SEO and SEM: when to use organic search, paid ads, or both

Executive overview

Organic search is free but invisible on ad-heavy pages. Paid ads get instant traffic but miss informational queries entirely. Neither alone is enough.

The strongest search strategy treats SEO and PPC as complements, not competitors — combined, they form SEM.

Why neither SEO nor PPC alone is sufficient

• Commercial keywords like "insurance" are so ad-heavy that organic rank 1 may sit below the fold, near invisible
• Google only shows ads where commercial intent exists — informational queries return zero ads
• Informational queries often get 27x more searches than equivalent commercial ones
• Relying only on PPC means missing the majority of relevant search volume

When to run PPC while building SEO

• New sites can't rank for competitive terms immediately — PPC bridges the gap
• Paid traffic generates revenue and cash flow while organic rankings are built
• Ad conversion tracking reveals which keywords actually convert, not just attract clicks
• The Google Ads search terms report can surface high-converting long-tail keywords worth targeting organically
• Export search terms and validate ranking difficulty in a keyword research tool before committing to new pages

When to use both on the same keyword

• If the top of a SERP is covered in ads, even a number 1 organic result may get only 0.5% click-through rate
• Running ads alongside a strong organic rank recovers clicks that would otherwise go to paid competitors
• Owning multiple SERP features simultaneously — paid ad, featured snippet, organic rank — maximises visibility on high-value pages
• This "SERP monopolisation" approach makes most sense for pages that drive significant revenue or brand value