If you run a business in Grand Rapids—maybe a medical spa in Ada, a contractor in Eastown, or a legal team downtown—you’ve probably been pitched both:

“You should run Google Ads.”
“You need to invest in SEO.”

Here’s the actual answer:
Both work. But not equally.

It depends on where your website is today, how competitive your market is, and how fast you need results.

If your site already has some authority—and you know how to target intent-based, local keywords—SEO can rank in a day.

No exaggeration. We’ve seen blogs go live at noon and rank before dinner. That kind of visibility compounds. You don’t pay per click. You don’t bid to stay on the page. You own the space.

But if your site is new? Or weak?

It’s gonna take longer to break through. That’s when Google Ads make sense—because you can show up instantly and get data while your organic strategy catches up.

The trap most businesses fall into?

They run ads without strategy or wait on SEO with no plan. Either way, they’re spending and hoping instead of executing.

When Google Ads Make Sense in Grand Rapids

If you’re serious about growth, SEO should be the foundation.

It gives you ownership of search terms, compounds over time, and doesn’t cost you anything when someone clicks. It’s hands-off once it’s live—and when structured well, it just keeps delivering. Not to mention a good seo foundation actually brings your ad cost down. 

But SEO doesn’t always move at the speed you need—especially if:

• Your site’s brand-new
• You’re targeting high-competition search terms
• Or your market is stacked with competitors who’ve been doing SEO for years

That’s where Google Ads make sense.

With paid search, you can show up instantly for high-value keywords—even if you’re brand-new to the space. You’re not earning visibility; you’re buying it. That can be smart, especially when:

• You’re launching a new offer and need exposure fast
• You’re testing search terms to see what actually converts
• You need to get into the market while your SEO builds

At WiseBear, we like to start clients with a hybrid approach:

• We audit your site
• Analyze your competitors
• Then design a strategy that uses paid ads to get momentum, while building SEO in the background

The goal isn’t to stay dependent on ads forever.

We want to help you move toward long-term visibility—where you own your space instead of renting it.

All that said, if you increase your content output and target more search terms, you will get faster visibility with SEO. Simply put the more targeted pages and blogs the more entry ways there are into your site. 

SEO Is the Foundation—Without It, You’re Building a Sandcastle

Let’s call it like it is: if your site isn’t structured for search, everything else is built on sand.
You can spend money on ads, build funnels, push traffic—but if your site isn’t aligned with how people search and what Google prioritizes, you’re paying to patch holes.

SEO isn’t just about showing up organically. It’s how you earn trust, reduce your ad costs, improve quality scores, and give customers multiple paths to find you.

We’ve seen clients in Grand Rapids own results for:

• “Concrete contractor Grand Rapids”
• “CoolSculpting Eastown”
• “Estate planning attorney GR”

And they did it with one clear structure: smart service pages, locally targeted blogs, and a site built to rank. That’s what makes the difference. Not just traffic—but staying power. You don’t pay to show up. You own the space.

And when your SEO is dialed in? Everything else works better.

• Ads convert faster
• CPC drops
• Brand trust increases
• LLMs and AI models are more likely to recommend you

This is why we don’t treat SEO as optional—it’s the base layer.

But if your site isn’t there yet? We start with ads to get traction fast. Paid search gives you visibility while your organic presence builds underneath.

And when it’s time to solidify that foundation, we bring in Rygo Labs—our SEO partner who actually knows how to build long-term search equity. No fluff. Just structure that compounds.