SEO or Google Ads for a local business?
For a lot of local businesses the honest answer is neither yet, because the map listing is doing the work both would be competing with.
What is the practical difference?
Ads produce traffic immediately, cost money per click, and stop the day you stop paying. SEO takes months, costs effort rather than clicks, and keeps working once it lands.
Which should a local business do first?
Usually neither. Fix the Google Business Profile first, because for most local trades that listing is where customers actually look, and it is free.
A complete listing with real photographs, correct hours and a steady flow of reviews outperforms a small ads budget for a lot of local service businesses.
When are ads clearly right?
When you have capacity to fill now, a job value that supports a cost per click, and somewhere for the click to land that converts. Missing the third one is how most small ad budgets are wasted.