PPC vs SEO: Which should come first for your care marketing plan?

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If you’re running a care home or home care service, you’ve probably asked yourself whether to invest in SEO or PPC. On paper, SEO is appealing, it can bring “free” traffic over time. But if your goal is to drive private enquiries in the short to medium term, SEO alone can be slow, unpredictable, and sometimes frustrating.

Six months into an SEO project, many providers are still waiting for results, often unsure whether the traffic they’re getting is from families looking for care, or job seekers browsing for employment.

In this article, we’ll break down the purpose of SEO, the purpose of PPC, and why starting with PPC can be the smartest move while setting you up for stronger SEO down the line.

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The Purpose of SEO

SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) is about increasing your visibility in organic (non-paid) search results, attracting relevant visitors, and building long-term authority online. Unlike PPC, which drives instant traffic through paid ads, SEO focuses on optimising your website and content so search engines rank it higher for queries your target audience uses such as “dementia care home near me”. 

For care providers, SEO delivers:

• Long-term visibility: Be discoverable by families researching care options, even if they’re not ready to enquire today.
  
  
• Credibility and trust: High organic rankings signal authority and reliability.
  
  
• Brand awareness: Being present for multiple related search queries keeps your service top of mind.
  
  
• Audience targeting: Optimising for specific keywords attracts people actively searching for the services you provide, dementia support, home care, or care home placements.
  
  

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Where PPC Has the Edge

1. Immediate visibility
Unlike SEO, which can take months to show results, PPC delivers near-instant visibility. Families searching for “dementia care home near me” or “private care home vacancies” see your service first, right when they’re ready to make a decision.

2. Control and adaptability
With PPC, you control exactly who sees your ads by location, search term, demographics, and device. You can quickly adapt campaigns based on performance. If the results aren’t quite right today, you can tweak targeting, keywords, or ad copy and see improvements almost immediately.

3. Data-driven decision making
PPC also provides clarity. You’ll see which keywords actually drive enquiries and which don’t, allowing you to focus your marketing on people genuinely looking for care, not job seekers, students, or casual browsers.

This is why we often recommend starting with PPC: it not only drives immediate enquiries but also generates the data you need to make SEO smarter. When you move into SEO, you’re no longer building content on a hunch, you’re doubling down on proven winners. This makes your SEO leaner, faster, and far more effective.

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The Reality for Most Care Providers

Ideally, PPC and SEO run alongside each other. You’d appear at the top of Google Ads, dominate the organic listings below, and capture families whichever way they choose to click total omnipresence.

But not every provider has the budget or internal resources to run both at once. If you need to choose, PPC should always come first. It’s the quickest route to enquiries and the smartest way to de-risk your future SEO investment.

At Prosperwell, we’ve helped care providers across the UK use PPC to fill beds faster, refine their SEO strategies, and build marketing systems that don’t just generate traffic, they generate move-ins.

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FAQs

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1. Can Prosperwell help with both PPC and SEO?
Yes! We specialise in helping care providers run PPC campaigns to generate immediate enquiries while also building SEO strategies that deliver long-term visibility. We combine data, experience, and sector expertise to ensure your marketing works together seamlessly.

2. Do I need to do SEO and PPC at the same time?
Not necessarily. If budget or resources are limited, starting with PPC is often the fastest way to generate enquiries and gather the data you need to inform your SEO. Eventually, running both together creates the strongest results.

3. How quickly can I see results from PPC?
PPC can start driving enquiries almost immediately once campaigns are set up and optimised for your target audience. Results are measurable in real time, so you can see exactly what’s working.

4. How long before SEO starts delivering enquiries?
SEO is a longer-term strategy. Depending on competition and current visibility, it can take several months to see meaningful results. Using PPC first can speed this process, as you already have insights into which keywords and content perform best.

5. Can Prosperwell help us choose the right keywords for our care home?
Absolutely. We use PPC campaigns and industry experience to identify the search terms that attract families ready to enquire, helping you focus both paid and organic marketing efforts where it counts.

6. I want to learn more — how do I get started?
We’d love to help! Book a discovery call with our team, and we’ll review your goals, current marketing, and opportunities for growth. Together, we can build a strategy that delivers more enquiries, higher occupancy, and better ROI.

🔗 Book Your Discovery Call

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