When Businesses Need to Be Found Online, Josiah Roche Shows How SEO and Google Ads Turn Searches Into Leads

If you want to boost your company’s bottom line, Josiah Roche may be the person to call because he has a track record of turning online clicks into profit.

As Roche puts it, “I know how to make them money,” a goal many businesses share when they spend thousands of dollars on Google ads and other digital marketing services.

Through JRR Marketing, the small firm he founded, he helps businesses and brands use organic and paid strategies to increase their visibility online. That visibility is the driving force behind generating leads and, eventually, revenue, according to Roche.

His digital marketing team has become the go‑to for two core services that help businesses get discovered online: Google Advertising and Search Engine Optimization.

But in order to generate profits, people must be able to connect with you, and that starts with your brand being visible, Roche said during an exclusive interview with EIN Presswire.

“Google ads and SEO are two ways of doing that,” Roche said. “With Google ads, you’re renting visibility in the sponsored search results and paying when someone clicks. We track what happens after the click, including whether that person becomes a lead or sale, then optimize the campaign around profitability.”

“With SEO, you’re earning visibility in the unpaid results,” Roche added. “It usually takes longer because the website has to prove that it’s useful and relevant, but the benefit can build over time.”

These digital marketing tactics can help companies show up in search results and ensure a brand or company’s content is prioritized in search, giving them instant visibility through paid Google ads.

According to his website, Roche helps brands grow past $1 million using SEO, Google Ads and conversion strategy. He also runs The Conversion Clinic, where he teaches business owners how to use search‑based marketing, often called SEM, to bring in more customers.

Roche has worked with all types of businesses, from lawyers and dentists to plumbers and government agencies. Before launching his digital marketing firm, he was a journalist for The Australia Times.

Meanwhile, many brands pair public relations strategies with online marketing so both efforts work toward the same audience and drive measurable outcomes, including revenue goals.

And increasingly, PR budgets are contingent on proving an ROI. ROI, short for return on investment, tells a business whether it made or lost money compared to what was invested.

“PR can create attention, trust and third-party mentions,” Roche explained. “SEO makes useful content available when people search for the company or the problem it solves. Google Ads can capture people who are searching with an immediate need.”

Roche also offers free online resources on marketing strategies through his popular YouTube page.

But if you want the nuts and bolts tailored to your business, your best bet is to book a consultation with Roche for a digital marketing plan built to bring in the leads SEO and Google Ads promise.

His insights have been cited in Business Insider, TrafficGuard, HubSpot, Databox and WP Engine, and he has helped businesses generate more than $100 million in additional revenue over the past decade by improving how they attract and convert customers online.

In the interview, Roche explains how PR, search and customer demand all connect. He shares simple ways businesses can show up where people are looking, turn that attention into results and understand how search shapes brand reputation.

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Q: Tell us a bit about your path. What were you doing early on, and how did that lead to what you’re doing today?

A: I started working in retail at 16 and moved through managerial roles and into store management within a few years. At the same time, I wanted to work in technology and journalism, so I started a technology publication called GSR on the side. It ran for about four years with a volunteer team of roughly 50 people. I completed a diploma in journalism and wrote for The Australia Times for two years. Then I read David Ogilvy, Robert Collier and Eugene Schwartz and fell in love with marketing. I started an agency with a co-founder in Melbourne, ran it for two years, then sold my share because the partnership and business model weren’t right for me. Former clients kept asking me for help, so I went back to consulting on my own. That eventually grew into JRR Marketing and the team I run today.

Q: You’ve been teaching business owners how to use search for years. What’s one simple step a beginner can take today to improve how they show up on Google?

A: Start with the page for the service you most want to sell. Search Google using the phrase a customer would type, then compare the best results with your page. Your page should explain the service in plain English, answer the questions buyers actually ask, include evidence such as reviews or case studies, say where you work and make the next step easy. That’s where SEO and direct response marketing meet. Google can understand what the page covers, and the customer has a reason to contact you.

Q: During our conversation, you mentioned that you know how to make businesses money. When a business comes to you for help getting more leads, what’s the first thing you dig into?

A: I start with economics and demand. I look at the local market, the number of people searching for the service, the value of a customer, the close rate and how many leads the business needs. Then I look at the website, offers, ads, search visibility and tracking to see where the process is breaking. There isn’t much value in sending more traffic to a page that doesn’t convince people, and there isn’t much value in generating leads if nobody can tell which ones became sales. From there, I repair the weak parts and either advise the business or manage the work for them.

Q: A lot of businesses use communications tactics like press releases or media outreach to get attention. How do you see SEO and Google ads fitting into that mix so everything works together instead of in separate buckets?

A: PR, SEO and Google Ads should be planned around the same audience and business goal. PR can create attention, trust and third-party mentions. SEO makes useful content available when people search for the company or the problem it solves. Google Ads can capture people who are searching with an immediate need. A press release about an award may have PR value, but if it doesn’t answer anything the audience is searching for, it may do little for search. I prefer to start with the questions and problems people search for, create useful content around them, use PR to support that expertise and use ads when we want faster access to existing demand. Then we track whether all of it produces leads and sales.

Q: Many PR professionals are trying to understand how search affects visibility. What’s one thing you wish more PR folks understood about how SEO shapes brand reputation online?

A: I wish more PR professionals treated search results as part of brand reputation. Someone may see a mention in the media, but their next step is often to search the company, its founders, its reviews or the problem it claims to solve. What appears there helps form their opinion. The same principle now applies to search through ChatGPT, Claude and Perplexity, which can cite publicly available sources when answering questions. Consistent facts, useful expert commentary and credible third-party coverage make it easier for people and these systems to understand who a brand is and why it should be trusted. Publishing lots of generic news releases isn’t a substitute for answering the questions customers actually have.

Q: Now for a hypothetical. If Google search disappeared tomorrow, how would you help a business stay visible and keep customers coming in?

A: If Google search disappeared, people’s demand wouldn’t. I’d first find where those customers had moved, whether that was ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, social media, industry directories, marketplaces, online communities, referrals or email. Then I’d use the same fundamentals: publish useful content, earn mentions from trusted sources, put a compelling offer in front of the right audience and track every lead and sale. We’d also keep improving conversion rates across every channel. Whether someone arrives from Facebook, an industry publication or an AI answer, the website still has to persuade them to take the next step.