SEO, Google Ads or Meta: which channel should you start with?
Short answer: Start where demand already exists. If people search for what you sell, Google Ads usually brings enquiries fastest, SEO can make that same demand cheaper over time, and Meta suits you when demand needs to be created. Which channel works for your business only becomes clear once you measure the enquiries that actually come in.
This guide is written for smaller businesses deciding where their marketing budget does the most good, or that already advertise but don’t know which channel brings customers.
Not sure where to start? Jump to the channel chooser and get a suggestion based on four questions.
What you’ll get from this article
SEO vs SEM: first, a few terms
The words often get mixed up, so here is briefly what we mean:
- SEO (search engine optimisation) is the work of showing up in Google’s regular, unpaid results. You don’t pay per click, but it costs time and work.
- SEM (search engine marketing) is really an umbrella term for all marketing in search engines. In practice most people mean paid search ads, and for most businesses that means Google Ads. So when people compare SEO vs SEM, they usually mean unpaid versus paid search.
- Meta means ads on Facebook and Instagram. Nobody searches for you there. The ad is shown to people Meta judges might be interested.
There are more channels, such as email, LinkedIn and YouTube. But for most small businesses, the first choice is between these three.
The key question: does demand already exist?
The biggest difference between the channels isn’t about price or technology. It’s about where the customer is when they see you.
Search captures demand that already exists. Someone who types “emergency plumber” or “accountant” followed by their town already has a need and is actively looking for someone to solve it. Your job is to show up at that moment and be the obvious choice.
Meta can create demand. Someone scrolling Instagram usually isn’t looking for a kitchen renovation. But a good ad can plant the idea, and some of the people who see it get in touch now, while more remember you later.
So the first question is simple: do people search for what you offer? Test it yourself. Google the words your customers would use, together with your town or city. If you see ads and competitors fighting for the spots, the demand exists. If you see almost nothing, the service may be too new or too niche, or customers may not know it exists. Then demand needs to be created, and that is often where Meta does better.
Time horizon: how quickly does it need to deliver?
The channels run on different clocks.
- Google Ads can bring clicks the same day the campaign starts. It still takes a few weeks to see which keywords and ads bring enquiries and which only cost money.
- Meta also gives impressions straight away. But the first thing you do is test messages, and it takes time before you know which promise gets people to contact you.
- SEO is the slowest at the start. Fixed technical errors can show within a few weeks, while new content often takes several months before it can be judged properly, and longer in competitive industries. Once the pages rank, they keep bringing visits without you paying per click.
If you need more enquiries next month, SEO alone won’t be enough. If you’re planning for the coming years, only buying clicks gets expensive.
Budget: three different cost models
You can’t say what a channel costs without knowing the industry, the location and the competition. But the models differ, and that affects how you should think.
- Google Ads is an auction per click. You set an average daily budget and pay when someone clicks your ad. According to Google’s own help page, a single day can cost up to twice the daily budget, while a month costs at most the daily budget times 30.4. That applies as long as the campaign runs for the whole month and you pay per click. In industries where many advertisers compete for the same keywords, every click gets expensive.
- Meta is also an auction, but you compete for attention in the feed rather than for a keyword. You set a budget per day or per campaign, and the price depends on how many advertisers want to reach the same audience and how well your ad performs.
- SEO is working time. The cost lies in content, technical work and follow-up, whether you do it yourselves or hire an agency. The clicks are free, but it takes time before the work pays off.
Worked example (made-up numbers): A business sets its Google Ads daily budget to €30. Over a full month, Google then charges at most 30 × 30.4, which is €912. If a click costs €3 on average, that gives about 300 clicks. If 5 per cent of the clicks turn into enquiries, the business gets about 15 enquiries, and each enquiry has cost roughly €60.
Whether €60 is a lot or a little depends on what a customer is worth to you. We show how to work out your ceiling in the guide to Facebook and Instagram ads, and the same calculation works for Google Ads and SEO.
A rule of thumb: if your budget is small, don’t spread it across three channels. Put it where the chance of an enquiry is highest, measure for a few months, and then move the money to where it does the most good.
The channels side by side
| Channel | When it fits | Time to results | Cost model |
|---|---|---|---|
| Google Ads | People already search for the service and you want enquiries fast | Clicks from day one, a few weeks to find what brings enquiries | Auction, pay per click, daily budget |
| SEO | Steady search demand and you’re thinking long term | Weeks for technical fixes, often several months before content can be judged | Working time for content and technical work, no cost per click |
| Meta (Facebook and Instagram) | New or visual service, few people search, you want to spark interest or reach past visitors again | Impressions straight away, a few weeks to test your way to the right message | Auction for attention, budget per day or per campaign |
Three hypothetical examples
None of the examples below is a real client. They show how the reasoning can go.
The local plumber
Say you’re a plumber serving your local area. Someone with a leak googles and calls the first one who seems trustworthy. The demand exists, it’s urgent and it’s local. Here Google Ads is often the right start, together with a well-kept Google Business Profile. In parallel you build SEO for the local search terms, so that over time you don’t have to pay for every click. Meta plays a smaller role, perhaps for servicing jobs that aren’t urgent.
The interior designer
Say instead that you take on interior design projects for apartments. Few people google “interior designer” with a place name, but many get inspired by pictures. Here Meta can be the right first channel: before-and-after photos from real projects, targeted at people living nearby. Read more about which formats fit in our guide to Facebook and Instagram ads. Search comes in later, when more people know you and start searching for your name.
The small accounting firm
A third example: a small accounting firm. Customers search, but they don’t buy straight away. They compare, read and come back. Here SEO delivers a lot, because content that answers customers’ questions builds trust over time. Google Ads can cover the searches closest to a purchase in the meantime, and Meta can remind people who have already visited the website.
The channels help each other
The choice is rarely either-or. It’s about which channel you start with and in what order you add the others.
- Google Ads shows what sells. The keywords that bring enquiries in your ad account are often the ones to focus your SEO on. No guesswork needed.
- Meta creates searches. People who saw your ad in their feed often google your name later. Then you need to show up at the top, in both ads and regular results.
- Retargeting ties it together. People who visited your website via search but didn’t get in touch can be reached again on Facebook and Instagram.
- SEO reduces your reliance on bought clicks. When you start ranking organically for keywords you also advertise on, you can test how the ad budget is best split. Look at the total number of enquiries before you move money.
Whatever the channel, the visitor lands on your website. If the page is unclear or the form is awkward, the effect of all that traffic is lost. So start by reviewing the page your ads lead to. We’ve written more about that in the article on conversion rate and how to get more enquiries.
Common mistakes we see
- Choosing a channel based on what a competitor does. Their ads tell you nothing about what they deliver.
- Giving up too early. Two weeks is usually too short to judge whether Meta works, and SEO needs to be judged over a longer period.
- Measuring clicks instead of customers. Cheap clicks that never become enquiries are expensive.
- Trusting the platforms’ numbers blindly. Each platform reports its own conversions, and the same enquiry can be credited to both.
What decides it: which enquiries actually came in
The theory above helps you choose where to start. But which channel works for your business can only be seen in the numbers, and they have to be the right numbers. What counts is form enquiries, calls and purchases. Not clicks, reach or impressions.
That’s why we measure with Tokig Insights. There you see which enquiries actually came in, which channel, keyword and message they came from, and what has been sent back to Google and Meta. That makes it possible to compare the channels on equal terms and move the budget to where it brings customers.
Just as important is that the platforms themselves get the right data. Google Ads and Meta steer the budget automatically towards what they think works, and if they aren’t told which clicks became enquiries, they optimise for the wrong things.
A simple decision order
- Google your own services with your town or city. Are there searches and competition? Then search is your first focus.
- Decide your time horizon. If you need enquiries soon, start with Google Ads. If you can wait, put more into SEO.
- Few people searching? Create demand. If the service is new or visual, test messages on Facebook and Instagram.
- Review the landing page before you spend more money on traffic.
- Measure enquiries, not clicks. Evaluate after a few months and move the budget to where your customers come from.
The channel chooser
Answer four questions and get a suggestion for where you could start. It’s a rule of thumb, not a definitive answer.
Start with Google Ads
The suggestion builds on the reasoning in this article and doesn’t take your industry into account in detail. Measure enquiries for a few months before you decide.
Want a suggestion based on your own numbers?
We look at your searches and the channels you use today, and tell you where we would start.
What most people won’t tell you
“Let’s test a bit of everything” is the most expensive way to start. With a small budget spread across three channels, none of them gets enough data. Start in one channel, make it work and build from there.
SEO isn’t free traffic. It costs time or money, and it takes months. It’s often the cheapest channel in the long run, but rarely the fastest.
The channel is rarely the problem. If no channel brings enquiries, the fault more often lies in the offer, the website or the follow-up than in the choice between Google and Meta.
How we work
- We look at demand first. Before we suggest a channel, we go through what your customers search for, including location, and what your competitors are already doing.
- One channel at a time. We get the first one bringing in enquiries before we add the next, so the budget isn’t spread too thin.
- The same measure for every channel. Calls and forms are linked to their source in Tokig Insights, so Google, Meta and SEO are compared on equal terms.
- You own the accounts and the data. Ad accounts and statistics are in your company’s name, so the history stays with you if you change supplier.
Do you know which channel brings you the most customers?
We look at where your customers already search and what your current channels deliver, and tell you where we would start. You get the answer whether or not we end up working together.
Book a free review or call +46 8 545 222 22, weekdays 08:00–17:00 (CET)
Frequently asked questions
Should a small business invest in SEO or Google Ads first?
If people already search for what you sell, Google Ads gives you the fastest answer on what works. SEO can make that same demand cheaper over time. Many businesses start with Google Ads and build SEO in parallel.
When are Meta ads a better fit?
When few people search for what you offer, when you sell something new, or when the decision depends on seeing something, such as renovations, interior design or events.
How big a budget do we need to test a channel?
It depends on what a click and an enquiry cost in your industry. Work backwards from what an enquiry is allowed to cost, and make sure the budget is enough to bring in enough enquiries to draw conclusions. The worked example above shows the principle.
Can we handle SEO ourselves?
Some of it. Clear service pages, a complete Google Business Profile and a routine for asking customers for reviews are things most businesses can manage on their own. Technical errors and competitive searches more often need help. The questions to ask an agency are in How to choose an SEO agency.
Should we pause Google Ads once SEO starts delivering?
Not automatically. If you rank high organically for a keyword, you can test lowering the budget there and see whether the total number of enquiries holds. Do it one keyword at a time and measure.
Account manager at Pixeltokig. Christoffer helps our clients choose the right channels, from a new website and search visibility to ads on Facebook and Instagram.
Read next
- How to choose an SEO agency: 10 questions and a calculation
- Facebook and Instagram ads: formats, budget and how long to run them
- Conversion rate: what it is and how to get more enquiries
- AI search: how ChatGPT, Gemini and Google find your business