Start with the job you need search to do
SEO and Google Ads can both connect a business with people looking for its offer. They have different funding and operating requirements. The useful starting point is a specific service, location and customer, along with a website that explains the offer. The right choice depends on your starting visibility, the available demand, capacity and how you turn an enquiry into a customer.
Choose around your situation
Paid search may suit a controlled test of a defined offer when there is relevant demand and enough budget to learn. SEO can improve useful pages and ongoing discovery, but a new page has no fixed deadline for ranking. An established business may need both. If the offer or enquiry process is unclear, fix that destination before paying to bring more visitors to it.
| Situation | Useful starting approach |
|---|---|
| A specific offer needs a controlled demand test. | Consider a tightly scoped Ads test with a relevant page and working measurement. |
| Existing pages already earn relevant search impressions. | Review page/query evidence and prioritise useful SEO improvements. |
| Visitors arrive but the offer or next step is unclear. | Improve the website and enquiry journey first. |
| The business wants to build product or service discovery over time. | Plan useful pages and ongoing SEO around that catalogue or offer. |
| Both channels are affordable and measurable. | Give each a defined role and review qualified enquiries separately. |
Work backwards from a worthwhile enquiry
An affordable cost per enquiry depends on the margin from a customer and the proportion of suitable enquiries that become work. Use contribution after direct delivery costs rather than sales revenue alone. Then allow for acquisition costs, overheads and the return the business needs. A break-even calculation is a limit to understand, not a target to spend up to.
| Hypothetical example only | Calculation |
|---|---|
| Contribution per new customer after direct delivery costs | A$500 |
| Suitable enquiries becoming customers | 1 in 5, or 20% |
| Expected contribution per enquiry | A$500 × 20% = A$100 |
| Illustrative advertising cost per enquiry | A$60 |
| Remaining before other acquisition costs and overheads | A$100 − A$60 = A$40 per enquiry |
This worked example uses hypothetical figures to explain the calculation. Allow for management fees, page work, overheads and uncertainty. Your own enquiry quality and close rate will affect the result.
Measure the same business outcome
Clicks, search impressions and average positions describe different parts of discovery. Neither a paid click nor an organic visit is a confirmed sale. Track the source of a completed enquiry where practical, identify whether it was suitable and record the eventual outcome. Review the channel’s total costs alongside the work it brings in, rather than comparing an advertising click directly with an SEO reporting metric.
Check what can actually be delivered
For SEO, establish which pages need improving and what ongoing work is included. For Ads, separate the advertising budget, campaign management, landing-page work and measurement setup. Agree who owns the accounts and who responds to enquiries. If tracking or delivery is not working, treat that as part of the initial job rather than assuming that a traffic report proves success.
Make the first plan small enough to learn
Choose one useful offer and a service area the business can genuinely serve. Establish the relevant page, a working contact route and a review process. Expand when the enquiry quality, capacity and economics support it. The next step may be SEO, a landing page, an advertising test or simply a clearer website; the evidence should decide.