This week I'm looking at a local pool contractor running both SEO and Google Ads at the same time. It's a seasonal business and the data tells that story clearly.
I'm walking through 4 screenshots — traffic sources, organic traffic over time, conversions by source, and Google Ads performance — to show you what paid and organic working together actually looks like in real numbers.
What I cover in this episode:
I recommend watching the video first, then reviewing the information below. You may wish to pause the video at the screenshots while reading the information. I'll walk you through the data, what I'm seeing, and what it means. You can then use these examples to look at your own SEO and Google Ads data and better understand what's happening.
So, let's look this week at something different — a client running both SEO and Google Ads at the same time, and what that looks like in the data. As I mentioned, this is a local pool contractor. Seasonal business — their busy season is spring through summer, and you can see that clearly in the numbers. They are also very active on social media and in their local community. We’re looking at April versus March and I have 4 screenshots to walk through so let’s get into it.
First I want to show you this organic traffic chart because it tells the seasonal story better than any words I could use.
Look at that curve. Traffic climbs from early spring, peaks in June and July, drops off hard in fall, bottoms out in November and December, and now in April it’s climbing right back up again exactly where you’d expect it to be for a pool company. This is what seasonal SEO looks like. The traffic isn’t broken in November — it’s just November. Nobody is searching for a pool contractor in December in most markets.
What matters is that the line is climbing when it should be climbing. And right now it is. Google organic sessions are up 29.4% month over month heading into their busiest season. That is exactly what we want to see.
Now here’s where it gets interesting. This client runs both SEO and Google Ads. And I want to show you what each channel is contributing because it’s not what most people would expect.
Google organic — 304 sessions, 11 key events, up 83.3% in conversions month over month.
Google Ads — 146 sessions, 2 key events from the ads data, but 8 conversions and 22 phone calls in the Google Ads dashboard.
Both channels are working. But organic is actually driving more contact form submissions this month. 11 out of 17 total came from organic search. Paid brought in 2 form fills but 22 phone calls. So paid is driving phone calls, organic is driving form fills. Different behavior, same goal — getting people to reach out.
I want to talk about the Google Ads budget here because it’s a good example of right-sizing a campaign.
This client is spending $600.88 a month — that’s roughly $20 a day. Conversions are up 60%, phone calls up 15.8%, cost per conversion down 38.2% to $75.11.
For a pool contractor where one job can be worth $20,000 or more, $75 to generate a lead is very reasonable. Could they get more conversions by raising the budget? Absolutely. But $20 a day works for this business right now and the data backs that up. You don’t have to spend a lot to get results from Google Ads. You have to spend consistently on the right keywords. This campaign has been running long enough that it knows what it’s doing. The budget fits the business.
Here’s something I want to be transparent about because it comes up with a lot of local service businesses.
This client recently added a lot of video to their website. Video of their work, their projects, their team. Great for showcasing what they do — and it has brought them new business because people can see the quality of the work before they ever pick up the phone. But video is heavy. It slowed the site down. And site speed matters for SEO.
So we have a trade off — a slower site that converts better because the content is compelling versus a faster site with less proof. In this case the client made the right call for their business. Just know that every decision has a data consequence and you need to look at both sides before you make it.
One thing I want to flag because it’s worth watching. Direct traffic — people typing the URL directly or coming from an untracked source — is down in engagement dramatically. 373 sessions but only 9 seconds average engagement time versus 2 minutes 47 seconds last month. That is a big drop. Something changed with how that traffic is behaving and it’s worth investigating. Could be a bot issue, could be a tracking issue, could be something else entirely. I don’t have the answer yet but this is exactly why you look at the data every month. You catch things like this before they become bigger problems.
Let me show you this one last screenshot because it’s my favorite one in this whole report. 17 contact form submissions in April. Here’s where they came from — 11 from Google organic, 2 from Google Ads, 2 direct, 1 from Instagram, 1 from a Google doc. Organic search is doing the heavy lifting on form fills. Paid is driving phone calls. Social brought in 1. And that Instagram conversion and Google doc referral tell you this client’s community presence and social activity are quietly contributing even if the numbers are small. Every channel is playing a role. That is what a well-rounded visibility strategy looks like in real data.
If you are a seasonal business, pull your organic traffic chart and look at the shape of it. Does it match your actual busy season? It should. If it doesn’t, that’s a signal something needs attention.
And if you’re running both SEO and Google Ads, look at your conversions by source. You might find — like this client — that each channel is converting differently. Paid drives calls. Organic drives form fills. Knowing that changes how you think about both.
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Welcome! My name is Glenneth and I live in beautiful East Tennessee. I wear many hats: CEO of The Visibility Method, SEO & Google Ads Expert, content creator, and more. I love technology, social media, and weight lifting. My favorite place to hang out is the hammock in my backyard. My favorite colors are pink and orange. My favorite team is the Vols. And I LOVE to get email so please drop me a note and say hi!
