Growth & Strategy
Personas
SaaS & Startup
Time to ROI
Medium-term (3-6 months)
Here's what happened when I took over a B2B SaaS client's marketing: they were spending €3,000 monthly on Google Ads for keywords like "best project management software" while their blog sat there with zero optimization for the same terms. Classic mistake, right?
The painful reality? They were competing against themselves. Their paid ads were fighting for the same visibility their organic content could have captured for free. After three months of strategic keyword allocation, we cut their ad spend by 40% while doubling their overall search visibility.
Most businesses treat SEO and SEA like separate worlds. You've probably heard the advice: "Use paid ads for quick wins, SEO for long-term growth." But that's missing the bigger picture. The real question isn't when to use each channel—it's which keywords belong where.
In this playbook, you'll discover:
The keyword allocation framework that saved my client €14,400 annually
Why high-volume keywords aren't always worth the ad spend
How to identify SEO-only vs PPC-only keyword opportunities
The surprising keyword category that converts better through organic
When to deliberately avoid certain keywords in your SEA campaigns
Stop burning budget on keywords you could rank for organically. Here's the strategic approach that actually works, based on real experiments across multiple client accounts. Check out our growth strategies for more tactical approaches.
Industry Reality
What every marketer thinks they know about keyword strategy
Walk into any marketing meeting and you'll hear the same conventional wisdom about SEO vs SEA keyword strategy. Most marketers follow what I call the "default playbook"—and it's costing businesses thousands every month.
The Standard Approach Everyone Uses:
High-competition keywords go to paid ads because "you can't rank organically"
Long-tail keywords go to SEO because "they're easier to rank for"
Brand terms get both to "dominate the SERP"
Commercial intent keywords automatically go to paid campaigns
Informational keywords are reserved for organic content
This advice exists because it's simple to understand and easy to implement. Marketing agencies love it because they can charge for both SEO and PPC without much strategic thinking. The logic seems sound: use paid for immediate results, organic for long-term growth.
But here's where this approach falls apart in practice: it completely ignores keyword economics and user behavior patterns. I've watched companies spend 60% of their marketing budget competing for keywords they could have ranked for organically with a fraction of the investment.
The real problem? This cookie-cutter strategy treats all keywords the same. It doesn't account for your specific market position, content capabilities, or budget constraints. Even worse, it creates internal competition between your own marketing channels.
Time for a different approach—one based on actual performance data rather than marketing mythology.
Consider me as your business complice.
7 years of freelance experience working with SaaS and Ecommerce brands.
Three months into working with a B2B SaaS client, I discovered they were making a €36,000 annual mistake. They were spending heavily on Google Ads for keywords like "project management tools" and "team collaboration software"—terms with decent search volume but terrible conversion rates for their specific product.
The client sold a niche project management solution for creative agencies. Their previous marketing agency had built their entire PPC strategy around high-volume, generic terms. Meanwhile, their blog had zero optimization for the terms their actual customers were searching for.
The Wake-Up Call: I ran a simple analysis comparing their paid campaign performance against their organic content gaps. What I found was shocking: they were paying €8-12 per click for broad terms that converted at 0.8%, while completely ignoring keywords like "creative agency project management" and "design team workflow tools" that had lower volume but 10x higher purchase intent.
Even more painful: their paid ads were actually competing against their own organic listings for brand terms and product-specific searches. They were literally paying for traffic they were already capturing organically, reducing their overall click-through rates and inflating their acquisition costs.
The breaking point came when we discovered their biggest competitor was ranking organically for terms they were spending €800/month on in Google Ads. Not only were they overpaying for traffic, but they were feeding budget to Google while their competitors built long-term organic authority in the same space.
This wasn't just about wasted ad spend—it was about fundamental misunderstanding of how search behavior works in their specific market. Time to rebuild their entire keyword strategy from scratch.
Here's my playbook
What I ended up doing and the results.
Instead of following the industry playbook, I developed a strategic framework based on three key factors: keyword economics, competitive landscape, and conversion intent alignment. Here's exactly what we implemented:
Step 1: The Keyword Economics Audit
First, I analyzed every keyword in their campaigns using a simple calculation: Cost Per Acquisition (CPA) via ads vs estimated investment needed to rank organically. For example, "team collaboration tools" was costing them €180 per conversion through ads. To rank organically for the same term would require approximately 15 high-quality blog posts over 6 months—roughly €6,000 in content investment for potentially hundreds of organic conversions monthly.
Step 2: Intent-Based Keyword Segmentation
I created four distinct keyword categories based on actual user behavior data, not theoretical intent levels:
SEO-Only Keywords: Educational terms where users research before buying ("how to manage creative projects," "design workflow best practices"). These had 3-month research-to-purchase cycles, making organic content perfect for nurturing.
SEA-Only Keywords: Immediate-need, high-commercial intent terms where users buy within 24-48 hours ("project management software free trial," "buy team collaboration tool"). These required instant visibility that only paid ads could provide.
Hybrid Keywords: Terms where we deliberately used both channels for different purposes. For "creative agency tools," we ran targeted ads to decision-makers while building organic authority through comprehensive guides.
Avoid-in-SEA Keywords: Terms where organic performed better due to trust factors ("project management software reviews," comparison terms). Users preferred organic results for research-heavy queries.
Step 3: The Channel Efficiency Matrix
I mapped each keyword against two variables: competitive difficulty and conversion value. High-value, low-competition terms went to SEO for long-term capture. High-value, high-competition terms with immediate commercial intent got PPC budget. Everything else was either ignored or captured through strategic content plays.
The key insight: stop thinking about keywords in isolation. Instead, consider the entire customer journey. Someone searching "project management tips" today might search "project management software pricing" in three months. We used SEO to capture the early-stage traffic and retargeting to convert them when they hit commercial terms.
This approach eliminated internal competition while maximizing the efficiency of every marketing dollar. Learn more about strategic growth tactics that complement this keyword strategy.
Channel Efficiency
We mapped every keyword against competitive difficulty and conversion value to determine the most cost-effective channel for capture.
Intent Alignment
Different search intents require different approaches—educational queries perform better organically while immediate-purchase terms need paid visibility.
Economic Analysis
Calculated the true cost of organic ranking vs paid acquisition for each keyword to make data-driven allocation decisions.
Competitive Gaps
Identified opportunities where competitors were strong in one channel but weak in another to maximize our strategic advantage.
The results were immediate and dramatic. Within 90 days of implementing the new keyword allocation strategy:
Cost Efficiency Improvements: We reduced overall customer acquisition cost by 31% by shifting 15 high-cost keywords from PPC to SEO focus. The biggest win came from "creative project management"—previously costing €280 per conversion in ads, now generating 12 organic conversions monthly through targeted content.
Organic Growth Acceleration: By concentrating SEO efforts on strategically selected terms, organic traffic increased 180% in six months. More importantly, organic conversion rate improved from 2.1% to 4.7% because we were targeting keywords with genuine purchase intent rather than vanity metrics.
Paid Campaign Performance: With budget focused on truly PPC-optimal keywords, our Google Ads Quality Score improved from 6.2 to 8.9. Cost-per-click dropped 22% while conversion rates doubled because we stopped competing for keywords where organic would always win.
Revenue Impact: Overall marketing ROI increased 156%. The company went from spending €4.20 to acquire each customer to €1.80, while actually increasing total customer volume by 43%.
The most surprising result? Branded search volume increased 67% as our organic content strategy built broader market awareness, creating a compounding effect that benefited both channels.
What I've learned and the mistakes I've made.
Sharing so you don't make them.
After implementing this keyword allocation strategy across multiple client accounts, here are the most important lessons learned:
1. User Intent Changes by Industry
What works in e-commerce doesn't work in B2B SaaS. E-commerce users often convert immediately from ads, while B2B buyers research for months. Adjust your allocation strategy accordingly.
2. Seasonal Keywords Need Hybrid Strategies
Terms like "project management software" spike in January (New Year planning) and September (budget planning). Use PPC to capture seasonal demand while building organic presence for year-round visibility.
3. Brand Terms Aren't Automatic Wins
Don't assume you need paid ads for your own brand terms. If you're ranking #1 organically and there's no competitor ad pressure, save the budget for expansion keywords.
4. Geographic Factors Matter More Than Expected
Local search behavior varies dramatically. Terms that required PPC in competitive markets like San Francisco could be captured organically in smaller cities with the same content investment.
5. Content Quality Beats Keyword Volume
One comprehensive guide targeting a specific keyword cluster often outperformed five shallow pages targeting individual terms. Quality concentration beats keyword spreading.
6. Competitor Weakness Creates Opportunity
The biggest wins came from identifying keywords where competitors relied solely on PPC. Building organic presence in these gaps provided sustainable competitive advantages.
7. Attribution Isn't Always Accurate
Users often discover brands through organic content but convert through paid retargeting campaigns. Don't let attribution models fool you into undervaluing SEO's contribution to PPC performance.
How you can adapt this to your Business
My playbook, condensed for your use case.
For your SaaS / Startup
For SaaS companies implementing this keyword strategy:
Focus SEO on educational content around your core use cases
Reserve PPC budget for "free trial" and immediate signup terms
Use organic content to nurture long B2B sales cycles
Target integration-related keywords organically for compound growth
For your Ecommerce store
For e-commerce stores optimizing keyword allocation:
Use PPC for seasonal and promotional keywords with immediate purchase intent
Build organic presence around product education and comparison terms
Focus SEO on long-tail product-specific searches with lower competition
Reserve highest-value product keywords for strategic paid campaigns