SEO is better for most electricians who want a steady flow of enquiries over the long term, and Google Ads is better for an electrician who needs the phone ringing within days and can pay for every click. Ads stop the moment the budget does, while SEO takes time to build but keeps working. Electrician SEO Pro's view is to build SEO as the foundation, add ads when quick work is needed, and run both if cash flow allows.
What is the difference between Google Ads and SEO for electricians?
The difference between Google Ads and SEO for electricians is how the traffic is earned: with Google Ads an electrician pays for each click on an ad at the top of the results, and with SEO the business earns free organic and Map Pack rankings by building a better website and Google Business Profile. Ads start the day a campaign goes live and stop when it's switched off. SEO takes time to build, and there is no charge per click.
Say 500 people a month search "electrician Newcastle" (made up, so swap in your own town and numbers). With Google Ads, you pay to appear in front of them. With SEO, you earn your place in the organic results (the SERPs) and the Map Pack, and nobody sends you a bill every time someone clicks.
Declaration of interest: I'm an SEO guy, so take my opinions with a pinch of salt. I'll show my working so you can decide for yourself.
Let's start with the one I love.
What are the benefits of SEO for an electrician?
The benefits of SEO for an electrician are results that last, higher trust, enquiries at all hours and a bigger share of the local results page. Once a page ranks, it can keep bringing in enquiries without a charge for every click. Many people skip the ads and go straight to the organic results, and an electrician who ranks in both the organic results and the Map Pack appears in two places at once. Electrician SEO Pro rates SEO as the foundation of an electrician's marketing for that reason.
Here's the recap:
- Long-term results. Once you rank, the traffic keeps coming without paying for ads. Ads stop the moment you turn them off. SEO keeps delivering leads month after month.
- Higher trust. Plenty of people, and I bet you're one of them, skip the ads and head straight to the organic results. Ranking high makes you look like the authority in your area.
- Works 24/7. Ads vanish when the budget runs out. SEO brings leads in at all hours, even while you sleep.
- Local domination. With local SEO, your Google Business Profile can rank alongside your website, so you take up more of the page. Two places at once, double the online real estate.
But despite my love for SEO, it's not all sunshine and rainbows.
What are the downsides of SEO for an electrician?
The downsides of SEO for an electrician are that it isn't truly free and that it takes time before the results show. Doing it yourself costs hours, paying someone costs money, and nobody can honestly promise a date for page-one rankings. Electrician SEO Pro's view is that the trade-off is still worth it, because work done now can keep paying off for years.
SEO can be free, if you do all of it yourself: build the website, write the blogs, create the content and somehow land free backlinks (do let me know your secrets). But you're running an electrical business. You don't have the time.
So there can be quite a bit of upfront cost. And sometimes, although it's not typical for local electricians, it can take many months before you see results. How long depends on your town, your competition and where your site starts, so be wary of anyone who gives you an exact date. A tough one to stomach.
But the money is worth it, in my view. Work you do on your website now could still be paying off years from now. You don't get that with Google Ads.
So how does the bill compare?
How much do Google Ads cost for an electrician compared with SEO?
Google Ads cost an electrician roughly £2 to £8 a click on average, and most local electricians see results on £300 to £1,500 a month, while SEO with Electrician SEO Pro is £750 a month flat. Local Services Ads work differently, charging about £15 to £30 per lead instead of per click. Electrician SEO Pro compares the two by what a booked job is worth, because the monthly figure alone says little about what comes back.
Here are the numbers I work from:
- Search Ads, cost per click: £2 to £8 on average, with London higher.
- Search Ads, monthly budget: £300 to £1,500, with £300 to £500 the minimum to get usable data.
- Search Ads, cost per lead: aim for £15 to £40 per qualified lead.
- Local Services Ads: £15 to £30 per lead on average, with cities like London or Manchester at the top end, and a weekly budget you set yourself.
- SEO: £750 a month flat with Electrician SEO Pro, with no long contracts.
Do the sum (made up): at £5 a click, if one click in ten becomes a booked job, that's £50 per job, not per enquiry. That can still be worth it if your average job is £300 or more.
The monthly figures overlap, so price isn't the real difference. The real difference is what you're left with when you stop paying (more on that next). Check Keyword Planner for your own area's click prices rather than trusting anyone's averages, mine included. And if someone else runs your ads, ask whether their fee comes on top of the click budget. The full UK breakdown is in my Google Ads guide for electricians.
Which brings us to the big difference: what happens when you stop paying?
What happens to an electrician's leads when Google Ads stop?
When an electrician's Google Ads stop, the leads from them stop too, because ads only appear while there is budget behind them. That happens when the spend runs out, a spending limit is reached, or the campaign is paused or switched off. SEO rankings don't disappear the day a fee stops, though they still need looking after to hold their place. That is why Electrician SEO Pro treats SEO as the foundation and ads as a top-up.
Picture it. You launch your ads today and the phone doesn't stop buzzing. Great leads, cash rolling in. Then you run out of money, hit your spending limit, or Google decides to kick you to the curb. POOF. All those prospects vanish.
And ads aren't a get-rich-quick scheme. Yes, you could switch a campaign on today and be paid for a rewire this time next week. But to make ads pay, you need to understand a lot of small things:
- What an average click costs for your keywords.
- What a customer is worth to you over time.
- Which ad angles work best.
- What time of day to run them.
- What your competitors' ads look like, and how well they perform.
To get the data on most of that, you first have to spend money. Eventually you can use it to run ads that speak to your customers, and the more you spend, the faster you learn.
Don't get me wrong, that doesn't make Google Ads bad. It's an excellent tool for bringing in work fast, as long as you can afford to keep feeding it.
So do you have to pick one?
Can electricians use Google Ads and SEO together?
Yes, electricians can use Google Ads and SEO together, and for an electrician with the cash flow it's usually the strongest option, because ads bring in enquiries straight away while SEO builds up. Once the rankings start delivering, the electrician can decide whether to keep the ads going, cut them back or push them harder. Electrician SEO Pro's recommendation is both when the budget allows: SEO as the long-term plan, ads as the short-term cash.
Imagine you're starting from scratch. You need customers, because every business has to make money, but you also want something that lasts: a business that becomes a community staple, something that gets passed down through generations.
The smart move is to kick off SEO to build traffic slowly, and let ads do the heavy lifting in the meantime, keeping the cash flowing and your name out there in the early days. Once the SEO starts delivering, re-evaluate. Keep the ads, trim them or turn them up.
Keyword research does double duty here, because the same search terms feed your SEO pages and your ads. My guide to keyword research for electricians shows how to find them.
Either way, who should do the work?
Should an electrician hire an expert for Google Ads or SEO?
An electrician should hire an expert for Google Ads or SEO, because both are easy to get wrong in expensive ways: badly run ads can burn through thousands without bringing in a penny, and SEO aimed at the wrong things can waste months. An electrician running a business rarely has the hours to learn either properly. Electrician SEO Pro's advice is to check how any expert reports, looking for calls and conversions rather than impressions and clicks alone, before signing anything.
Yes, I'm an SEO guy, so of course I'd say hire an SEO. I'd say the same about ads. If you don't know what you're doing, get someone who does, or you can burn thousands without ever making a penny back. Go it alone on SEO and you could spend months on the wrong jobs and never see a result.
Questions to ask whoever you're thinking of hiring:
- "What's your process?" If they skip keyword research, technical fixes, content or links, you're getting a half-baked job.
- "How do you report?" Real reports: calls, conversions and cost per lead, not just impressions and click-through rates. Beware "proprietary" waffle.
- "How do we stay in touch?" Regular updates, not a report once a month and a ghost.
- "Does your fee come on top of the ad budget?" One for ads. Better to know before you sign.
There's more on choosing an SEO in my complete SEO guide for electricians.
Before you spend a penny on either, though, fix one thing.
What should an electrician fix before paying for Google Ads or SEO?
Before paying for Google Ads or SEO, an electrician should fix the website's conversion rate: the share of visitors who actually call or enquire. Traffic from ads or rankings is wasted if the site makes it hard to get in touch. Electrician SEO Pro's checklist is a clear call to action, a site that works on a phone, fast loading, visible trust signals and an easy way to book.
Imagine you rank for a high-intent keyword and it brings 100 visitors a day, but only 1% of them call (made up). That's 99 wasted visits. Lift it to 10% and nine more of those 100 pick up the phone. You won't convert everyone, but squeezing every drop out of the traffic you've paid for or earned is often the cheapest win going.
Five fixes:
- A clear call to action. Big, bold and obvious, like "Call now for a free estimate", with a clickable phone number.
- A mobile-friendly site. If it's slow or fiddly on a phone, people leave. My guide to mobile optimisation for electrical websites covers it.
- Fast loading. Check your speed with PageSpeed Insights.
- Trust signals. Real Google reviews, licences and certifications, before and after photos, awards and accreditations.
- Less friction. The easier it is to book, the more leads you get. Online booking suits plenty of people who'd rather not phone.
Sort those first and every pound of ad spend, and every ranking you earn, works harder.
SEO for the long game, ads for the quick win, both if you can. Fix the website either way.
Want a hand choosing between Google Ads and SEO for your electrical business?
You can get a hand choosing between Google Ads and SEO for your electrical business from Electrician SEO Pro, as part of a full SEO service for electricians, or work it out yourself by checking your area's click prices in Keyword Planner and what a booked job is worth. Either way, the sums come first. The right answer depends on how soon you need the phone ringing and how long you can wait.
If you've got the time, my free SEO guide for electricians covers the long game, and my guide to digital marketing for electricians shows where ads and SEO sit alongside everything else. If you'd rather spend your time on the tools than on a spreadsheet of click costs, I can take it off your hands, alongside the rest of your SEO.
See how I can help, or crack on yourself.
Over to you.