Growth & Strategy
Personas
SaaS & Startup
Time to ROI
Medium-term (3-6 months)
Last year, I had a B2C Shopify client burning through €2,000 monthly on Facebook Ads with a measly 2.5 ROAS. The numbers looked "decent" on paper, but with their razor-thin margins, something wasn't adding up. Every marketing guru would've told them to optimize their ad creative or test new audiences.
Instead, I did something that made them uncomfortable: I recommended they kill the paid ads and go all-in on SEO strategy. Three months later, their organic traffic grew 10x and they were finally profitable.
The reality? Most businesses are stuck in the wrong channel for their specific situation. They're throwing money at Google Ads because it "works faster" while ignoring whether it actually works for their product, margins, and customer behavior.
Here's what you'll learn from my real-world experience with both strategies:
Why product-channel fit matters more than optimization tactics
When paid ads actually hurt your business (despite positive ROAS)
The hidden costs of Google Ads that nobody talks about
My framework for choosing between SEO and paid advertising
Real metrics from clients who switched strategies
Reality Check
What the Marketing Industry Won't Tell You
Walk into any marketing conference or scroll through LinkedIn, and you'll hear the same tired advice: "Test both channels and see what works." The industry has created this false narrative that every business should be running Google Ads alongside their SEO efforts.
Here's what every marketing "expert" will tell you:
Google Ads give you instant results - Just set up campaigns and start driving traffic immediately
SEO takes too long - You need to wait 6-12 months to see meaningful results
Diversification is key - Never rely on one channel; split your budget 50/50
ROAS is the ultimate metric - If you're getting 3:1 return, keep spending
Scale what works - Double down on profitable campaigns
This conventional wisdom exists because agencies make money from ad spend, and most marketers have never actually run a P&L for a real business. They're optimizing for vanity metrics instead of actual profitability.
Where this falls short in practice: They ignore product-channel fit completely. A 3:1 ROAS might look great in a dashboard, but if your gross margins are 40% and customer acquisition costs are eating into lifetime value, you're actually losing money with every "successful" conversion.
The truth? Most businesses would be more profitable focusing on one channel that actually fits their model rather than splitting resources across both. But that doesn't sell $5,000 monthly retainers.
Consider me as your business complice.
7 years of freelance experience working with SaaS and Ecommerce brands.
When this Shopify client came to me, they were the perfect example of what happens when you follow conventional marketing wisdom without thinking. Over 1,000 SKUs in their catalog, quality products, decent website design, but Facebook Ads were barely keeping them afloat with that 2.5 ROAS.
Here's what made their situation unique: Their strength wasn't in having one hero product that converts instantly. Their competitive advantage was variety - customers needed time to browse, compare, and discover the right product for their specific needs. Think of it like a boutique furniture store versus a McDonald's.
The Facebook Ads environment demands quick decisions. Scroll, see ad, click, buy - all within minutes. But this client's customers wanted to explore, read descriptions, compare materials, check reviews. The mismatch was killing their profitability.
What I tried first (and why it failed): Like any "good" marketer, I started optimizing the ads. Better creative, tighter targeting, improved landing pages. We managed to bump ROAS to 3.2, but the math still didn't work. After ad spend, payment processing, fulfillment costs, and customer service, they were essentially working for free.
That's when I realized we were forcing a square peg into a round hole. The problem wasn't their ads - it was the fundamental mismatch between their product catalog complexity and the Facebook Ads format.
Most agencies would have recommended "scaling what works" and testing TikTok Ads next. Instead, I suggested something that made them uncomfortable: pause all paid traffic and rebuild their organic presence through SEO strategy.
Here's my playbook
What I ended up doing and the results.
Step 1: Complete Website Architecture Overhaul
Instead of thinking "homepage first" like most websites, I restructured everything around search intent. Every product category became a potential entry point. We created detailed category pages with filtering options, comprehensive product comparisons, and buying guides.
The key insight: In SEO strategy, every page is a potential front door. We weren't optimizing for the person who lands on the homepage and browses. We were optimizing for the person searching "sustainable office chairs under €500" at 11 PM.
Step 2: Content-Led Product Discovery
We built comprehensive buying guides for each product category. Not generic blog posts about "10 Best Office Chairs" - detailed, technical guides that helped customers understand exactly what they needed before they even looked at products.
This served two purposes: captured long-tail search traffic and pre-educated customers so they converted better when they did reach product pages.
Step 3: Technical SEO Foundation
With 1,000+ products, technical SEO became crucial. We implemented proper internal linking structures, optimized page speed (crucial for large catalogs), and created XML sitemaps that helped Google understand the site architecture.
Step 4: Long-Tail Keyword Strategy
Instead of competing for "office furniture" (impossible for a smaller brand), we targeted thousands of specific product + intent combinations. "Ergonomic desk chair for back pain," "standing desk converter for small spaces" - searches with clear commercial intent and manageable competition.
The Results Timeline:
Month 1-2: Organic traffic barely moved (expected)
Month 3: Started ranking for long-tail terms, traffic up 40%
Month 6: Traffic up 300%, first month of pure profit
Month 12: 10x organic traffic growth, ROAS impossible to calculate (infinite)
Product-Channel Fit
Before optimizing tactics, ensure your product matches the channel's natural behavior patterns.
Patience Paradox
SEO's "slow" results often compound faster than paid ads' "instant" but plateauing returns.
Hidden Costs
Factor in ad platform dependencies, rising CPCs, and opportunity costs of constant optimization.
Profitability Focus
ROAS means nothing if gross margins can't support the customer acquisition model long-term.
The transformation was dramatic, but the real insight was in the quality of traffic. Organic visitors spent 3x longer on the site and had 40% higher average order values compared to paid traffic.
Why? Because they arrived with specific intent and had already been educated by our content. Instead of impulse buyers, we attracted informed customers who knew exactly what they wanted.
Financial Impact:
Monthly ad spend: €0 (down from €2,000)
Organic traffic: 10x increase in 12 months
Profit margins: Improved by 35% without ad costs
Customer lifetime value: 60% higher from organic traffic
The unexpected outcome? Competitor dependency disappeared. With Facebook Ads, they were always one algorithm change or competitor with deeper pockets away from disaster. With SEO, they owned their traffic source.
Six months later, when they wanted to test paid ads again, the organic foundation made them profitable at much lower ROAS thresholds because the baseline was so strong.
What I've learned and the mistakes I've made.
Sharing so you don't make them.
1. Product-channel fit trumps optimization - No amount of A/B testing will fix a fundamental mismatch between your product and the channel's user behavior.
2. Calculate true profitability, not just ROAS - Include opportunity costs, platform dependencies, and long-term sustainability in your analysis.
3. Compound growth beats linear growth - SEO's "slow start" often results in exponential growth that paid ads can't match at scale.
4. Own your traffic source when possible - Platform-dependent strategies leave you vulnerable to algorithm changes and rising costs.
5. Quality of traffic matters more than quantity - 100 highly-intent organic visitors often convert better than 1,000 cold ad clicks.
6. Consider your team's strengths - Are you better at creating great content or managing complex ad campaigns? Double down on your advantages.
7. Timeline expectations must align with reality - If you need results in 30 days, SEO isn't the answer. But if you can invest 6-12 months, the payoff can be massive.
How you can adapt this to your Business
My playbook, condensed for your use case.
For your SaaS / Startup
SaaS companies should consider SEO strategy when:
You have complex products requiring education before purchase
Customer acquisition costs through paid channels exceed sustainable thresholds
You can commit to 6-12 months of content creation
Your team has subject matter expertise to create authoritative content
For your Ecommerce store
E-commerce stores benefit from SEO-first approach when:
You have large product catalogs requiring discovery-based shopping
Gross margins can't support high customer acquisition costs
Your products require comparison shopping or research
You're competing in saturated paid advertising markets