Let’s get straight to it. You’ve got a marketing budget. Maybe it’s not massive, maybe it is.
Either way, one thing is for sure – you’re facing the most common question that Perth businesses want to know the answer to: how much of my advertising spend should I allocate towards SEO and how much should latter go to PPC?
It’s not a simple answer. And anyone who tells you there is a magic ratio that everyone should be eating has something to sell you that you don’t need.
The truth? How much you need to spend on digital marketing Perth will depend on a lot of factors related to your business, industry and what it is you’re trying to do. But that doesn’t mean we can’t segment this for maximum comprehension.
Why This Decision Actually Matters
Here’s the thing. Do this wrong and you’re essentially setting cash on fire. Do it right, and you have a marketing machine that functions around the clock.
We have watched Perth businesses keep doing the same wrong things. They either throw everything into Google Ads because they need leads tomorrow, or they bet it all on SEO and hope for a miracle in a month. Both approaches? Pretty much guaranteed to disappoint.
The companies that win are those that know what each channel does, and how it is supposed to work together.
Breaking Down SEO Costs (The Real Numbers)
Let’s talk about SEO vs Google Ads cost from the SEO side first.
People love to say SEO is “free”. That’s rubbish. Sure, you’re not paying per click, but you’re paying for expertise, time, and strategy. A proper SEO campaign with a Perth agency like SEO Perth Experts isn’t cheap because it shouldn’t be. You’re investing in something that compounds over time.
Here’s what you’re actually paying for:
- Thorough SEO audits that find what’s actually broken
- Technical fixes to stop bleeding traffic
- Strategic keyword research beyond guesswork
- Content that doesn’t read like a robot wrote it
- Safe link building that won’t get you penalised
- Ongoing optimisation and transparent reporting
Most Perth businesses invest $1,500 to $5,000+ per month on solid SEO work. Australian Bureau of Statistics data shows small businesses typically allocate 40-60% of their marketing budget to online visibility.
Here’s where it gets interesting. That investment keeps working. Rankings from month six still bring traffic in month twelve without extra ad spend. Your cost per acquisition drops over time. The traffic compounds.
SEO ROI vs PPC ROI: The Long Game
When it comes to SEO ROI vs PPC ROI, SEO is playing chess and PPC is playing checkers. Different games, different strategies.
Just good ole’SEO, which usually takes 3-6 months before you start seeing any meaningful movement. Often longer, if you’re in a competitive space. That’s frustrating, sure. But once you’re ranking? That’s when the magic happens.
Clients that we see with a cost per lead of under $10 through SEO work after one year of solid effort.
If you’d like to go into real numbers and ROI data, take a look at our exhaustive guide on whether SEO is worth it in 2025. Good luck getting that with Google Ads in a competitive Perth marketplace. You can’t.
The other thing about the ROI for SEO that people don’t think about is, there’s a credibility factor. When it’s your business that people are seeing organically on page one, you’re more trusted than those ads at the top. They just do. It’s psychology. That’s the kind of thing you can’t easily measure but that definitely affects your conversion rates downstream.
The PPC Reality Check
PPC (especially Google Ads) is an entirely different animal.
You’re buying visibility. Immediately. That’s the trade-off.
PPC Prices vary greatly for Perth companies. Some keywords are $2 per click. Others? Try $50+ for competitive industries, like legal or finance. And plumbing and the other trades are somewhere in between.
Say you’re a plumber in Perth who’s bidding on “emergency plumber Perth”. That click costs $15-$30. With a 10 per cent conversion rate (and this is good) you require 10 clicks to get one customer. That’s $150-$300 for every customer you acquire, in ad spend alone.
Can it work? Absolutely. If that customer has a lifetime value of $2,000, you’re golden.
But by the time you stop advertising, there is no traffic. Full stop. There’s no residual benefit. We wrote an honest comparison piece on which is best, SEO or Google Ads and it dissects those even further.
This is why comparing SEO vs PPC spend on a 1:1 basis doesn’t work for most businesses in Perth. They perform different roles at different speeds.
Perth Market Specifics You Need to Know
Here’s what makes the Perth market a bit different.
We’re a big city geographically but relatively small population-wise compared to Sydney or Melbourne. According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, Perth’s population sits at around 2.1 million, which is significantly smaller than Sydney’s 5.3 million or Melbourne’s 5.0 million. This affects both SEO and PPC in ways most businesses don’t think about.
For SEO
Competition for many local terms is actually manageable. A good local SEO strategy focusing on Google Business Profile optimisation and location-specific content can get you in front of Perth customers without competing nationally. That’s huge. SEO Perth Experts specialises in this exact approach because it works.
For PPC
You are reaching a smaller audience, so you must be more intelligent about targeting. Can’t afford to spend clicks on those who will never convert. The flip side? With less competition can come lower prices per click to eastern states markets.
Seasonal factors matter too. Businesses in Perth from vert aircon, pool maintenance or landscaping depending on which sector there in experiences this huge swing in search volume. PPC allows you to grow fast during peaks in demand. Email is just the bricks through which you build on that year round foundation.”SEO works all year.
So How Should You Actually Split Your Budget?
Right. Okay, here’s the part you’ve been waiting for. There is no perfect solution, but here’s a workable framework that will cover most Perth businesses:
If you’re brand new (less than 6 months old)
Think 30/70: 30% to SEO, 70% to PPC. Why? You need customers now. Don’t have time to wait six months for SEO to work its magic. But you also want to begin establishing that SEO foundation so you’re not forever reliant on paid marketing.
Begin with a full SEO audit to discover low-hanging fruit. Get the technical SEO sorted. Start doing keyword research and create new content. In the meantime, run well-targeted PPC to keep the lights on.
If you’re established but haven’t done much SEO
Flip it. Skew 60/40 or even 70/30 toward SEO. You are probably a known brand. And now is the time to invest big in organic visibility that will continue paying dividends for years. Leverage PPC in a tactical way for high-intent keywords while the ROIs are abundantly clear.
If you’re well-ranked but want to scale
Perhaps 50/50 or even 40/60 at a push PPC. You’ve done the SEO work. Rankings are solid. Now use PPC to control more keywords, test new markets or gain scale faster than SEO alone can provide.
If you’re in a highly seasonal business
Variable allocation. Load money into PPC in the selling season, when customers are actively looking prepaired to buy. Double down on next year’s peak by investing more in SEO during the shoulder seasons to ramp up your authority.
What About Actual Dollar Figures?
Let’s give this some context with a few Perth business example.
Scenario 1: Business trade small ($2,000/m total budget) $1,400 to SEO (full on page optimization, content, link building)
$600 PPC – (emergency/urgent search terms only) This is because trades businesses are one of those industries that get ridiculous ROI from local SEO.
A high ranking for “plumber Perth” or “electrician Scarborough” can generate hundreds of leads per month. The tiny PPC budget is for those here and now searches— the emergency, high-intent where can I get help right now searches.
Scenario 2: Professional Services ($5,000/month total budget)
- $3,000 to SEO (authority building, comprehensive content strategy)
- $2,000 to PPC (targeting commercial intent keywords)
Professional services need credibility. Organic rankings provide that. But PPC helps capture ready-to-buy prospects searching specific service terms. The balance lets you compete on both fronts.
Scenario 3: Ecommerce ($8,000/month total budget)
- $5,000 to PPC (product campaigns, shopping ads, remarketing)
- $3,000 to SEO (category optimisation, product content, technical fixes)
Ecommerce often skews more to PPC because the transaction happens online and tracking ROI is straightforward. But SEO builds the long-term traffic that makes the business sustainable. Plus, category pages that rank well become massive traffic drivers.
The Mistakes to Avoid
You know, we’ve been at this long enough to see the patterns. Here’s what the most expensive budgeting mistakes are for Perth business:
- Doubling down on PPC: You rent attention, forever. Once you stop paying, traffic stops.
- Expecting immediate SEO results: It’s six months at the least. Anyone promising faster is lying. We’ve written about real SEO timeframes with actual data right here.
- Stretching the budget: $500 round trip? You’re not making enough of an impact in either channel to count.
- No tracking: If you can’t measure ROI, you might as well be guessing and wishful thinking.
- Forgetting the customers process: PPC and SEO go hand-in-hand. Someone sees your ad, looks up your rankings, checks out your content, and then converts.
Here’s the truth: Let one of these go wrong and you are throwing money away. The Perth businesses that do make digital marketing work are the ones who see these pitfalls early, decide on a pro active approach and resource both channels to have a chance of working. Half-measures get you nowhere.
Making It Work in Practice
Here’s how genuinely proper budget allocation works in the real world:
You begin with that SEO audit. SEO Perth Experts do this properly – serious technical deep dive, content analysis, competitor research – the full suite. This tells you what the problems are, and where the opportunities lie.
Then, you’re fixing technical problems, you’re creating content, and also launching focused PPC campaigns. Your SEO data is justifiably founded on PPC. You know what keyterms convert well on PPC? Those become priorities for your content and optimisation strategy.
The better you rank organically, the less money you’ll need to spend on PPC for those terms, which gives me more room in your budget to either add new keywords, scale SEO even further. The mix evolves. It’s not static.
Your Google Business Profile optimisation is in progress automatically and during all local SEO in Perth (low-hanging fruit for just about every business). That’s visibility that isn’t pay-per-click.
The Real Question You Should Ask
Instead of “how much should I spend on SEO vs PPC”, ask yourself this:
“What would happen to my business if I stopped paying for ads tomorrow?”
If the answer is “it would collapse”, you’ve got a problem. You’re too dependent on rented traffic.
“What would happen to my business if I stopped doing SEO?”
If the answer is “nothing would change”, that’s also a problem. You’re leaving massive opportunity on the table.
The goal is to get to a place where both channels contribute, but neither one is make-or-break. That’s sustainability.
Getting Started Right
Budgeting is one of those things that’s easy to do wrong, and it can be expensive when you do.
SEO Perth Experts have been performing this work for more than 20 years in the Perth scene. They get the local competitive landscape, when consumers are more active and what truly works. Their method involves deep audits, strategic keyword research, and transparent reporting that will keep you informed about what your money is being used for.
When it comes to sorting technical SEO, ranking content or PPC campaigns that won’t throw your budget down a well – having people on your side who have been there before really makes all the difference.
It’s not the business in Perth that spends the most, which wins. It’s one that discriminates most intelligently, and that wholeheartedly assesses everything before switching on data rather than guess.
Are you ready to find out how you should split your budget between SEO vs PPC? Contact SEO Perth Experts now for no obligation discussion. They’ll evaluate your situation, dissect your competition, and create a plan that serves the goals you actually have as a business.
Contact them on (08) 6102 5800 to get started.
