The short answer
Ads bring enquiries within days but stop when you stop paying. SEO takes months but keeps working. Most local businesses do best using ads now, and using what works in ads to decide which pages to build for SEO.
Google Ads
- Speed
- Days
- Cost
- Per click
- Stops when you stop paying
- Yes
SEO
- Speed
- Months
- Cost
- Time and content
- Stops when you stop paying
- No
How they differ
Google Ads buys a place at the top for chosen searches, today. SEO earns a place in the free results over time by having the most useful page for a search.
Use ads to choose your SEO pages
Ads tell you quickly which searches turn into customers. If ‘accessible bathroom munich’ brings five enquiries a month from ads but your site has no page about it, that's the page to build next.
Orbit Grow connects your ad results with Google Search Console to spot exactly these gaps.
Avoid the city-page trap
Creating dozens of near-identical pages for every town rarely works and can hurt you. Build fewer, genuinely useful pages based on real demand and real facts about your business.
Let Orbit Grow do this for you
€89 a month, 0% of your ad spend. Try it free for 14 days.
Start free trialQuestions
Is SEO free?
Clicks are free, but good pages take time or money to create and maintain.
Can ads help my SEO directly?
Ads don't change your organic rankings. They show which searches convert, so you can build the right pages.
Which should I start with?
If you need enquiries soon, start with ads and use them to plan SEO. If you can wait months, invest in pages first.