Case Study: MSP Organic Traffic Spurred By PPC

case study msp organic traffic spurred by ppc ft img
Home » Blog » Case Study: MSP Organic Traffic Spurred By PPC
Free Web Marketing Consultations

Helping B2B Technology Companies Increase Their Lead Volume.
Serving: IT, MSP, Cybersecurity, Software Dev, SaaS, ISV, VARs & More.

Table of Contents
    Add a header to begin generating the table of contents

    One historically contentious topic in the online marketing space is whether or not advertising is required for success in SEO. Does buying traffic from Google Advertising efforts directly influence whether or not your website ranks organically? That question has historically been tough to answer because the influence is rarely measurable directly and conclusively. Often time website updates preclude an advertising effort, so it’s hard to say, was it the website updates or was it the advertising? Running PPC campaigns and sending traffic to a mature business in a competitive market hasn’t resulted in any noticeable boost in traffic that I’ve seen, but would it? I’ve never seen firsthand a valid experiment that would allow me to say “yes, PPC definitely influences organic search results”. At least not until now. In this case study we’ll talk about how a small northwest-based MSP in a low-competition market started dominating the search results in both paid and organic after launching a PPC campaign.

    PPC Influence On Organic Search

    There are hundreds of ranking factors that Google considers when ranking a website and a chunk of them are sourced from real-world engagement statistics from the Google Chrome browser. Google doesn’t have to guess how well your website is performing because they can camp your statistics via their Chrome browser. They can get an understanding of how long people are staying on your site, scroll depth, link clicks, form submissions, and other engagement metrics they are collecting.

    Google can use this data to pit your website against competitors across town and see who should be ranked higher. But what if your website traffic is so low that Google doesn’t have enough data to accurately rank your website? How will you ever even be considered for rankings if you’ve never generated traffic to a page in the first place? It’s tough, I can tell you that.

    Many MSPs fit this bill, their website traffic is just so low that they can’t even get the ball rolling in Google’s eyes to be considered a website to be ranked. They don’t have any backlinks pointing their way and they don’t have any traffic. This is especially true for MSPs who don’t blog and only build commercial-oriented landing pages. Commerical-oriented landing pages tend to rank for highly competitive terms like “it support city name”, but if they don’t rank high enough they will never generate any clicks and therefore will never get enough data in the eyes of search engines to climb the ranks. Eventually their site will be ignored.

    Their are a few ways to circumvent this problem.

    • Send traffic to your website without relying on organic search
    • Build backlinks to your website so that search engines discover your site via higher-trust domains
    • Create content on your website in less competitive areas via blogging so that your site can source organic traffic and build trust that way

    MSP Realizes Immediate Boost In Organic Visibility After Launching PPC Campaign

    In the case of this northwest MSP, they began to send traffic to their website via pay-per-click advertising on Google, which was enough for their website to see a dramatic increase in organic search traffic. This is all in addition to the advertising traffic they were now buying. They reached out to Tortoise and Hare in May of 2024, and after a brief sales process decided to move forward with a PPC advertising effort. We launched their MSP PPC campaigns in June, which is typically a period of declining search traffic during the summer months.

    Even I was surprised how quick the boost was. This northwestern based MSP experienced:

    • Doubled organic search clicks
    • Tripled organic search impressions
    • Increased search engine visibility in the market from 10% to 30% for tracked high-competition keywords
    • Increased lead volume from 0-2 to averaging 5-7 leads per month between PPC and SEO

    The crazy part about all of this is, they weren’t even spending a ton on advertising. In fact they are our lowest spending client right now, and have probably become our best-performing client in terms of efficiency dollar for dollar. If only it was this easy all the time.

    Why This MSP Experienced Such Great Results

    This sort of immediate boost is rare, and the main reason this client was able to generate such positive results is that their MSP PPC advertising efforts led to substantial increases in organic traffic, brought on by their newly launched advertising campaign. This case study was interesting and allowed us to see conclusively that yes, PPC absolutely influences organic search traffic. Not every MSP should expect these results though. The main characteristics that created the conditions for this type of success were:

    • Low competition market.
    • The company had low organic traffic and low visibility.
    • Despite their low traffic and low visibility, they were still among the top competitors so they were already on the bubble of better rankings and visibility.
    • Despite a small website their website was high quality and converted very well and therefore sent positive signals to search engines about their website.

    The main factor here was a low-competition market, the client was in a T3 city with less than a million in population in the broader metro. But hey, who cares right? Lead flow is lead flow and revenue is revenue and sometimes just doing something that your competitors aren’t doing is all it takes to gain a significant edge.

    Final Thoughts

    This was an interesting case study, it was interesting because we rarely meet and MSP that is perfectly fine and ready to go with their website as is for their advertising effort, but in this MSPs case they had a pretty high quality website out the gate and we were able to just add on advertising with no additional changes. This created the conditions needed for a valid experiment that allowed us to conclusively say that yes advertising can influence SEO and drive additional organic traffic. We’ve seen this effect before but rarely in isolation and its effects are typically more muted for larger more established businesses in higher competition markets.

    Want to get an understanding of how launching a pay-per-click advertising effort might influence your organic search traffic? Reach out to Tortoise and Hare today and learn more about our search engine marketing services.

    Share This Article
    Posted in:
    Tagged:

    Hunter Nelson

    Hunter is the founder and president of Tortoise and Hare Software, a digital marketing agency for the technology sector and other lead generation oriented businesses. Hunter has more than 10 years’ experience building web applications and crafting digital strategies for companies ranging from scrappy startups to Fortune 50 household names. When not on the clock, you'll find him spending time with his family and pups, relaxing on the beach, or playing competitive online video games. See for more.

    Leave a Comment





    Recent Blog Posts

    Aesopians E8 – How SaaS Companies Are Maintaining Brand Integrity and Operationalizing Growth with HubSpot Ft. Mohamed Hamad Of Third Wunder Agency

    SaaS companies move fast—but if your branding and systems can’t keep up, growth can actually become a liability. In this episode of the Aesopians Podcast, host Hunter Nelson is joined…

    The Ultimate Guide To ChatGPT SEO

    Most SEO professionals are racing to understand how AI tools are reshaping visibility. But the biggest shift isn’t coming from Google—it’s coming from ChatGPT. As organic search volumes and conversions…

    MSP Google Ads Costs and Pricing

    You’ve heard Google Ads can generate leads quickly, but you’re not sure how much to budget, what kind of results to expect, or whether it’s really worth the spend. Many…

    Aesopians E7 – Joining The Feel Good MSP Sales Training Program Ft. Brian Gillette

    In this episode of the Aesopians Podcast, we sit down with Brian Gillette, founder of Feel-Good MSP and creator of the “Feel-Good Close.” If you’re an MSP leader who’s tired…

    MSP Advertising Strategy: 3 Fundamental Approaches to Drive Real Growth

    Is your MSP making effective use of your advertising budget, or are you weighed down too much by bottom of funnel advertising tactics that leave you in a perpetual cycle…

    How We Save Thousands With Negative Keywords For MSP Google Ad Campaigns

    Google Ads is one of the most powerful inbound lead generation channels available to managed service providers. There are few better moments to introduce your brand than when someone is…

    Aesopians E5: From Tech To Rep: Year 1 In MSP Sales Ft. Ashton Fortuna

    Most MSPs hesitate to move technicians into sales—worried they’ll lack the polish, confidence, or killer instinct to close deals. Sales is a different game. Techs solve problems with systems; sales…

    SEO Not Working: Here’s Why

    Lately I’ve been getting on more and more calls lately with people saying something along the lines of “we’ve been doing SEO or inbound for 6 months, 12 months, or…

    Why SEO Investments Help Your MSP Weather a Recession and Keep the Door Open for New Opportunities

    What happens to your pipeline when the phones go quiet, inboxes stay cold, and paid ads stop converting? That’s not a hypothetical. It’s what happens in a recession. Budgets freeze.…

    MSP Marketing – How to Build a Strategy That Works

    Let’s be honest—most MSP marketing doesn’t work.Not because the tactics are bad, but because they’re unaligned. What looks like a marketing problem is often a strategy problem in disguise. Most…

    The 10 Best MSP SEO Agencies To Help You Grow Organic Traffic

    If you’re searching for SEO agencies for MSPs, the list of generalists can feel endless—and underwhelming. Most SEO providers don’t understand the managed services space, much less the buyer behavior,…

    Why Your MSP’s Online Marketing Efforts Are Failing

    If you’re leading an MSP and investing in online marketing, you’re probably feeling a growing sense of frustration. You’ve put money into websites, content, ads—even hired an agency or two…

    What Makes a Great MSP Website? 5 Examples You Should Follow

    Your MSP website is more than just an online brochure—it’s a powerful tool for attracting and converting potential clients. But what makes a website truly effective in the competitive managed…

    Case Study: Cold Start To 2-5 Leads Per Month Via Local SEO For MSP In Canada

    Client Background A Managed IT Services Provider (MSP) in British Columbia, Canada engaged us to establish a professional online presence and generate a steady flow of inbound leads. Before working…

    Aesopians Episode 4: Leading with Cybersecurity To Spark MSP Sales Conversations – Featuring Michael Bakaic Of Iceberg Cyber

    In this episode of the Aesopians Podcast, Hunter Nelson sits down with Michael Bakaic from Iceberg Cyber to discuss how MSPs can use cybersecurity as a conversation starter to attract…

    WordPress Out OF Memory Exceptions

    Recently I’ve been dabbling in programmatic SEO. I got an idea of rolling out a landing page to attract search engine traffic from every major city in the United States…

    Aesopians Episode 3 – Cold Email Marketing For MSPs Featuring Jeffrey Newton Of Cyft.AI

    In this episode of The Aesopians Podcast, Hunter Nelson sits down with Jeffrey Newton, Co-founder of Cyft and former MSP sales and marketing leader, to discuss the realities of running…

    Case Study: Sourcing 30+ Email Opt-Ins Per Month For Cybersecurity SaaS Startup Via Google Ads

    In this case study we’ll share how we helped a Cybersecurity SaaS startup source roughly 30 email opt-ins per month via Google Ads to help fuel their email marketing efforts…

    Aesopian’s Episode 2 – Streamlining SEO Content Production Featuring Raj Khera Of Make Media

    In this episode of the “Aesopians” podcast, we’re joined by Raj Khera, a serial entrepreneur and the founder of Make Media, to discuss how small businesses can transform their approach…

    Aesopians Episode 1 – Azure Cloud For MSPs

    In the debut episode of Aesopian’s Podcast, host Hunter Nelson sits down with Matt Hache, an infrastructure consultant at PAX8 and founder of Neon Cobra, to explore how Managed Service…

    Related Blog Posts

    Case Study: Cold Start To 2-5 Leads Per Month Via Local SEO For MSP In Canada

    Client Background A Managed IT Services Provider (MSP) in British Columbia, Canada engaged us to establish a professional online presence and generate a steady flow of inbound leads. Before working…

    Case Study: Sourcing 30+ Email Opt-Ins Per Month For Cybersecurity SaaS Startup Via Google Ads

    In this case study we’ll share how we helped a Cybersecurity SaaS startup source roughly 30 email opt-ins per month via Google Ads to help fuel their email marketing efforts…

    Case Study: TNHS Generates 30 Leads In 6 Months For DC Metro MSP

    In July of 2024 a Washington D.C. metro based MSP reached out to Tortoise and Hare Software for help with some of their advertising campaigns. This MSP was working with…

    Case Study: TNHS Helps MSP Improve UX, Optimize Website

    In this case, study we’ll be talking about how TNHS helped a Philadelphia managed IT company improve the user experiences on their website, optimize their site’s core landing pages, build…

    TNHS Helps MSP Launch ERP Ad Campaign

    In this post, we’ll be walking through a brief case study on how we helped an Australian MSP prepare for the future of their business. This MSP has built a…

    Case Study: MSP Adds 60k MRR In 1 Year Via PPC

    In August of 2023 Tortoise and Hare began working with a new South Florida based MSP. The company reached out after reading some blog posts on the Tortoise and Hare…

    Tortoise and Hare Defines SEO Strategy For iPaaS Platform

    In the dynamic realm of SaaS, standing out is imperative. For our client, a VC backed new entrant into SaaS automation platform space, this challenge turned into an opportunity when…

    GovTech SaaS Paid Search Advertising Case Study

    In today’s post, I would like to take a moment to break down some of the results we were able to generate for a GovTech SaaS via paid search advertising.…

    TNHS Helps Break Fix Launch Emergency Website

    I got a strange phone call recently from a break/fix computer repair provider with a pressing need. They called from a conference they were attending with the need to get…

    TNHS Helps South Florida MSP Launch Marketing Website

    Computer Business Solutions is a Pompano Beach based managed IT service provider serving Pompano Beach, Fort Lauderdale, Boca Raton, and the greater South Florida area. Computer Business Solutions, or CBS…

    TNHS Helps MSP Narrow Focus To Legal Sector, Launch New Advertising Campaign

    AKAVEIL Technologies Inc. (AKAVEIL) is a small but growing managed IT services provider that reached out to Tortoise and Hare Software (TNHS) in May of 2022 for help with their…

    Food Safety Trainer Marketing Case Study

    In todays post we’ll be talking about how we helped a food safety training consultant update their branding, increase exposure, and start generating more leads for their proctored food safety…

    Case Study: New ERP Consulting Website Launch

    Villani analytics, or Villytics for short, is an ERP consultant specializing in the Oracle cloud suite of enterprise resource planning (ERP) and enterprise performance management (EPM) products. They work with…

    Fishing Up Leads With Hurricane Charters

    Hurricane Charters is a Panama City based inshore fishing charter business providing chartered trips for small groups for redfishing, trout fishing, kids trips, tarpon fishing and more. They reached out…

    Google Ads Case Study – Adding 1.5 Million Revenue In 1 Year For A SaaS

    In this post we’re going to walk through an eCommerce SaaS google ads case study. We’ll walk you through how we took one lucky eCommerce software as a service (SaaS)…

    TNHS Helps MSP 10x Traffic, Expand Market Share

    In today’s post, we’re going to be walking through an MSP marketing case study and looking at how we help this regionally focused MSP 10x their organic traffic, more than…

    Passive Lead Gen For Janitorial Supply Company

    Southern Cleaning Supply is a janitorial supply company based out of Panama City FL. They provide cleaning supplies and equipment to local businesses, nonprofits, and government organizations in Panama City…

    Top Blog Content

    The Ultimate Guide to Hiring an MSP Marketing Agency

    Are you one of the many MSPs struggling to attract new clients consistently? According to research conducted by MSP Dojo, a leading MSP sales consulting firm, approximately 85% of MSPs…

    The Ultimate Guide To MSP Website Optimization

    A well-optimized website is essential for Managed Service Providers (MSPs) looking to scale their business, attract more leads, and achieve a lucrative exit. A lot of MSPs check a few…

    The Ultimate Guide To Paid Search On Google Ads For Managed Service Providers

    Generating leads for your MSP can be a challenge. You spend so much time managing employees, making sure customer support tickets are answered, procuring hardware, and defending against cyber threats,…

    The Ultimate Guide To MSP SEO

    Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is one of the most important ways to attract new business for mid-market managed service providers (MSP). If you look at MSPs that have achieved any…

    The Ultimate Guide To Setting A Marketing Budget For IT Companies

    Many IT companies get their start as a one-man operation and rely almost exclusively on word of mouth, referrals, and other organic offline means to get past their initial growth…

    Featured Review of Tortoise and Hare

    ryan drake president nettech consultants
    R.D.
    President Florida Based MSP

    Tortoise and Hare has been a key partner in our MSP's growth. Over the year's we've worked together they've helped our MSP dramatically increase our website traffic, and build a steady stream of leads sourced from our website and advertising efforts. Over that time, we've been able to raise our base customer size, build economies of scale to more efficiently service customers, and expand into new markets.