SEO vs Google Ads: which should a Perth business do first?
SEO or Google Ads first? How the two compare on speed, cost and what happens when you stop paying, with real results from our Perth clients on both sides.
If you need enquiries in the next few weeks, start with Google Ads. If you can give it three to six months and want enquiries that keep coming when you stop paying, start with SEO. If the budget covers both, run ads now, build SEO underneath, and let the ads step back as the pages rank. The rest of this post is how to tell which of those you are, with real numbers from both sides of our own work.
Not sure which to start with?
Get a free SEO check and we will tell you straight which channel should come first.
SEO vs Google Ads at a glance
| Google Ads | SEO | |
|---|---|---|
| Starts working | The day a campaign goes live | Usually three to six months for steady movement |
| What you pay | A management fee plus ad spend paid to Google | The work, nothing is bid on |
| Our price | From $800 inc GST every 4 weeks, plus ad spend | From $1,000 inc GST every 4 weeks |
| When you stop paying | The traffic stops the same day | The pages keep ranking and bringing in visits |
| Best for | Enquiries now, testing which searches convert | Lower cost per enquiry over time, searches with expensive clicks |
Prices as on our Google Ads and SEO pricing pages, 09/11/2026. Ad spend is separate and paid to Google from your own account.
The cost profiles are opposite. With Google Ads, every visit has a price and the meter runs as long as the campaign does. With SEO, you pay for work up front and the pages it builds are still on your site, and still ranking, months later. How long that takes is covered in how long SEO takes to work.
Start with Google Ads when
- You need enquiries this month. SEO cannot be hurried into the next few weeks. A Search campaign can be live in days.
- One job is worth far more than a click. For a trade, a repair or a local appointment, a small budget can pay its way. Impact Dents got 1,100 deduplicated tracked enquiries at $9.53 each over twelve months, off one Google Ads Search campaign at around $30 a day.
- You want to learn which searches convert. Ads show you within weeks which searches turn into enquiries. That tells you which pages to build first when SEO starts.
- You are new to a search and a long way back. If your site is on page four for the searches that matter, ads put you at the top while the organic work catches up.
The Impact Dents result is the best case for a small budget, not a forecast. Click costs vary a lot by trade, which is why our guide to Google Ads on a small budget walks through the sum before you pick a budget.
Start with SEO when
- Clicks in your trade are expensive. Google's Keyword Planner gave top-of-page bid ranges of $7.62 to $64.89 a click for "emergency plumber" in Australia on 26/10/2026, against $1.54 to $3.98 for "car detailing near me". When every click costs that much, ranking for free pays back faster.
- You can give it months. If the business is steady and the goal is a lower cost per enquiry over the next year, SEO is the better first spend.
- You want traffic that holds when spend stops. Greenerscapes ran Google Ads and SEO together until May 2026, when both stopped. Paid search went from 123 visits in February to none by May, and organic search went from 109 in May to 251 in September.
- You are already close to page one. If your main searches sit on page two, a few cycles of SEO can lift them onto page one, which can cost less than buying the same clicks every month.
The full story is in the Greenerscapes case study.
When nobody is searching for it yet
Both channels assume people already search for what you sell. When they do not, SEO has nothing to rank for and search ads have little to show up on. Auzpod builds modular pod dwellings, a category most buyers do not know exists. As the Auzpod case study puts it, you cannot wait for organic search to build, because a category that nobody searches for has nothing to rank against.
So we ran Google Ads, Meta and SEO together for a ten week launch. Google Ads picked up the narrow band of demand that did exist, with a 12.7% click through rate across 15,968 impressions at $1.48 a click. The two paid channels delivered 73% of the site's sessions, and SEO ran underneath, building the foundation that would still be there when the ad budget stopped.
Running both: how we do it for ETA Training
Most businesses that can afford both should run both, but planned together rather than bid against each other. ETA Training is a Perth training provider where we run SEO and Google Ads side by side. Google Ads carries the courses that cannot wait for a page to rank. Where organic already owns a term, paid steps back; where a course is new or seasonal, paid carries it.
- SEO side. Australian organic clicks grew from 4,283 to 13,259 across two twelve month windows, up 210%.
- Google Ads side. Cost per enrolment went from $79.80 to $42.58, down 47 per cent, June 2026 to July 2026, after the account was restructured.
- Together. The two are planned together rather than bid against each other: paid covers the gaps, organic carries the searches it already wins.
The figures and dates are in the ETA Training case study.
What results look like on each side
These are our own clients, with the numbers as published on their case studies. Results depend on the market, so treat them as examples, not a forecast for yours.
| Client | Channel | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Impact Dents | Google Ads | 1,100 tracked enquiries at $9.53 each, 19/08/2025 to 18/08/2026 |
| West Coast Health Physio | Google Ads | 229 booked appointments at $44.33 each, 19/08/2025 to 18/08/2026 |
| Rest-A-Sured Security | SEO | Perth security searches on page one, 16 to 46, eight weeks before the work against 10/09 to 04/11/2026 |
| Greenerscapes | SEO | Organic visits 109 to 251 a month, May against September 2026, with no ads running |
Figures as published on each case study, where each sets out its own source and method.
Work out which pays back for you
Three numbers decide it: what an enquiry is worth to you, what a click costs in your trade, and how soon you need the phone to ring. If a click is cheap and a job is worth a lot, ads can pay from the first week. If clicks are expensive and you can wait, SEO usually wins over a year. If you are not sure SEO is worth it at all, is SEO worth it for a small business has the sum to run first.
With us, SEO in Perth starts from $1,000 including GST, billed every 4 weeks. Google Ads management starts from $800 including GST, billed every 4 weeks, plus ad spend paid to Google from your own account: we recommend at least $30 a day, about $913 a month. Standalone retainers are rolling with no lock-in.
Common questions
Is SEO or Google Ads better for a small business?
Neither is better in every case. Google Ads is faster: it puts you in front of searches the day a campaign goes live, and stops when you stop paying. SEO is slower, usually three to six months before steady movement, but the traffic keeps coming without a cost per click. If you need enquiries this month, start with Google Ads. If you can wait and clicks in your trade are expensive, start with SEO.
Should I do SEO and Google Ads at the same time?
If the budget covers both, yes. Run Google Ads for the enquiries you need now and build SEO underneath. As pages start to rank, let the ads step back on the searches organic already wins and keep them on new, seasonal or hard-to-rank searches. That is how we run SEO and Google Ads together for ETA Training.
How much do SEO and Google Ads cost in Perth?
With Enkindle, SEO starts from $1,000 including GST, billed every 4 weeks. Google Ads management starts from $800 including GST, billed every 4 weeks, plus the ad spend you pay Google from your own account. We recommend at least $30 a day for ad spend, about $913 a month. Both are custom quoted above the floor, and standalone retainers are rolling with no lock-in.
Does Google Ads help SEO?
Not directly. Paying for ads does not change where your site ranks in the organic results. What ads do give you is fast data on which searches turn into enquiries, which tells you which pages are worth building for SEO first.
Get The Enkindle Insights every second week.
A short email for Perth and Australian business owners. Here's what's in each one:
- Our newest Insights post
- Three quick updates on what's changed on Google, Meta and AI search
- One practical tip you can try yourself
