SEO ROI [free calculator template]

Read time: 2 minutes

Before we start, here's some other newsletters we're loving at the moment:

The Marketing Letter is taking over at the moment, Jacky details exactly what he’s doing that’s working, and how much money he’s making from it. Join here.

You already know you should be keeping up with developments in AI, but it’s overwhelming, The AI Rundown has you covered.

When we’re speaking to potential SEO clients, one of the most common questions we get asked is:

What does the ROI look like on this project?

For an SEO that can be a bit of a dreaded question, because there are truly many variables that make it difficult to account for predictably.

That isn’t a great answer though, with a bit of data, it is possible to answer the question well, if you know what to look for.

Read on to learn how it’s done, and grab the free template.

How must people calculate SEO ROI

The general way that SEO ROI is calculated at the moment is by looking at the biggest direct competitor out there, and analysing the gaps in content + authority.

This is flawed as in most cases, your competitors have been at it for years, or even decades.

The result is generally that your calculation will say that in order to get a ROI from SEO in a reasonable time period, you will need to invest in SEO at a level that is unsustainable for most businesses.

Comparing yourself against the industry giant isn’t useful at this stage.

How we calculate SEO ROI

Our solution is, instead of looking at your one biggest competitor, look at all the relevant keywords in your industry.

We call all of those keywords in total your total addressable search volume.

↳ Figure out the total ‘addressable’ search volume. (hint: use an SEO keyword research tool)

↳ Set what a realistic CTR might be if you are able to rank just 10% of those keywords on the middle of page one.

↳ Check what your enquiry rate is from your website visitors today.

↳ What % of those enquiries you normally can convert

↳ The value of each of those conversions

That might sound complicated, but luckily you can use our simple google sheet SEO ROI calculator (click to make a copy) to put those numbers in and calculate your net incremental revenue and ROI from an SEO project.

Once you know your net incremental revenue, figuring out how much to invest in SEO, that will give you an ROI, is simple.

If you don’t fancy doing the above yourself though, shoot me an email to [email protected] and I’ll run the numbers for you.

Ready to get involved?

→ Grab an Actionable SEO Video Audit: The lowest cost-point way to get our expert insight and actionable tips on how to get more organic traffic to your website.

→ The SEO Ready Quiz: not sure if you’re ready for an SEO campaign? find out now, in under 3 minutes, for free.

→ Book a 15-min discovery call: Decided you’re ready to commit to an SEO campaign? Then let’s talk.