
The one thing to avoid
The worst option is splitting a very small budget so thinly across both that neither has a chance to work. A tiny ad budget spread across lots of searches won’t get enough clicks to tell you anything, and a tiny SEO budget won’t buy enough work to move the needle. Doing one thing properly is better than two things half-heartedly.
We’ve written before about getting the most from your marketing and advertising spend, and the principle is the same. Know what you’re spending, know what it’s bringing in, and be prepared to change course.
If you’d like an honest view on which would suit your business, the friendly, experienced team at Spire Digital look after both search engine optimisation (SEO) and pay-per-click (PPC) advertising for businesses in Salisbury and the surrounding area. Give us a call on 01722 320 500 and we’ll talk it through.