When you want more customers from online search, two options come up straight away: search engine optimisation (SEO) and paid advertising. Both can work. The right starting point depends on how quickly you need results, what you can spend and how competitive your market is.
How SEO works
SEO means improving your website so it appears in Google’s free (organic) results when people search for what you offer. The work includes fixing technical issues, improving page content, building your Google Business Profile and publishing useful articles.
Strengths:
- You don’t pay for each click.
- Results tend to build and last while the work continues.
- Ranking well builds trust, because many people skip the ads.
Limitations:
- It takes time. Progress is usually measured in months, not weeks.
- Nobody can guarantee rankings, because Google decides them.
How paid ads work
With Google Ads or Meta Ads (Facebook and Instagram), you pay to show your ads to people searching for, or likely to be interested in, your service. You can start, pause or change campaigns at any time.
Strengths:
- Visitors can arrive within days of launching.
- You can target by location, interests, keywords and more.
- It’s useful for testing which messages and offers people respond to.
Limitations:
- Traffic stops when you stop paying.
- Costs can rise in competitive markets.
- Without proper tracking, it’s easy to spend money without knowing what works.
How to decide
Ask yourself three questions.
- How soon do you need enquiries? If you need leads this month, start with paid ads. If you’re building for the year ahead, invest in SEO.
- What can you spend consistently? Ads need an ongoing budget for the platform plus management. SEO needs steady investment in content and improvements.
- Is your website ready? Both approaches send people to your site. If it’s slow, unclear or hard to use on a phone, fix that first, or you’ll pay to send visitors to a page that doesn’t convert.
The approach that often works best
Many businesses use both: paid ads for immediate enquiries while SEO builds in the background. Over time, as organic visibility grows, you can reduce how much you rely on ads.
Whatever you choose, set up conversion tracking first, so you can see which channel actually brings in enquiries rather than just clicks.
Need help choosing?
Every business is different. If you’re unsure where to put your budget, tell us about your goals and we’ll recommend a sensible starting point.
Want help putting this into practice? Tell us about your business and we'll suggest a sensible first step.
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