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Google Ads vs organic search: what does a year actually cost?
Three numbers. One honest answer for your business, across 12 and 36 months. The maths is conservative on purpose; the conclusion is yours to draw.
A worked example, before you touch a slider
Say you budget £600 a month for Google Ads at a £2.00 cost per click. That buys 300 clicks a month and costs £7,200 over the first year. The organic comparison, with website management from £49 a month, is £588 for the same year. Over three years the gap widens: £21,600 on ads against £1,764, and only one of the two leaves you owning anything when the spend stops.
These are example figures, not a quote and not a forecast; they simply run the calculator's own formula on round inputs. Drag the sliders below to put your real numbers in.
Being fair to the other side
When Google Ads are the right call
This tool leans organic because the maths usually does, but Google Ads are a real tool and there are moments when they are the better first move:
- Launch week. A new offer with no organic footprint yet cannot wait nine months for rankings to build.
- A brand-new business with no rankings. Ads can pay the bills while the durable foundation is built underneath them.
- Seasonal spikes. A time-boxed rush, a one-off event or a short promotion, where durability does not matter because the campaign has a known end date.
- Market testing. Fast, cheap signal on whether demand is real before you invest months in ranking for it.
In all four cases the same catch applies: the traffic stops the day the budget stops. The full argument for running both in the right order is in the SEO vs PPC comparison.
Frequently asked questions
What is CPC?
CPC stands for cost per click, the amount Google charges you each time someone clicks your ad. On UK service-business terms it typically runs from under £1 to well over £10 for competitive niches such as solicitors or insurance. If you already run ads, your real CPC is shown inside your Google Ads account; use that figure in the slider for the most honest result.
How does the calculator work out the paid side?
Paid clicks are your monthly budget divided by your CPC, which is the only honest formula. Your conversion rate then turns clicks into leads, and the monthly budget times twelve gives the year-one cost. There is no search-volume guesswork on the paid side; the maths is spend divided by price per click.
Why does the organic side ramp over nine months?
New pages rarely rank straight away. The model assumes no organic leads in months one to three, a steady climb from months four to nine, and full maturity from month ten onwards. That is realistic for low-to-medium-competition UK local service queries on a steady retainer cadence; saturated head terms take longer, and for those the calculator over-promises the organic side.
Can I change the £49 per month assumption?
Not with a slider, because it is a starting basis rather than a universal price. Website management starts from £49 per month, quoted to your business, and services may vary, so your real figure may differ. If your quote comes in higher, multiply your monthly figure by twelve and set it against the ads column; the shape of the comparison rarely changes.
When are Google Ads the right call instead of organic?
Launch week, a brand-new business with no rankings yet, a seasonal spike you cannot wait months for, or testing whether a market wants something before you invest in ranking for it. Ads buy speed; organic builds an asset you own. Most businesses do best building the durable foundation first and using ads tactically on top of it.
Does this comparison include my own time?
No. Both columns assume the work is done for you. If you plan to run Google Ads yourself, add your hours for keyword research, bid management and landing-page testing. If you plan to do your own SEO, add your hours for content and technical upkeep. Time is a real cost the sliders cannot see, and it usually falls more heavily on the do-it-yourself ads side.
Does the calculator send my numbers anywhere?
No. The maths runs entirely in your browser and your inputs never leave it. The site uses Plausible, a cookieless EU analytics service, which counts page visits but never sees the figures you type. There is no email gate and no tracking pixel attached to this tool.
Methodology & assumptions
- Paid clicks are derived from budget ÷ CPC , the only honest formula. We do not infer search volume from a paid CTR and then re-multiply against organic CTR; that double-counts.
- Organic CTR by position: Backlinko's 2024 study (backlinko.com/google-ctr-stats) , pos 1 = 27%, pos 3 = 11%, pos 5 = 7%. Industry medians, not your niche specifically.
- Organic search volume proxy: total addressable queries are estimated as paid clicks ÷ 5%. That assumes ~5% of impressions on the ad slot convert to clicks, typical for UK service queries per WordStream UK benchmarks. It is a proxy, not your real keyword volume; treat the organic-clicks figure as a ceiling at this position, not a forecast.
- Year-1 organic cost = monthly management × 12 months, using a starting basis of £49 per month (£588 per year). Your build is quoted to your business, so the real figure depends on your brief. Website management covers hosting, getting found locally and ongoing content, so there is no separate content invoice on top.
- Organic plateau at the stated position by month 9 is realistic for low-to-medium-competition UK local-business service queries on a steady retainer cadence. Head terms in saturated niches (personal-injury solicitor London, for example) take longer; for those the calculator over-promises the organic side.
- Conversion rate is applied identically to paid and organic leads, conservative; organic on service intent typically converts 1.3 to 1.5× higher than paid landing pages.
- 3-year ads cost is flat, no CPC inflation modelled (UK CPCs have risen ~8 to 12% per year). Conservative; favours ads.
- Ownership footnote: organic traffic lands on a site you own outright, hosted on UK/EU-based, GDPR-friendly infrastructure. Google Ads is rent, the leads stop the day you stop paying. The cost number is only half the comparison.