---
title: "SEO vs PPC"
url: https://marketingsignals.com/glossary/seo-vs-ppc
type: Page
---

# SEO vs PPC

SEO vs PPC compared: cost, speed, control and placement, when to use organic or paid search, and how to plan the two together on the same results page.

Glossary comparison

## SEO vs PPC

SEO and PPC both win visibility on search results pages, but in different ways. SEO earns unpaid organic rankings, which take months to build and keep working. PPC buys ad placements through an auction, with traffic that starts as soon as ads are approved and stops when spending stops.

## SEO and PPC compared

|  | SEO | PPC |
| --- | --- | --- |
| How you pay | No fee per click; pay for content and technical work | Pay per click, priced by an auction |
| Speed | Usually months to build rankings | Traffic as soon as ads are approved |
| When spending stops | Rankings and traffic usually persist for a time | Ad traffic stops straight away |
| Control | Google decides rankings | You control keywords, copy, budget and landing page |
| Can money buy placement? | No, organic placement cannot be bought | Yes, Ad Rank weighs bid and ad quality |
| Placement | Organic results, snippets and AI Overviews | Labelled ad slots on the results page |
| Testing | Changes take weeks to show | Copy and offers testable within days |
| Best for | Evergreen and informational demand | Launches, offers and high-intent commercial terms |

## When to use each

Google says no one can buy better placement in its organic results, so SEO is the only route to them. It suits demand that will still exist in two years: category pages, guides and the questions buyers ask before they are ready to choose. PPC suits anything that needs traffic now or for a fixed period.

- Use PPC for launches, sales, events and new sites that cannot rank yet
- Use PPC to test which keywords and messages convert before investing in content
- Use SEO for informational queries, where ads are expensive or absent
- Use SEO to lower dependence on rising click costs over time

## How SEO and PPC work together

The two share the same results page, the same searchers and the same keyword data, which is why most businesses plan them together. PPC's search terms report shows which queries convert, which tells SEO where to build pages. Strong organic rankings show where paid spend may add least.

Pausing ads on terms you already rank for is tempting but worth testing. In 2011 Google reported that across more than 400 studies, 89% of paid clicks lost when ads were paused were not replaced by organic clicks. That figure is Google's own average, so test it against your own account before cutting spend.

## Example

A garden furniture retailer launches a new range in March. Google Ads brings sales from the first week while the new category page is too new to rank. By the following spring the page ranks on page one, and the retailer tests reducing bids on the range's broadest terms while keeping ads on high-margin product queries.

## Related terms

- [Search engine marketing (SEM)](https://marketingsignals.com/glossary/search-engine-marketing)
- [Paid and organic overlap](https://marketingsignals.com/glossary/paid-and-organic-overlap)
- [Technical SEO](https://marketingsignals.com/glossary/technical-seo)
- [Cost per click (CPC)](https://marketingsignals.com/glossary/cost-per-click)
- [Quality Score (QS)](https://marketingsignals.com/glossary/quality-score)
- [Incrementality testing](https://marketingsignals.com/glossary/incrementality-testing)
- [SERP](https://marketingsignals.com/glossary/serp)

## Further reading

- [SEO vs. SEM: How They Differ and When Each Strategy is Best](https://marketingsignals.com/insights/seo-vs-sem-how-they-differ-and-when-each-strategy-is-best)

Our [Integrated Search](https://marketingsignals.com/service/integrated-search) service puts this into practice for brands in the UK and US.

## Sources

- [Ads on Search, How Search works, Google](https://www.google.com/search/howsearchworks/our-approach/ads-on-search/)
- [About Ad Rank, Google Ads Help](https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/1722122)
- [Cost-per-click (CPC) bidding, Google Ads Help](https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/116495)
- [Studies show search ads drive 89% incremental traffic, Google Research (21 July 2011)](https://research.google/blog/studies-show-search-ads-drive-89-incremental-traffic/)

## Ready To Run Search And GEO As One Programme?