Organic SEO vs paid search

If you want to get found online, two of the biggest options are organic SEO and paid search (think Google Ads). Both can generate leads, drive traffic, and grow your business. But they work in very different ways.

Organic SEO is like eating healthy or working out—it takes time but pays off in the long run. Paid search, on the other hand, gets you results immediately, but only as long as you keep paying. It’s like taking steroids, which also means it can cost more than you thought it would.

So, which one is right for your business? Let’s break it down.

Organic SEO for long-term

Search engine optimization (SEO) is all about earning your place in Google’s search results. No bidding, no paying per click—just optimizing your website so Google sees you as an authority in your space.

But here’s the thing about SEO: it’s not quick. It can take six months to a year before you start seeing real results. That’s because Google needs time to crawl your site, assess your content, and determine how relevant and trustworthy you are compared to the competition.

It’s not all bad news, though. Once you establish strong rankings, they can last for years—even if you stop actively working on SEO.

We had a client who blogged consistently for five years. They ranked on page one for a bunch of relevant terms. Then, they reached the end of their five-year plan and shut down their organization—but left the website up. Five years later, with zero updates, their site was still on page one of Google. That was in the early days of SEO, and the algorithm has changed since then, but the lesson is the same: SEO done well has serious staying power.

The challenge? Getting there takes work. Unlike paid search, where you can show up at the top of the results overnight, SEO requires ongoing effort—content creation, technical optimization, and a whole lot of patience.

Paid search is fast, but fleeting (and expensive)

If SEO is the long game, paid search is the fast track. With Google Ads, you can appear at the top of search results almost instantly. Just set up a campaign, bid on keywords, and your ads will start showing.

That speed is a huge advantage. If you need leads now, paid search is the way to go. But there’s a catch: the moment you stop paying, the traffic stops. There’s no long-term benefit like there is with SEO.

And then there’s the cost. A few years ago, you could get clicks for a couple of bucks. Now, in some industries, businesses are paying $50–$100 per click just to get a shot at a potential lead. That’s a huge increase! And not all of those clicks turn into customers.

If you’re in an industry where every lead is worth thousands, that kind of ad spend makes sense. But if you’re selling something with a lower price point, those high costs can eat into your margins fast.

Another big difference between paid search and SEO? Keyword strategy. With Google Ads, more is better—you want to cast a wide net to reach as many people as possible. But in SEO, focus wins. You don’t want to rank for everything—you want to rank for the right things, and that means getting specific.

How AI is changing SEO

In the early days of SEO, it was all about keywords—stuff enough of them onto a page, and you could game the system. But Google has gotten a lot smarter, and today, AI plays a massive role in how search rankings work, both on Google’s side of things, and in the content it’s processing from the interwebs.

Search engines now use AI-driven algorithms to evaluate content quality, relevance, and trustworthiness. At the same time, AI-generated content is flooding the internet, forcing Google to refine its ranking systems to favor originality and real expertise over machine-written fluff.

This is where EEAT comes in—Google’s framework for evaluating content:

• Experience – Does the content show firsthand knowledge?
• Expertise – Is the author credible in their field?
• Authoritativeness – Is the website a recognized source?
• Trustworthiness – Is the information accurate and reliable?

In other words, Google isn’t just looking at what is being said—it’s looking at who is saying it and how credible they are. That means content from real experts will generally outperform AI-generated content unless the AI content is carefully edited and infused with actual human insight.

The key takeaway? SEO success in the AI era isn’t about cranking out endless content—it’s about quality, originality, and trust. Google’s AI is getting smarter, and if your content isn’t genuinely helpful, it won’t rank—end of story.

Seo vs. paid search: which one should you choose?

The truth is, it depends on what you need.

If you’re looking for immediate leads and have the money to spend, paid search is the answer. There’s no waiting—turn on your ads, and you’re in business.

But if you want long-term, sustainable traffic, SEO is the better bet. It takes longer to build up, but once you’re ranking, you don’t have to keep paying for every click.

If you’re not sure which approach makes the most sense for your business, we can help. We build marketing plans from the ground up, helping businesses determine the best way to reach the right people. Whether that’s through organic SEO, content strategy, or other digital marketing efforts, we’ll guide you toward a strategy that delivers long-term results. Let’s talk about what works best for your business.