The right answer for most tradies is "both, eventually". But you usually can't afford both at once — so where do you start?
The short answer
Need leads in the next 30 days? Google Ads (or Local Service Ads if you're a sparky or plumber).
Building for a year+? Start with SEO — but on a solid foundation, not "we put your keywords on the page".
Have ~$3k/mo to spend? Do both, splitting roughly 60/40 ads/SEO.
When ads win
- Emergency-intent trades (plumbing, electrical, locksmith) — Local Service Ads convert immediately.
- New businesses with no ranking signal yet.
- Tradies who can close phone calls fast and have capacity to take work.
- Anyone testing a new service line — ads tell you in 30 days whether demand exists.
When SEO wins
- Trades with long sales cycles (builders, landscapers, custom joinery) — buyers research, then call.
- Established businesses with budget for content and patience for 6–12 months of compounding.
- Anyone with strong photography and case studies that earn backlinks and shares.
- Locations where ad competition is brutal (Sydney metro) — SEO is the only affordable route.
The compounding math
Ads stop working the day you stop paying. SEO keeps producing leads for years once it ranks. The catch: SEO takes 6–12 months before it's reliably producing, and "doing SEO" badly is worse than not doing it at all.
What we usually recommend
If we're scoping a marketing engagement for a tradie, we almost always start with: (1) Google Business Profile rebuild + reviews, (2) Local Service Ads or Google Ads, (3) parallel SEO work that pays off in months 4–9. By month 6 the SEO is ramping and the ads cost can usually drop 30–40% because organic is doing the heavy lifting.
