Most articles comparing these two are written by agencies who sell one of them. I have spent my own money on both, for a real service business. Here is what actually came back.
What I spent, and what it returned
Before I was in this business, I started to spend $1,000 per month on ads. It did bring me clients, but there was always money spending on ads, and you need to check them every week so it won't burn your money.
If I spent $1,000, I gained from the ads maybe $4,000 to $5,000. But for every month scale, that's a lot.
After I started my SEO, I started to get customers more. And those customers are not cold leads — they know what they're getting, they are not tire kickers.
Basically I can tell you this with confidence: between ads and SEO, I will choose SEO. The reason why is the quality of customer you will get, and they will not bargain you for cents.
The difference nobody explains until you have lived it
When you stop paying ads today, your leads coming will stop the same day.
But with SEO it won't be like that. That's why we are always saying SEO is an investment. When you start getting your SEO, it will grow and grow each day. Even if you stop making your SEO, you will still get customers through there. It won't be stopping — until somebody will make better SEO management than you, then you will start to rank lower.
That is the real split between the two. Ads are an expense that stops the moment you stop. SEO is an asset that only fades when somebody outworks you.
When ads are actually the right answer
For the first starting businesses, we do advise first ads, of course, because that's going to be where your money is coming.
For SEO, long term investment. When I say long term, it will start like one to two months, you will start to get the result. And each month — and I can say even each day — it will start to grow and grow. And you will get non-stop leads from the SEO.
But for the ads, it's like a scale. How much you pay, how much you will get. You always need to pay.
If you're starting the business first, you need to pay for the ads. You have to. But if you want to play for the long term and you don't have any rush, I will choose SEO. If you're going to choose both at the same time, even better. You will get more business opportunity and leads.
How ads actually burn your money
What goes wrong with the ads — Google Ads, and Facebook and Instagram, surely Meta ads — is that they will show your ads to people based on how much you spend.
If you spend $100, for example, they will show 1,000 people. But if you're going to keep your ads like that for a month, you will just burn your money, because the same 1,000 people, or the same maybe 5,000 people, are going to see your ad. They're going to get bored. They're going to just scroll down.
So you need to check your statistics. You need to read the graphics and you need to make a decision: should you make new ads, or should you stick with your same ads?
That's why we say you might burn your money. You might just spend money for nothing, and you will not get a client. So even with ads management, there is an important part over there — you need to check the statistics. It is the same test I would apply to any company you hire to run either channel: can they show you what was actually done?
How to split a $1,000 budget
If somebody contacts us and they give us a budget around a thousand dollars, first I'm gonna ask them: how bad do you need a customer right now? How urgent is your customer need?
- If they are in an okay state and they don't need a customer that badly, I'm gonna invest in the SEO most of it. I can say 70% SEO and 30% ads. The reason why: the SEO will bring the money at the long term.
- If they need a customer urgent, I will invest at the SEO 30%, and 70% is going to be the ads.
So it depends on their business, sale, and business need. You can see how that maps onto our monthly SEO and ads management packages if you want the numbers side by side.
That question — how urgently do you need a customer right now — is the one to ask yourself before you spend anything. Everything else follows from the answer.
Questions business owners ask me
Is SEO or Google Ads better for a small business?
It depends how urgently you need customers. Ads bring leads the same day but stop the same day you stop paying. SEO takes one to two months to start showing results, then keeps growing and keeps working even if you pause it. For lead quality, SEO customers tend to know what they are getting and argue less about price.
How much should a small business spend on Google Ads?
Spending $1,000 a month on ads returned roughly $4,000 to $5,000 for my own service business, but it requires checking the statistics weekly or the money burns. Budget matters less than whether someone is watching the numbers and refreshing the creative.
Why do my ads stop working after a few weeks?
Ad fatigue. The platform shows your ad to a set number of people based on your spend, and after a while the same audience keeps seeing the same ad, gets bored, and scrolls past. You have to read the statistics and decide whether to refresh the creative or keep running it.
Should I do SEO and Google Ads at the same time?
If you can afford both, that is the best position - you get immediate leads from ads while the SEO builds underneath. If the budget only stretches to one, choose based on urgency: ads if you need jobs this month, SEO if you can play the longer game.
Not sure where your budget should go?
Tell me what you’re spending now and how urgently you need work. I’ll tell you straight which side your money belongs on this month.
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