Integrating SEO and Paid Ads: How to Double Your Results

For most types of businesses, being visible online is key to success. Two main strategies for boosting visibility are SEO and paid ads: the first helps you build long-term organic traffic, while the second delivers quick visibility by targeting ready-to-buy customers.

 

But which one should you focus on? And what if you used both together?

 

Let’s compare both strategies and discuss why using both SEO and paid ads can be the best way to increase your reach, improve targeting, and maximize your ROI.

 

Why you need SEO

SEO, or Search Engine Optimization, is all about making your website more visible on search engines like Google, Bing, Yahoo, etc. When people search for your products or services, SEO helps your site appear at the top.

 

How does SEO work?

It’s pretty simple: when your website ranks higher, you get more organic traffic that you don’t have to pay for.

 

That’s the magic of SEO: it helps you attract people who are already looking for what you have by using specific keywords on your website. These people are interested in what you're offering and are more likely to take action, like buying your product, signing up for a newsletter, booking your services, etc.

 

Benefits of SEO

Here are the main benefits of search engine optimization that make it a must for business growth:

1. Builds trust and credibility: when you show up in organic search results, people trust you more. Over time, this leads to more visibility, more clicks, and more conversions.
2. Long-term growth: unlike paid ads, where you stop getting traffic as soon as you stop paying, SEO continues to deliver results over time. When your website ranks high in search results, it’s more likely to get consistent, organic traffic without constantly paying for it.
3. Increased visibility: as your website ranks higher, more people find you, and as more people find you and find your content relevant, your website advances in ranks. Relevancy and search engine ranks (= visibility) go hand in hand together, reinforcing each other.
4. Better user experience: SEO also involves making your website easy to navigate, fast to load, and mobile-friendly — this keeps your visitors happy and makes it easier for them to convert.
5. Higher ROI: SEO brings in people who are already looking for what you sell, so they’re more likely to become customers.

The traffic SEO brings will keep coming once you start ranking — it’ll consistently grow over time (as long as you keep optimizing your website), and most importantly, you won’t have to pay for it directly.

What does SEO include?

SEO includes several key parts that help your site show up higher on search results:

• Keyword research, or finding the keywords people use when searching for things related to your products, services, or industry in general. They help your content and website rank on search engines.
• On-page optimization, i.e. tweaking things on your website like titles, headings, meta descriptions, and URLs to make sure they include your target keywords and help users find the right information quickly.
• Technical SEO, which involves the behind-the-scenes stuff — making sure your website loads quickly, works well on mobile, and is easy for search engines to crawl and index.
• Content creation: relevant, fresh, high-quality content containing your keywords is key to SEO. Regularly adding valuable content keeps visitors engaged and helps your site rank higher.
• Link building, i.e. getting other trustworthy websites to link to your pages tells search engines your site is reliable. More quality links = better SEO performance.

Working on all of these aspects of SEO helps you make your website easily discoverable not just by the search engines, but also by the right people — in short, driving consistent, quality traffic.

 

For example, research shows that the top 3 ranking factors on Google Search are content, page experience, and backlinks. So, it’s not enough to focus on just one SEO tactic: you have to cover them all to achieve significant results.

SEO takes time, but the results it can bring you are worth the wait and the effort. Source: Ahrefs

 

If you’re looking for actionable ways to improve your website's organic traffic, check out our article with SEO tips for small and medium businesses.

 

Now, let’s take a look at paid advertising and why it’s also one of the bedrocks of business promotion.

 

Why you need paid advertising

While SEO brings great results, it can take time. If you want fast results, paid ads will be your main choice — they help you show up immediately where your audience is. When we talk about these ads, we’re really referring to a few different types.

 

First, there are PPC ads, or pay-per-click ads: this means that you pay each time someone clicks on your ad. One popular form of PPC is paid search ads, which show up at the top of search engine results when people search for keywords related to your business. Before Google and other search engines show the organic search results (the ones that SEO seeks to influence), it will show the paid search ads — that’s their key advantage.

 

Also, with paid search ads, just like with SEO, you’re targeting people with high intent — those who are actively searching for something related to your business.

 

Then there are paid social ads: they appear on platforms like Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, TikTok, and others.

 

Unlike paid search ads, social ads aren’t based on search intent. Instead, you can target people based on their interests, location, and behaviors. They’re perfect for building brand awareness or getting your products in front of people who might not be actively searching for them but can potentially be interested.

When people Google something, they'll see paid search ads first, organic results second. Using both SEO and paid ads can help you get all the top spots in the SERP.

 

As we’ve said, paid ads are great for driving traffic fast because they instantly give visibility. As soon as your campaign starts running, people can start clicking and coming to your website or wherever you send them.

 

Paid ads can appear on search engines, social media, and websites — anywhere your potential customers might be looking, raising your chances of success.

 

SEO or paid ads: what to choose?

So, both SEO and paid ads have their benefits and can help your business growth. How do you choose between them? Some marketers prefer to focus mostly on SEO, while others bet on paid advertising.

 

The answer lies in deciding what you want to achieve and how fast you need results.

 

When to choose paid ads

If you need quick results, paid ads are the way to go. They’re perfect for:

• Special promotions and events,
• New product launches,
• Targeting broad audiences and building brand awareness,
• Operating in a highly-competitive niche,
• Any situation where you need fast results.

Ads on search engines, websites, and social media give you immediate visibility and can bring in high-conversion visitors quickly. It's also great when you're working in a competitive market or have a short-term goal.

 

Just keep in mind that you’ll need to keep spending to maintain your visibility.

 

When to choose SEO

SEO is all about long-term growth and works well for:

• Local businesses,
• Opearing in niche markets,
• Working with limited budgets,
• Promoting something new that no one’s searching for yet,
• Building long-term brand recognition and credibility.

SEO is ideal for steady and consistent results that fluctuate less over time. But keep in mind that it takes a while to rank on Google or any other search engine — you need to commit and wait before you start seeing the results.

 

When to use both

SEO and paid ads might be used differently, but they work well together. Here's how combining them can grow your online presence:

• Higher reach: SEO builds a solid foundation with organic traffic, and paid ads give you instant visibility by targeting people already searching for your products. Together, they make your business visible in both organic and paid search — you reach more people.
• Better targeting: paid ads drive visitors who are ready to act, while SEO brings in long-term, relevant traffic — you target all types of visitors and get more conversions.
• More trust and credibility: appearing in both organic search results and paid ads boosts your credibility and gets you more clicks — users trust brands seen in both places.
• Accurate keyword insights: with both SEO and paid ads, you get a clearer picture of which keywords work. SEO shows which broad terms bring traffic, while paid ads let you test new keywords quickly.
• Less risk: SEO can be impacted by algorithm changes, but paid ads keep your visibility steady — if organic rankings drop, paid ads help maintain traffic. And if something happens to your ads, you can be sure that you’re still driving organic traffic to your website.
• Taking up more space on SERP: when you appear in both organic search results and paid ads, you dominate more of the search results page — in short, you’re more visible. It’s especially effective for brand names or highly competitive keywords.

Basically, combining both SEO and paid ads helps you balance short-term goals with long-term growth and maximize your ROI — what’s there not to want?

Learn about both SEO and paid ads' pros and cons before making your choice.

 

For example, this could be useful for new product launches. People might not be searching for it yet, so SEO will help gradually generate the demand for your product. Paid ads, on the other hand, will give you instant visibility.

 

The same goes for highly competitive markets. SEO alone might not get you to the top for competitive keywords, but paid ads can help you show up at the top of search results right away. While you work on your SEO, paid ads can drive traffic and help you dominate search results.

 

Now, let’s check how to both strategies together.

 

How to integrate SEO with paid ads: key strategies

1. Use paid ads to test new keywords for SEO

Paid ads let you test new keywords quickly. Instead of waiting months for SEO to show results, you can see right away how well a keyword works.

 

For example, if you see that a keyword is getting lots of clicks and conversions (like sales or sign-ups) in your ads, this is a sign that you can focus on it in your SEO strategy as well — you can start building content around it and working on ranking for it organically.

 

If a paid keyword is costing you too much without delivering good results, you can stp using it in your advertising and instead focus on improving your organic ranking for it.

 

2. Optimize ad performance with SEO data

Paid ads can give you some insights to use in your SEO strategy, but it can happen the other way around.

 

SEO can give you a clear picture of what content your audience prefers: simply look at what gets more clicks, higher CTR and retention rates. Check the content topic (what’s it about?), format (how is it structured? Does it use more visuals or text? etc.), and keywords that drives people to it.

 

Once you figure out which keywords are driving significant organic traffic to certain content and detect some patterns, you can tweak your paid ads to align them with what people are already interested in — they’ll be much more relevant.

 

For example, if you’re running an online store and you notice that blog posts a la "best [your product category]” are getting lots of organic traffic, it’s a strong sign that people are really interested in that topic.

 

Now, you can use this information to improve your paid ads. How? Write ad copy that highlights your most organically searched products using similar keywords — this is likely to bring you more clicks and conversions. Keep in mind that you can get more specific with your paid keywords to make sure you’re reaching relevant people.

 

3. Use paid ads to boost your best organic pages

If you’ve got a product page or blog post that’s already doing well in search results, paid ads can give it an extra boost. Running ads for these pages will get them in front of more people, especially when you’re running a sale or promoting something special.

 

For example, if you have a product page for a winter jacket that’s ranking well, running ads during a winter sale can bring in even more people who are looking for jackets. Advertising during big shopping events like Black Friday or holiday sales can be especially helpful when you want to catch shoppers’ attention quickly.

 

4. Retarget organic visitors with paid ads

Not all visitors who land on your website will convert on their first visit. In fact, only a small percentage of them will make a purchase or sign up right away — that’s why retargeting is so important.

 

When someone comes to your website from search engines organically but leaves without taking action, use retargeting ads to bring them back. For example, if they’ve spent time on website pages related to certain products, you can show them ads for this exact product to retain their interest and get them closer to purchase.

 

So, run retargeting ads on both search engines and social media platforms to make sure no potential customer is left unattended. For example, running Google and Meta ads together alongside with SEO will help you cover all of your bases and get more conversions.

 

5. Create a consistent brand message

When using SEO along with paid ads, make sure your brand’s message stays clear and consistent across both channels.

 

For example, you can highlight a key feature of your product in your SEO content: write blog posts or landing pages emphasizing this feature and using specific keywords that mention it. To keep the message consistent in your paid ads, mention the same feature in the ad copy — this will reinforce your key selling point and make your brand more recognizable.

 

6. Optimize landing pages

Another important thing is optimizing your landing pages for both SEO and PPC to get the best results from both channels.

 

For example, if you're running ads for a special promotion on certain products, your landing page should feature a clear headline like with a matching call to action (e.g. "Shop Now"). It should load quickly, be mobile-friendly, and have all other characteristics of a good landing page.

 

If your page also includes detailed product descriptions, customer reviews, and easy navigation, it’ll not only convert more visitors coming from your ads but also boost your SEO. Your lading page will provide relevant and smooth user experience, helping users find the necessary details about your products and make the right decision.

 

You can find more details on creating landing pages that convert in our blog.

 

7. Track and adjust regularly

To ensure SEO and paid ads work well together, track the right metrics.

 

For SEO, start with organic traffic — it shows how many people find your site through search. Watch keyword rankings to see which ones are improving or need attention. You should also track click-through rates (CTR) for your organic results to see how relevant your content is for specific keywords, and check bounce rates and time on page — these show how engaged people are once they land on your site.

 

To make this easier, use Google Analytics to track user behavior on your website and Google Search Console to see which keywords are driving the most traffic. If you prefer other search engines to Google, check if they have their own tracking tools or use third-party SEO tools.

 

Next, there are several advertising metrics and KPIs you can track to keep your ad performance under control. You can focus on CTR (how often your ad gets clicked compared to how often it’s shown) and conversion rates (how many of those clicks lead to sales or sign-ups), as well as cost per click (CPC) and cost per conversion — they’ll tell you how effective your ads are and whether your spending is paying off.

For the most part, SEO and paid advertising have different metrics and KPIs.

 

You can check all of these metrics in your dashboard on the advertising platform you use (for example, on Facebook you can find them in the Ads Manager). Paid SEO tools like SEMrush and others can also help: you can track not just organic but also paid keywords from your Paid Search campaigns.

 

Keeping track of these metrics and KPIs will help you decide which keywords to target and what types of content or ads to create based for them.

 

8. Budget the right way

When you follow several strategies at the same time, you can find yourself asking: where should most of your money go? Of course, everything will depend on your priorities: long-term organic growth or faster paid results. Ideally, you’d want both — in this case, you should make sure you’ve got enough budget to spend on each strategy.

 

It’s best to start with a balanced approach: you can allocate around 60-70% of your budget to SEO for long-term growth and 30-40% to paid ads for short-term results. You can also start with a 50/50 split and adjust based on your results — just keep tracking your metrics.

 

During peak seasons (like holidays, special sales events, or product launches), you can raise your ad budget to drive high-intent traffic. Outside of those busy times, spend more on SEO — it's a long-term strategy, so you need to wait before you see the results.

 

Recap

To sum it up, SEO and paid ads are both powerful tools, but they each tackle different tasks.

 

Paid ads give you quick results and bring in traffic quickly, while SEO helps you grow steadily over time. Think of it this way: paid ads are a sprint, and SEO is a marathon — they requite different speeds and strategies to win.

 

When you use both together, you open up a whole new world of opportunities to grow your business. You get better visibility, reach the right people, and get the most out of your marketing efforts.