We hear this one a lot. A business has finally started ranking, the organic traffic is climbing, and someone asks the obvious question: why are we still paying for clicks we could get for free?
It is a fair question. It is also the wrong one. The choice is rarely Google Ads or SEO. It is about what each channel is good at, and where the gaps sit in between.
Here is how we think about it.
They solve different problems
SEO is a compounding asset. You build content and authority, and over months it earns you rankings that keep working while you sleep. The traffic is effectively free once you have done the work, though the work is never really finished.
Google Ads is a tap. You turn it on, traffic arrives. You turn it off, it stops. You pay for every click, but you control exactly which searches you show up for and when.
That difference matters. SEO is slow to build and slow to lose. Ads are instant to start and instant to stop. One is patience, the other is a switch.
So the real question is not "which is better" but "what does this business need right now, and what will it need in six months".
When SEO alone is genuinely enough
We will not pretend everyone needs to spend on ads. Sometimes SEO carries the load fine on its own.
If you rank in the top two or three positions for the searches that actually convert, and those searches have low commercial competition, ads often just cannibalise clicks you would have got anyway. You end up paying for a visitor who was going to find you regardless.
This is common for established local businesses with a strong Google Business Profile, or for niche services where three or four competitors exist and you are already one of them.
If that is you, spending on ads for your own brand terms or your best organic keywords is usually poor value. Put the budget somewhere it earns more.
When you still need Google Ads
There are several situations where dropping ads costs you money, even with strong SEO.
You do not yet rank for the terms that matter. SEO takes months. If you are launching a service or entering a new area, ads put you on page one today while your organic rankings catch up. We have seen businesses treat ads as the bridge and then taper spend as organic climbs.
The search has high commercial intent and heavy competition. For terms like "emergency plumber" or "conveyancing solicitor near me", the top of the page is dominated by ads and the map pack. Even a strong organic ranking sits below the fold. If the money is in those searches, you have to compete where the clicks happen.
You want to control the message. Organic listings show whatever Google decides. Ads let you test specific offers, landing pages, and calls to action. If you are running a seasonal promotion or a new product, ads give you a controllable channel that SEO simply cannot match on speed.
You need data fast. Ads tell you within days which keywords convert, what people search before they buy, and which landing pages work. That intelligence feeds your SEO strategy. Many of our best organic content decisions come straight out of paid search data.
The overlap that trips people up
Here is where it gets interesting. When you rank organically AND run an ad for the same search, you take up more of the page. Two listings, more space, more perceived authority.
Does that double your clicks? No. But it does not simply waste the ad spend either. Some searchers click the ad, some click the organic result, and the presence of both can lift total clicks compared to organic alone, especially on competitive terms.
The nuance is your brand searches. If someone types your company name, they were going to find you. Bidding on your own brand only makes sense if a competitor is bidding on it too, or if your organic listing is weak. Otherwise it is money you did not need to spend.
Test it. Pause brand ads for two weeks and watch whether total conversions actually drop. Most of the time they barely move.
How we split the two in practice
When we plan a channel mix, we start with the customer journey, not the tools.
We map the searches people make from first curiosity through to ready-to-buy. Then we decide which channel owns each stage.
Early research searches, the "how do I" and "what is the best way" queries, are almost always SEO territory. High volume, low intent, expensive to buy. Content earns these.
Bottom-of-funnel searches, the "buy", "near me", "quote", and "pricing" queries, are where ads earn their keep, particularly if you do not yet rank. High intent, worth paying for.
Then we watch the overlap and cut spend where organic already delivers. This is not a set-and-forget split. It shifts every quarter as rankings change.
If you want the mechanics of getting more from paid without simply raising the budget, we covered that in how to get more leads from your website without spending more on ads.
A simple decision framework
Ask yourself three questions.
First, do you already rank in the top three for your money keywords? If yes, ads on those exact terms are probably optional. If no, ads fill the gap now.
Second, how competitive and ad-heavy is the search page? If ads and the map pack push organic below the fold, you need to be in the ad space regardless of your ranking.
Third, how fast do you need results? SEO is a six to twelve month play. If you need leads this month, ads are the only realistic answer.
Most businesses land somewhere in the middle: SEO as the long game, ads for the terms they cannot yet win organically and for anything time-sensitive.
Our honest take
Dropping Google Ads because SEO is working is like cancelling your car insurance because you have not crashed. The channel is doing a job you might not notice until it is gone.
But we are equally against spending on ads out of habit. If your organic listings own a search, redirect that budget to terms you do not yet win, or to a market you have not entered.
The goal is not to run both forever at full spend. It is to use each where it is strongest, review the overlap honestly, and keep shifting the balance as your rankings mature.
If you want a clear-eyed view of where your paid budget is working and where SEO could replace it, our Google Ads work starts with exactly that audit. No point paying for clicks you already own.
Do the maths on your own searches before you cut anything. The answer is almost never all of one and none of the other.
Madelyn, Marketing Director
