Nicole Percival Nicole Percival

Choosing between SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) and PPC (pay-per-click advertising) is one of the most common questions we hear from eCommerce teams. It’s also one of the easiest to oversimplify.

SEO is often labelled as “free traffic” while PPC is considered “paid traffic”, but the reality is that both require some kind of investment, both can be measured, and both can drive meaningful revenue when they’re set up well.

But how do you go about making the right choice? Is there even a right choice to make? Those answers entirely depend on your eCommerce business’s unique goals and position, as well as how quickly you need certain results. Read on to learn how to make the decision between SEO vs PPC, why both could help your business, and what you can do to kickstart progress.

What do SEO and PPC mean for eCommerce businesses?

What SEO means

SEO is the process of improving your site so you rank higher in Google’s organic results. For eCommerce, that usually includes:

  • Making sure your technical setup is solid (crawlable pages, fast load times, clean architecture, etc.).
  • Improving and expanding category and product content so it matches how people search.
  • Building trust and authority via digital PR and backlinks.
  • Improving on-page experience so visitors convert once they land.

Just because you aren’t paying Google anything to rank your website in a good spot, that doesn’t mean any traffic you win is “free” — you’ve paid for it in time, expertise, content, and development.

Discover the best AI tools for SEO in 2026.

What PPC means

PPC covers paid placements where you pay per click (or per impression) to show up in front of searchers and shoppers. For eCommerce, PPC often includes:

  • Google Shopping and Performance Max (product-led advertising).
  • Paid Search (text ads for high-intent keywords).
  • Paid Social (Meta, TikTok, Pinterest) for demand generation and retargeting.
  • Marketplace ads (e.g., Amazon Ads), depending on your sales channels.

PPC can deliver results quickly, but how well it performs is tightly connected to budget, tracking, and creative quality.

Learn more about the common paid search advertising mistakes hurting your ROI.

When SEO is the better choice for your eCommerce business

1. You want lower customer acquisition costs over time

For many eCommerce brands, PPC starts strong but becomes expensive as you scale, especially in competitive categories. SEO can help reduce reliance on paid media by bringing in incremental, high-intent traffic without paying for each click.

This doesn’t mean SEO eliminates PPC, but if your margins are tight, SEO could protect profitability in the long run.

2. You have a broad catalogue and lots of “searchable” products

SEO shines when your store has multiple categories, long-tail products, variations, or use-cases people actively search for. Well-structured category pages, filters, and supporting content can capture demand you may never be able to afford through ads alone.

A common example is ranking for specific modifiers like “women’s waterproof walking boots wide fit” or “oak floating shelves 120cm.” These queries can be too niche to build dedicated PPC campaigns for, but SEO can win them at scale.

3. You can invest in your website

Successful SEO for eCommerce is rarely “content-only.” It typically requires technical work, including improving indexation, consolidating duplicate pages, fixing faceted navigation issues, speeding up templates, and ensuring product pages stay crawlable even as stock changes.

If you have access to development resources (in-house or agency), SEO becomes a stronger bet than PPC because you can act on what the data tells you.

4. Your buying cycle includes research

For many online shoppers, an eCommerce purchase includes a “research phase”: comparing brands, materials, sizing, compatibility, or best options for a specific need.

SEO lets you capture that earlier intent through guides, comparison pages, and category content, then bring shoppers back via email, remarketing, or organic return visits.

When PPC is the better choice for your eCommerce business

1. You need revenue quickly

PPC is unmatched for speed. If you’re launching a new product line, entering a new category, or running a seasonal push, PPC can generate demand immediately, especially through Google Shopping and paid social.

For many brands, PPC is also the most predictable way to turn budget into sales when you need to hit a target this month, not next quarter.

2. You want precise control over messaging and landing pages

SEO is influenced by Google’s interpretation of relevance and authority, while PPC gives you more control over what you say, who sees it, and where they land.

That matters when you have:

  • Time-sensitive offers (think sales, bundles, limited stock).
  • Specific margin priorities (push higher AOV bundles).
  • Different propositions by audience (eg. trade vs retail).
  • A need to test new positioning quickly.

3. Your category is crowded, and organic rankings are hard to win

In some eCommerce niches, the first page is dominated by major retailers, marketplaces, or long-established brands. SEO is still possible, but it can take time.

PPC can help you compete while you build organic authority. It’s not uncommon for brands use PPC to “buy time” while SEO foundations are put in place.

4. You want to test products, prices, and offers with fast feedback

PPC can be a handy testing engine. You can quickly learn which products convert best, which price points hold, which USPs resonate, and what creative angles work, then feed those learnings back into product merchandising and SEO priorities.

A simple comparison: SEO vs. PPC for eCommerce

Here’s a straightforward way to compare the two:

Factor SEO PPC
Time to results Medium to long-term (typically months) Fast (days to weeks)
Cost structure Ongoing investment in content/tech/links Pay per click/auction + management
Traffic scalability Compounds over time, but slower to ramp Scales quickly if unit economics work
Control Less direct control over rankings High control over targeting, budgets, messaging
Best for Sustainable demand + lower CAC over time Immediate revenue, testing, seasonal pushes
Risk profile Slower feedback; algorithm updates Immediate cost impact; tracking changes
What can break it Technical issues, competition, updates Rising CPCs, creative fatigue, attribution gaps

Who says you need to choose?

The best-performing eCommerce businesses we’ve worked with almost have used both PPC and SEO since they cover each other’s weaknesses.

SEO tends to be slower, but it compounds. PPC is fast, but it’s sensitive to auction pressure and budget. Together, they create a more resilient growth engine — PPC drives immediate revenue and provides testing data, while SEO builds a lower-cost demand base that reduces dependence on ads.

A practical way to think about it is PPC helps you win now by capturing existing demand quickly, while SEO help you win in the long run and keeps you winning as you build sustainable visibility and strengthen brand trust.

What to consider before you make a decision

It’s not only your business goals you need to consider when picking between SEO and PPC, but also the realities of your business.

Your margins and average order value (AOV)

If your margins are slim, PPC can become challenging unless conversion rate and AOV are strong, or you have high repeat purchase rates. SEO can be the lever that makes paid growth viable by increasing overall demand and reducing your blended CAC.

If margins are healthy and you can afford the cost to acquire a customer, PPC can scale aggressively — especially when combined with strong retention.

Your tracking and measurement maturity

PPC is only as good as your tracking. If conversion tracking is broken or attribution is inconsistent, PPC decisions can become unreliable fast.

SEO also needs measurement (rankings, organic revenue, assisted conversions, new user growth), but it’s generally less fragile day-to-day than PPC attribution.

Your website quality

Both channels send people to your site. If your product pages are slow, your navigation is confusing, or your checkout is clunky, both SEO and PPC will underperform.

In our experience, eCommerce growth often comes from combining traffic growth with conversion rate improvements. If you’re deciding between SEO and PPC, it’s worth asking a third question: “Is our site ready to successfully convert more demand?”

Seasonality and your promotional calendar

If your business is seasonal (think summertime deals and Black Friday), PPC becomes essential for capturing peak demand quickly. SEO can support seasonality too, but it needs lead time, meaning you build pages and authority ahead of the peak, not during it.

A simple decision framework for eCommerce teams

If you want a straightforward way to decide where to start, use these rules of thumb:

Start with PPC if…

You need sales quickly, you’re launching something new, you have clear margins, and your tracking is reliable. PPC will generate faster learnings and faster revenue, which can then fund SEO activities.

Start with SEO if…

You’re in a category where paid clicks are expensive, you have a wide catalogue, and you can invest in site improvements and content marketing. SEO will build sustainable demand and reduce long-term acquisition costs.

Read our ultimate guide to organic SEO.

Invest in both if…

You have growth targets and you need resilience. In most established eCommerce businesses, a blended approach is the most stable, using PPC for immediacy and testing, and SEO for compounding returns and long-tail capture.

What a balanced SEO + PPC strategy looks like

Rather than trying to cramp PPC and SEO into every one of your digital marketing actions, why not consider this pragmatic split?

Begin by using PPC to capture high-intent demand, prioritising Google Shopping, paid search for high-intent terms, and retargeting to recover abandoned carts. At this point, you may want to focus on profitability and product-level performance, not just platform ROAS.

As one team handles that, another could use SEO to build scalable category visibility. This would involve Strengthen category and collection pages, improve internal linking, and ensure faceted navigation does not create index bloat. You could then build supporting content that answers real shopper questions and use digital PR to earn more brand visibility and authority.

But what will take this strategy to another level (in practise) is sharing learnings across channels — we’ve seen some of the best “free” performance gains come from this! PPC search terms can reveal category language you should use in SEO, while SEO landing pages can reveal which categories deserve additional paid budget. Paid social creative tests can also inform on-page messaging and product positioning.

The bottom line: which is better for your eCommerce business?

If you need a single answer, it’s this: PPC is usually better for speed, SEO is usually better for sustainability.

But the best growth outcomes come from combining them in a way that matches your margins, timeline, and market competitiveness.

Every business is unique, and often requires a varying balance of the two. But if you don’t have a deep understanding of both, or an internal team with the skills to find the right balance successfully, it could feel likes your efforts are draining time and budget from more successful digital activities.

PPC and SEO are two of Submerge’s specialities, with expert, dedicated teams who have a working understanding of these finicky disciplines. We can work with you to get a better understanding of your business’s unique position and needs, gather performance data you may not have considered before, and build an effective strategy that will boost your online visibility and performance.

Book a free consultation with us today.