Short answer: Don’t ditch SEO; rebalance it. The smartest brands are already reallocating spend to where discovery now happens first: inside social platforms.
Why shift your budget?
Changing search behaviour
Social search optimisation is becoming just as important as traditional SEO, especially as users increasingly turn to platforms like TikTok, YouTube, and Instagram to find answers. Audience behaviour is changing; more than 40% of Gen Z use TikTok or Instagram as a primary search tool instead of Google. If you’re targeting younger buyers, being discoverable on social media is non-negotiable.
Different signals of authority
Google is still king for high-intent “I need this now” searches. But early-stage discovery, product research, reviews, and ideas have moved over to social. On Google, authority is about backlinks and domain strength, whereas on social, it’s about algorithmic reach, engagement (likes, shares, comments), content freshness and peer validation. That means the budget needs to follow where the trust is being built.
Cost efficiency & risk diversification
Paid search is highly competitive and can see expensive CPCs in saturated industries. Meanwhile, social search via optimised captions, keyword-rich UGC, video metadata, transcripts or trending topics may yield organic reach at a lower cost. However, social content tends to have a shorter shelf life, so you’ll want a mix of evergreen traditional SEO and agile social SEO experimentation.
How to re‑balance wisely:
Audit your buyer journey
Map where your audience searches at each funnel stage. Are younger customers entering discovery via TikTok? Are others still Googling?
Start small with split tests.
Dedicate maybe 10–20% of your paid search or content budget to social search experiments. Track metrics like discovery, engagement, and assisted conversions (not just last-click).
Optimise content for social search
- Use keyword-rich captions, transcripts, hashtags, and alt text.
- Encourage UGC or reviews (people trust peer content)
- Leverage video, short tutorials, behind‑the‑scenes, and reviews
- Refresh or repurpose successful content into new formats.
You can learn more about social optimisation here.
Treat social + SEO + paid as an ecosystem.
Each channel supports the others. Google still dominates in high-intent searches (especially in B2B or technical fields). But social SEO may dominate early-stage or visual discovery. Use cross-promotion, remarketing, and cohesive messaging to tie them together.
Review and iterate quickly.
Because social algorithms and trends shift fast, set short review cycles (monthly or bi-monthly) to cut underperforming experiments or double down on winners.
When not to shift heavily
Not every brand needs to throw their Google budget into Reels…yet.
If you sell something complex or technical, your buyers probably aren’t scrolling TikTok for white papers. Meet them where they actually search. If your audience is older, Google’s still home base. Keep showing up there while testing the waters on social.
And if your SEO is still finding its footing, don’t pull the plug. Keep the base strong, run small social experiments, and let results drive your rebalance.
Don’t abandon traditional SEO or Google Ads; instead, rebalance to include social search. Brands that begin to experiment smartly now can capture discovery where your younger audiences live, and build learnings before competitors catch up.
Want to go deeper? Schedule a 30-minute brainstorm to integrate social search into your marketing mix.
