
In this battle for the ages, we’re going to pit pay-per-click advertising against SEO content. Digital marketing managers asking: “Should I invest in PPC or SEO content?” are conditioned to believe they’re in competition. In fact, the two strategies aren’t opposites; they can – and should – be used together to boost your brand online. (Sorry!).
Let’s start with a straight-up fact, getting to the top of Google is the aim of any business (including 42group). There are two ways you can do this:
- you can earn your first-page ranking through SEO content (and website optimisation); or
- you can use PPC ad, outbid the competition, and capture all the clicks
OK, should I invest in PPC or SEO content? We know that businesses don’t have limitless budgets and are faced with tough choices about where to invest. Many B2B and B2C businesses choose to focus on one activity, but is that an effective strategy?
Google provides its answer (invest in both).
If you’re wondering if you should invest in PPC or SEO content, we won’t keep you waiting around. You should invest in both. Doing so will bring you short-term success and help you build a long-term sustainable advantage.
Back to basics: Content-driven SEO
Search Engine Optimisation is an incredibly complicated and challenging area, so we’re not going to cover everything.
When we’re talking about content-driven SEO, we’re talking about brands that are using SEO content to drive sales and improve their search engine ranking.
We’re not talking about the on-page optimisation, link building, and outreach that are critical to SEO. If you want that sort of information, chat with your technical SEO specialist.
For the most part, we’re talking about SEO content like blogs, whitepapers, and other branded content that is directly accessible to Google (and other search engines, but we’ll use Google moving forward).
Content-driven SEO uses the blogs (and other content) posted on your site to help you build a solid flow of visitors (who turn into customers and clients). Content is used strategically, providing value to customers and users, as well as sending out strong signals to Google.
SEO content is part art and part science. Your blog posts need to be creative, informative, engaging and (importantly), completely original. They must provide visibility, value, and validation, what we call the 3 Vs of SEO content.
But SEO content is also driven by data. Posts are created to match search intent, be expertly structured, use keywords and variations intelligently, and fulfil Google EEAT criteria. (There’s a lot more to it than this, but we’re stuck for time. Learn more in our SEO content guide).
Pros of content-driven SEO
- SEO content helps you to establish a sustainable position in search engine results
- The content you create is an asset for your business
- People trust organic search ranking more than ads
- Content delivers genuine customer value
- Intelligent content strategy enables you to futureproof your advantage by staking out new search areas before competitors
- Content agencies like 42group can provide a comprehensive and customer-driven SEO content strategy, whatever your business area
Cons of content-driven SEO
- If you’re not on page 1, you’re nowhere – with 99% of searchers never venturing beyond the first page
- SEO content takes time, investment, and inspiration to create new and engaging content
- Ranking can take months or even years
- As well as writing SEO content, you need to promote it and (hopefully) build links
- Bad content (keyword stuffing, junk from content mills, or AI-created content) can damage your website

Back to basics: Google pay-per-click advertising
Pay-per-click advertising (often known as paid search) is a simple and ingenious way to get your website to appear at the top of Google. All it takes are some deep pockets. Despite challenging economic circumstances, 80% of digital marketers polled by Search Engine Land said they were either maintaining or increasing PPC spending this year.
Most of us don’t seem to mind being sold to, with 65% of customers clicking on a PPC ad (but remember, a click isn’t a conversion!). Google has created a mind-bogglingly successful business based around PPC and retargeting revenue.
The principles of PPC are reassuringly simple. You identify your keywords (SEO agency Bristol, for example) and set your budget. If you’re willing to spend more than the competition, you’ll hit the top of the Google rankings.
This is the system in principle, but in practice, it’s a whole lot more complex. We’re Google partners and create PPC campaigns for global brands, SaaS start-ups and every type of B2C and B2B business in between. Creating PPC ads involves several core skills:
- You’ll need an in-depth understanding of your customers, search terms, and purchase intent.
- You (or your agency) will need the technical skill to create campaigns, including retargeting, budget setting, and performance reporting.
- Finally, you’ll need creative copywriters to develop compelling ads – because sometimes simply being first doesn’t guarantee you success.
Let’s look at the pros and cons of PPC advertising.
Pros of PPC advertising
- You can get your website to the top of Google in less than an hour
- Solution-focused customers don’t care that they’re clicking an advert
- PPC ads can increase brand awareness by 80%
- Sales and enquiries can come through immediately
- Responsive search ads can help Google automatically optimise your campaigns, increasing clicks
- Easy to switch-on and switch-off ads, providing you with flexibility
Cons of PPC advertising
- The more competitive your sector, the higher the costs
- High-competition keywords can cost £25+ for a single click
- Every click isn’t a customer or conversion, it’s a click
- Every PPC campaign must be driven by customer insights and data, and that takes time to develop
- PPC learns, and it can take weeks or months to optimise your campaigns, during which time you’re still spending
- PPC doesn’t add value to your site or improve organic SEO
- Increasing amount of spam and junk enquiries (often by those providing AI solutions) can impact your budget
- Set-up is tricky and demands strategic, technical, and creative skills
- If your website UX is poor, you still won’t generate enquiries or sales
Should I invest in PPC or SEO content?
Digital marketing budgets aren’t endless, and bosses, business owners, and investors want to see results.
Should you invest in PPC or SEO? It depends on the status of your business, website UX, speed, business sector (B2B or B2C), and budgets. More fundamentally, it’s linked back to your strategy for business growth.
In the end, PPC and SEO content are two valuable digital marketing strategies that most business should use together to deliver an immediate boost for sales, while also building a sustainable advantage.
When customers ask us to create a PPC strategy, we begin by analysing their current site and identifying the user flow. From advert to enquiry (or sale), you’ll want to minimise the clicks and optimise the speed. For consumer products, PPC can deliver a steady stream of customers who are searching for your product, but if it’s difficult to order, process, or pay, they’ll move on.
For more considered purchases, such as content marketing services, PPC delivers customers to your site (or landing page). From there, they’ll start to build up a picture of your business, and for that, you need expert web copywriting and (yes) content.
The only way we can provide an honest answer about whether PPC or SEO content is best for your business, you’ll need to get in touch with us.
42group: Building a sustainable advantage
Or, to put it another way: we think investing in organic rankings will outperform PPC in the long term.
Many businesses face a false choice to invest in PPC or SEO, but both should play a role in your customer-focused digital marketing strategy.
We’ve used PPC campaigns that have been precision engineered to focus on precisely the people we want to speak with. They’ve enabled us to increase enquiries when we need them, with the flexibility to stop the tap when we’ve filled our pipeline.
Thorough this process, we’re always investing in SEO, developing new content that provides value for our readers. This creates connections (through links, social shares, and guest posting opportunities), builds links, establishes website authority and captures clicks.
Every piece of content we create is an asset that we own, delivering ongoing value and impact for our business. We’re always looking forward, identifying the new challenges businesses face, we can shape content around customer requirements – helping to safeguard our future at the front of SEO content and digital marketing.
Can’t decide on PPC or SEO content? Speak to us…
For 42group, SEO content is an essential investment and illustrates the power ad possibility of great content to drive business success. You should try it. PPC can provide a steady stream of motivated visitors who are searching for your product, service, or solution.
Which is best? We won’t be able to tell you until we learn about your business. That all starts when you fill out our contact form and get in touch…
Get in touchSEO v PPC FAQs
You’ve got questions about PPC and SEO content? We have the answers! Should I invest in PPC or SEO content? Let’s provide you with an answer!
Why is organic SEO better than PPC?
Organic SEO provides a sustainable advantage over the competition, which PPC provides a temporary boost to your ranking position. PPC is effectively paying for a prominent search engine position. While some potential customers won’t mind clicking an ad, others will search for those with a high organic search position. As we’ve explained above, SEO content is also an asset that delivers sustainable advantage to your business.
Is SEO more effective than PPC?
It depends! SEO and PPC shouldn’t be seen as in competition but as two complementary digital marketing approaches that can deliver benefits for your business or brand. If the budget allows, invest in both (with 42group, of course).
Is SEO or PPC more expensive?
Both strategies will cost money. Initially, creating PPC campaigns can be cheap and easy, but you can find that your budget is rapidly eaten up. SEO content can take months or even years to deliver an impact, and the investment in time (and money if you’re paying an agency or freelancer to create content) can rack up.
There’s no definitive answer to the question of whether SEO or PPC is more expensive. It depends on your business, sector, aims, objectives, and other specifics. The best thing to do is to work with a digital marketing agency you can trust who will provide you with a strategy for success that’s built around you.
Is SEO content classed as an asset?
Absolutely! Your search engine ranking is a major asset for your business or brand. We’ve seen from the stats that a page 1 position means you’ll capture 99% of search engine views (although that doesn’t mean you’ll get the visitors).
If you come to sell your business, your SEO content is intellectual property that will pass to the new owner.
Considering content as an asset rather than ephemeral junk may be a challenge for some, but doing so can help you justify the (often sizeable) investment you must make in achieving a ranking position.
Can I use PPC to sell consumer products?
PPC is an advertising medium that takes you directly to customers. Let’s take the example of a consumer product like the ever-popular vitamin D supplements. Integrating the Google Shopping feed with your website enables your products to be displayed in the carousel at the top of the page and within the Google Shopping search tab.
Setting up the feed is a challenge, but once it’s implemented, it works smoothly. Your product gets advertised directly to customers who are searching for it. If it’s competitively priced, they’ll click on your site (and you’ll pay Google a small fee).
Of course, there’s no guarantee they’ll buy, but you’ll still be charged.
How is PPC different from SEO content?
PPC is a digital marketing channel that provides near-instant search engine visibility for your business, brand, product, or service. You bid against other advertisers for the top position, with Google operating a virtual market. You set a daily budget, and Google will charge you a fee every time someone clicks on your advert. Your advert will continue to be shown until your budget is depleted (which often comes much sooner than you think).
SEO content uses content published on your website (primarily blogs, but can include other branded content that Google can search) to increase your search engine ranking and visibility.
Should I invest in PPC or SEO content? It really depends on what you want to achieve for your business and your budget. We recommend you invest in both.
What are the pros and cons of SEO vs PPC?
If you’ve skipped over the article and just arrived at the FAQs, then here’s a reminder of the pros and cons of PPC and SEO content.
Pros of content-driven SEO
- SEO content helps you to establish a sustainable position in search engine results
- The content you create is an asset for your business
- People trust organic search ranking more than ads
- Content delivers genuine customer value
- Intelligent content strategy enables you to futureproof your advantage by staking out new search areas before competitors
- Content agencies like 42group can provide a comprehensive and customer-driven SEO content strategy, whatever your business area
Cons of content-driven SEO
- If you’re not on page 1, you’re nowhere – with 99% of searchers never venturing beyond the first page
- SEO content takes time, investment, and inspiration to create new and engaging content
- Ranking can take months or even years
- As well as writing SEO content, you need to promote it and (hopefully) build links
- Bad content (keyword stuffing, junk from content mills, or AI-created content) can damage your website
Pros of PPC advertising
- You can get your website to the top of Google in less than an hour
- Solution-focused customers don’t care that they’re clicking an advert
- PPC ads can increase brand awareness by 80%
- Sales and enquiries can come through immediately
- Responsive search ads can help Google automatically optimise your campaigns, increasing clicks
- Easy to switch on and switch off ads, providing you with flexibility
Cons of PPC advertising
- The more competitive your sector, the higher the costs
- High-competition keywords can cost £25+ for a single click
- Every click isn’t a customer or conversion; it’s a click
- Every PPC campaign must be driven by customer insights and data, and that takes time to develop
- PPC learns, and it can take weeks or months to optimise your campaigns, during which time you’re still spending
- PPC doesn’t add value to your site or improve organic SEO
- Increasing amount of spam and junk enquiries (often by those providing AI solutions) can impact your budget
- Set-up is tricky and demands strategic, technical, and creative skills
- If your website UX is poor, you still won’t generate enquiries or sales
Is SEO easier than PPC?
Excellent question, with no easy answer. Anyone with a computer, keyboard, and website can start creating content, and, if it’s deemed relevant and useful by the Google algorithm, it will help you rank.
But, of course, behind every piece of content is a whole load of research, insight, and expertise. For content to deliver value and increase your search engine position and performance, it must be strategic.
PPC ads are easy to set up (it can take a Google Partner like 42group less than an hour to do a basic campaign, for example), but like SEO content, the devil is in the detail. Your campaign must be based on keywords and search intent. It must be laser-focused on your audience, with ads targeted at pain points and engineered to push their buttons. Beyond the initial set up, you’ll need support to manage budgets and report on performance, as well as optimise campaigns based on the information you receive.
We’re focusing on the question: Should I invest in PPC or SEO content? This is a long-winded way of saying that, no, SEO isn’t easier than PPC. (And PPC isn’t easier than SEO.) Both digital marketing strategies present their own sets of challenges and opportunities, and you’ll need to work with a specialist to get things right.