Growth & Strategy
Personas
SaaS & Startup
Time to ROI
Medium-term (3-6 months)
Last year, I had a conversation with a potential client that perfectly captured what's wrong with how most businesses approach digital marketing. They said: "Should we focus on Google Ads or SEO first? We can't afford both."
This either-or mentality is exactly why so many businesses struggle with their marketing efforts. While they're busy choosing sides in a fake war between paid and organic, their competitors are quietly dominating by using both channels together.
After working with dozens of B2B SaaS clients and e-commerce stores, I've discovered that the most successful businesses don't treat Google Ads and SEO as separate strategies. They treat them as two parts of the same system - one that feeds information to the other, creates multiple touchpoints with prospects, and dramatically improves overall performance.
In this playbook, you'll learn:
Why the "Ads vs SEO" debate is holding your business back
How to use Google Ads data to supercharge your SEO keyword strategy
The exact checklist I use to align paid and organic for maximum impact
Real examples from client work showing 40%+ improvement in overall traffic quality
Common mistakes that waste budget and hurt both channels simultaneously
If you're tired of treating your marketing channels like they're in competition with each other, this approach will change how you think about growth strategy entirely.
Strategy Reality
The false choice everyone's making
Walk into any marketing meeting, and you'll hear the same tired debate: "Should we invest in Google Ads or focus on SEO?" It's like asking whether you should use your left leg or your right leg to walk.
Here's what the industry typically recommends:
"Start with Google Ads for quick wins" - Get immediate traffic while you build your SEO foundation
"SEO is more sustainable long-term" - Focus on organic rankings to reduce dependency on paid advertising
"Test keywords with ads first" - Use paid data to inform your organic strategy
"Separate teams, separate budgets" - Keep paid and organic strategies independent to avoid conflicts
"Choose based on budget constraints" - Small budgets should focus on one channel to maximize impact
This conventional wisdom exists because most agencies and consultants specialize in either paid or organic - rarely both. They've created an artificial separation that benefits their business model but hurts your results.
The problem? This approach ignores how modern buyers actually behave. Your prospects don't care whether they found you through an ad or organic search. They care about finding solutions to their problems. And they're likely to encounter your brand multiple times across different channels before making a decision.
When you treat Google Ads and SEO as separate strategies, you miss opportunities for reinforcement, waste resources on competing priorities, and leave money on the table. There's a better way that most businesses haven't discovered yet.
Consider me as your business complice.
7 years of freelance experience working with SaaS and Ecommerce brands.
The breakthrough came when I started working with a B2B SaaS client who was frustrated with their marketing performance. They were spending $3,000 monthly on Google Ads with decent click-through rates but terrible conversion rates. Meanwhile, their organic traffic was minimal despite having a solid product.
The client's situation was typical: they had been treating paid and organic as separate channels. Their ads were driving traffic to generic landing pages, while their SEO-optimized pages weren't getting any paid traffic. The disconnect was obvious once I started digging into their analytics.
What made this client perfect for experimentation was their willingness to try something different. They were tired of choosing between channels and wanted a unified approach. Plus, they had enough budget to run meaningful tests across both paid and organic efforts simultaneously.
My first discovery was eye-opening: their Google Ads data revealed that visitors were searching for very specific use-case keywords that their website didn't even rank for organically. They were paying for traffic for terms they could potentially rank for naturally with the right content strategy.
At the same time, their best-performing organic pages (the few that existed) weren't getting any paid traffic support. These pages were converting visitors at 2-3x the rate of their generic ad landing pages, but they were invisible to their paid strategy.
I realized that most businesses make this same mistake: they run parallel strategies that never inform each other. The paid team focuses on immediate conversions while the organic team focuses on long-term rankings, missing the compound effect of alignment.
This situation became the perfect testing ground for a completely different approach - one that treated Google Ads and SEO as part of the same customer journey rather than competing channels.
Here's my playbook
What I ended up doing and the results.
Instead of running separate campaigns, I developed an integrated system that used each channel to strengthen the other. Here's exactly what I implemented:
Phase 1: Data Cross-Pollination
I started by auditing their Google Ads search query reports from the past 6 months. This revealed 47 high-converting keywords that they weren't ranking for organically. These became our priority SEO targets because we already had proof they converted paid traffic.
Simultaneously, I analyzed their organic keyword rankings to find terms where they ranked positions 4-10. These became perfect candidates for paid support because we knew the content was relevant but needed visibility boost.
Phase 2: Content-Ad Alignment
For every new piece of SEO content we created, I built a corresponding Google Ad campaign. The ads drove immediate traffic to test content performance while the organic optimization built long-term visibility. This eliminated the typical "SEO waiting period" where you create content and hope it eventually ranks.
The key was ensuring message consistency across both channels. If someone saw our ad about "automated workflow solutions," then landed on our organically-optimized page about the same topic, the experience felt seamless rather than disjointed.
Phase 3: Landing Page Optimization
I created a hybrid approach to landing pages. Instead of separate "ad landing pages" and "SEO pages," we built pages optimized for both paid and organic traffic. These pages included:
SEO-optimized title tags and meta descriptions
Conversion-focused headlines and CTAs for ad traffic
Comprehensive content that satisfied both search intent and commercial intent
Internal linking structures that supported both paid and organic user journeys
Phase 4: Bidding Strategy Integration
For keywords where we were building organic rankings, I used a declining bid strategy on Google Ads. As organic rankings improved, I gradually reduced paid bids to avoid competing with ourselves while maintaining total visibility.
For high-commercial intent keywords where we ranked well organically, I increased paid bids to dominate the entire search results page. This "double visibility" approach dramatically improved click-through rates and market share.
Phase 5: Attribution Modeling
The biggest challenge was measurement. I implemented cross-channel attribution tracking using UTM parameters and custom Google Analytics segments to understand how paid and organic worked together in the conversion path.
What we discovered was fascinating: 43% of conversions involved multiple touchpoints across both channels. Users would often discover the brand through organic search, return via Google Ads, and convert after visiting 2-3 different pages optimized for different channels.
Data Mining
Extract winning keywords from Google Ads search terms for immediate SEO targeting - these have proven commercial intent
Budget Efficiency
Gradually reduce ad spend on terms as organic rankings improve - maintain visibility while optimizing costs
Content Strategy
Create SEO-optimized pages that also work as ad landing pages - eliminate channel silos in your content approach
Attribution Tracking
Set up cross-channel measurement to understand the full customer journey - most conversions touch both channels
The results were dramatic and appeared faster than either channel would have achieved independently. Within 3 months, we saw significant improvements across multiple metrics that validated the integrated approach.
Traffic Quality Improvements: Overall website traffic increased by 78%, but more importantly, the quality improved substantially. The bounce rate decreased from 67% to 43% because visitors were finding more relevant content regardless of how they arrived.
Conversion Rate Optimization: By using paid traffic to test SEO content immediately, we identified high-converting page elements within weeks instead of months. This feedback loop helped us optimize both organic and paid performance simultaneously.
Cost Efficiency Gains: While total marketing spend remained similar, cost per conversion decreased by 34% due to better keyword targeting and reduced competition between channels. We stopped paying for traffic we could get organically while investing paid budget in strategic visibility gaps.
Market Dominance Effect: For target keywords, we achieved both top organic rankings and prime ad positions, creating a "brand fortress" that captured significantly more market share than competitors using single-channel strategies.
The most surprising result was the compound effect on brand recognition. When prospects encountered the brand multiple times across both paid and organic results, trust and recall increased dramatically compared to single-channel exposure.
What I've learned and the mistakes I've made.
Sharing so you don't make them.
This integrated approach taught me lessons that completely changed how I view digital marketing strategy. These insights apply whether you're working with a small budget or managing enterprise-level campaigns.
Lesson 1: Channel conflict is expensive. When your paid and organic strategies compete instead of collaborate, you waste money on keywords you could rank for naturally while missing opportunities to amplify your best organic content with paid support.
Lesson 2: Data sharing accelerates both channels. Google Ads provides immediate feedback on keyword performance and user behavior that would take months to gather organically. Use this intelligence to guide your SEO strategy instead of guessing what might work.
Lesson 3: User journeys cross channels naturally. Most B2B buyers research across multiple sessions and touchpoints. Your marketing should mirror this behavior by providing consistent messaging whether they find you through ads or organic search.
Lesson 4: Budget allocation should be dynamic. The "50% ads, 50% SEO" approach is arbitrary. Allocate budget based on where each channel performs best for specific keywords and user intents, then adjust as organic rankings develop.
Lesson 5: Attribution is more complex than it appears. Single-click attribution misses the full picture. Implement cross-channel tracking to understand how paid and organic work together in your conversion paths.
When this approach works best: Businesses with moderate budgets ($2,000+ monthly), clear target keywords, and the ability to create quality content consistently. It's particularly effective for B2B SaaS and high-consideration purchases where buyers research extensively.
When to avoid this strategy: Very small budgets that can't sustain both channels, highly seasonal businesses with unpredictable demand, or markets where paid advertising is prohibited or ineffective.
How you can adapt this to your Business
My playbook, condensed for your use case.
For your SaaS / Startup
For SaaS startups implementing this integrated approach:
Start with your core product features as keyword targets across both channels
Use free trial landing pages that rank organically and convert paid traffic
Track user journey from awareness through trial signup to paid conversion
Focus on high-intent keywords that indicate ready-to-buy prospects
For your Ecommerce store
For ecommerce stores combining Google Ads and SEO:
Align product page optimization with Google Shopping campaigns
Use seasonal ad data to guide year-round content strategy
Create category pages that work for both organic discovery and ad traffic
Test product descriptions with ads before optimizing for organic search