Ilias Ism split $1,500 three ways for GenPPT, an AI presentation tool. $500 of Google Ads produced 1 trial signup; $500 of Meta ads, 2 purchases; $500 of content and backlinks, 5,000+ visitors a month — most of it from one $100 blog post.
01The problem
Paid ads or SEO: which should a small SaaS put its first budget into?
02The experiment
He spent $500 on each channel for GenPPT and tracked results over 12 months.
The SEO $500 covered 5–6 blog posts and 10–15 backlinks. One of those posts — a $100 article on Gen Alpha slang — ended up driving the majority of the site's traffic.
Paid traffic stopped the moment the spend stopped; the content kept bringing visitors.
03Results
| Metric | Result |
|---|---|
| Google Ads trial signupsfrom $500 | 1 |
| Meta Ads purchasesfrom $500 | 2 |
| SEO visitors a monthstated as “5,000+”, from $500 | 5,000 |
| Visits to one $100 poststated as “35,000+” over 12 months | 35,000 |
| Spend | $1,500 |
“Not disclosed” means the source doesn't say. We never estimate or fill in missing numbers.
04What worked — and what didn't
What worked
- Content: one $100 post drove most of the traffic
- SEO keeps working after you stop paying
What didn't work
- Google Ads: $500 for 1 trial signup
- Viral posts bring traffic but not buyers ready to purchase
05Lessons
He would start SEO earlier and write more content aimed at people ready to buy.
06Source & evidence
- View original
Originally shared on Blog · Jan 20, 2026
SEO vs Paid Ads: We Spent $1,500 Testing Both (Case Study)
Public source. Extracted from publicly available content by the founder.
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