Using Google Ads data to improve organic SEO performance

Executive overview

SEO and PPC teams often work in silos, leaving valuable conversion and query data unused. Google Ads surfaces real search behaviour — including queries that keyword tools have never seen — that can directly improve organic rankings and click-through rates.

Four concrete use cases: mine conversion data for high-value keywords, discover new topics via broad match, test title tags through ad copy, and earn backlinks by bidding on resource-seeking queries.

Google Ads is a data layer for SEO, not just a paid channel.

Finding keywords that convert

• Enable conversion tracking in Google Ads and attribute actions (sales, signups, clicks) to individual keywords.
• After enough data accumulates, open the Search Terms report and sort by conversion rate.
• A keyword with a known cost-per-conversion lets you reverse-engineer organic value: if 25 clicks yield one conversion worth $40, ranking #1 for that term could be worth thousands per month.
• Take high-converting queries into Ahrefs Keywords Explorer, check the SERP, and assess ranking difficulty before pursuing.

Discovering new keyword opportunities

• 15% of daily Google queries have never been seen before — third-party tools won't surface them.
• Bid using broad match modifiers (e.g. +leather +shoes) to capture variant phrasing without knowing exact terms.
• After the campaign runs, scan the Search Terms report for two things: new topics worth pursuing and long-tail queries where existing content could be better optimised.
• Example: a campaign revealed high impressions for "Yoast SEO tutorial" — a topic gap — and "what is SEO and how does it work", prompting a title tag update to match the modifier.

Improving click-through rates on organic results

• In Google Search Console, filter for keywords ranking in positions 1–5, then sort by CTR ascending to find high-ranking pages with low click-through.
• Ignore branded queries (not yours) and broad queries with mixed intent.
• Create search ads targeting those keywords and test multiple title and description combinations.
• Once a winning ad copy variant is found, apply it as the page's title tag and meta description.
• More clicks from the same position means more traffic; a higher CTR may also improve rankings.

Earning backlinks by targeting link-intent queries

• Some queries attract bloggers and journalists looking for resources to cite — these have link intent.
• Statistics pages consistently perform well: one Ahrefs page earned high-quality backlinks after ~$1,200 in Google Ads spend and reached positions 1–2.
• To find candidates: use Keywords Explorer, run a Phrase Match report for your industry topics, filter to include the word "statistics", then check whether top-ranking pages have strong and growing referring domain counts.
• Steady growth in referring domains (visible in the Overview graph) confirms a page earns links consistently — a signal the query is worth bidding on.
• Content quality still matters; ads amplify reach, they don't replace quality.