A client came to me after burning £15,000 on SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) over 12 months. Their expert consultant had actually delivered: the site jumped from page three to position five on Google for a lucrative local search term. They should have been celebrating. Only, they regretted burning all that cash.
Why? Their position five ranking required three mouse scrolls to reach. Above them sat four paid ads (including images, ad features and one expanded ad unit), a directory pack, a local map pack, and “People Also Ask” questions. The organic listing was literally invisible. About one in every 500 searches resulted in a click. With only a few clicks driving traffic combined with on-site conversation rate challenges, they had zero conversions. Twelve months of energy and £15,000 in cash – burnt.
They could have discovered this within weeks with a quick £500 PPC (Pay-Per-Click) Google Search Ads test. Instead, they dug a deeper hole month after month, trusting modelled data that bore no resemblance to reality.
The Problem With Search Data Nobody Tells You
Every SEO tool (confidently) gives you search volume estimates, click-through rate projections, and traffic forecasts. The data looks precise and feels reliable. They’re seldom accurate.
GKP (Google Keyword Planner) data is only accurate about 45% of the time. Ahrefs ran an experiment comparing GKP search volumes with actual GSC (Google Search Console) impressions for the same keywords and found that GKP massively overestimated volumes. The numbers in these tools are rounded annual averages, assigned to volume buckets, and often group similar keywords together. It’s modelled data, not real data, and the limitations are buried in small print.
Third-party tools (e.g., Ahrefs, Semrush, MOZ) aren’t much better. Many use clickstream data or forecasts to refine Google’s estimates, which introduces even more potential error. You’re building your entire SEO strategy on numbers that might be inflated by 50% or more.
But inaccurate search volumes are only half the problem. The bigger issue is what happens on the actual search results page.
The Zero-Click Reality
Nearly 60% of Google searches in the US and EU end without a single click to a website. For every 1,000 searches, only 360 clicks go to the open web. The rest stay inside Google’s ecosystem or end without any click at all.
Why? SERP features. Google has stuffed search results with elements that answer queries without requiring clicks: AI Overviews, featured snippets, People Also Ask boxes, knowledge panels, local packs, image carousels, shopping results, and paid ads.
When AI Overviews appear alongside featured snippets, organic click-through rates drop by 37% on average. Featured snippets alone can reduce position one CTR (Click-Through Rate) by 20-30%. In some industries, particularly science and information-heavy sectors, CTR has collapsed because Google answers the query directly on the results page.
This is exactly what happened to my client. Their keyword was lucrative, so it attracted ads. It was informational, so Google filled the results page with feature boxes. By the time you scrolled to position five, you’d already seen 10 other options. Helpful clutter! The search volume predictions looked great in Ahrefs. In reality, the click-through rate was catastrophic.
How PPC Testing Can Catch This Early
Run a small paid search campaign targeting your priority keywords, and you’ll see the truth within days. You’ll be able to go beyond modelled estimates and industry benchmarks to see actual click-through rates, conversion rates, and cost per acquisition from real searchers.
You can discover which keywords have SERP clutter that kills CTR. You can see which terms convert browsers into buyers and which attract tyre-kickers. You can learn whether your landing pages persuade people to take action or send them bouncing back to Google.
My client’s SEO consultant could have run a fast £500 PPC test that would have shown them immediately that their target keyword got terrible CTR and zero conversions. They could have pivoted to more effective search terms, adjusted their strategy, or even decided SEO wasn’t the right traffic channel. Instead, they burnt £15,000 chasing a ranking that was never going to deliver.
What to Test Before Committing to SEO
Start with exact match campaigns for your shortlist of target keywords. You want precise data on specific search terms, not broad match chaos that conflates dozens of variations. Run these tests for at least two weeks to get statistically meaningful data.
Track real click-through rates. If your ad ranks in position 1-2 and achieves a 2% CTR, imagine what position 5 will get organically. If the CTR is already terrible at the top of the page, SEO won’t fix that. The SERP is cluttered, and no amount of content optimisation will change it.
Measure conversion rates at the keyword level. Some keywords attract qualified buyers. Others attract researchers, students, or people looking for free information. PPC can tell you exactly which is which. High search volume means nothing if those searches don’t convert.
Test your landing pages under real conditions. If people click your ad but bounce immediately, your page isn’t working. You need to fix your messaging, offer, or page design before you invest in SEO. Otherwise, you’re spending months ranking for keywords that send traffic to a page that doesn’t convert. Stop pouring cash into a leaky bucket!
Check for SERP feature interference. When you search your target keywords, what do you actually see? How many ads? Is there an AI Overview? A featured snippet? A local pack? If position one requires scrolling, you’ve got a problem. PPC can confirm whether those features kill CTR before you waste time chasing organic rankings.
The True Cost of Getting SEO Wrong
SEO can take time to show results. Highly competitive keywords can take a year or even longer. During that time, you’re paying for content creation, technical optimisation, link building, and ongoing maintenance. You’ll be burning valuable cash and energy along the way. SEO isn’t really free traffic.
If you’re targeting the wrong keywords, you’ve burnt that budget on traffic that doesn’t convert. If your target keywords are buried under SERP features, you’ve wasted months chasing rankings that won’t drive clicks. If your landing pages don’t convert PPC traffic, they won’t convert SEO traffic either.
My client burnt £15,000, and a year before they realised their strategy was broken. A three-week PPC test for £500 could have told them everything they needed to know. The math is brutal!
When PPC Says “Go” on SEO
High-converting keywords with expensive CPCs (Cost-Per-Click) are your prime SEO targets. If you’re paying £5 per click and converting at 5%, that’s £100 per customer acquisition cost. Get that keyword ranking organically, and you’re getting the same customers without the ongoing ad spend.
But only after you’ve proven it works. Only after you’ve validated that the keyword converts, the landing page persuades, and the SERP isn’t so cluttered that even position one gets terrible CTR.
Use your PPC conversion data to prioritise your SEO roadmap. Keywords that convert well but cost a fortune can go to the top of your SEO list. Keywords with decent search volume but no conversions can be ignored entirely. Keywords that get clicks in PPC but have conversion rates below 1% might not be worth six months of SEO work.
Stop Guessing. Start Validating.
If you’re about to invest in SEO, or you’ve just started, ask yourself: do you know these keywords will convert? Have you seen real click-through rates from actual search results? Have you proven your landing pages turn traffic into customers?
If the answer’s no, pause. Run a small PPC test first. You’ll get real data on what works, where to focus your SEO investment, and which keywords to avoid entirely. You won’t be gambling on modelled estimates that could be off by 50%. You’ll be making evidence-based decisions backed by actual performance data.
Remember that SEO isn’t free. It costs time, money, and resources. The question shouldn’t be whether to invest in SEO. Ask whether to invest blindly in unproven keywords or to test first, validate second, and build an SEO strategy that actually drives results.
My client learned this lesson the expensive way. You don’t have to.