Buy the clicks, or earn them
We sell both of these, which makes this the one comparison where we have an incentive to be vague. So here is the specific version: which one you should start with depends on how fast you need the phone to ring and how long you plan to be in business.
Ads buy certainty and speed. SEO buys margin and durability. If you can only fund one and you need work this month, run ads. If you need work every month for the next five years, start the search work now.
Google Ads next to a HogTron build.
When ads should come first
We would rather lose the job than sell you something you do not need. If any of these describe you, keep your money.
- You have capacity to fill this month and no time to wait for rankings.
- You are launching a new service and want to know if anyone wants it before building pages around it.
- Your season is short and you need to be in front of buyers during the eight weeks that matter.
- You are in a category where the top organic results are national aggregators and the local fight is happening in the ad slots.
How we usually split it
Ads on, tightly scoped
A small budget on the two or three terms with clear buying intent, with call tracking on from day one so we know what a booked job actually costs.
Search work in parallel
Profile, pages, schema, reviews. The ad data tells us which services are worth building pages for, which is a better brief than keyword tools alone.
Shift the budget as the organic side lands
When a term ranks, the ad on that term usually comes down. Ad spend moves to the next gap rather than defending ground you already hold.
What people ask about Google Ads.
Can I do both on a small budget?
Do ads help my organic rankings?
How do I know the ads are working?
Find out where you actually stand.
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