What a customer is worth
Not one sale. The full value of a customer over the time they stay. The higher it is, the fewer you need for the maths to work.
SEO ROI
The only ROI that matters is yours. Run your numbers.
SEO is worth doing when a new customer is worth more than the work of reaching them. That's specific to your business, so rather than quote you an industry average, here's the calculation with your numbers in it. It's an estimate to think with, not a promise.
Estimator
Four inputs. Your ROI, roughly.
Change any field and the numbers update. The defaults are only a starting point. Replace every one with what's true for your business, because your close rate and customer value are the ones that matter.
- Estimated new customers / month
- 5
- Estimated new revenue / month
- $12,500
- Estimated gross profit / month
- $6,250
- Your monthly SEO fee (per our pricing)
- $1,500 · covers up to 50 leads
- Return on the SEO fee
- +317% after the fee
- Leads needed to break even
- 6 / month
The fee is calculated from our published pricing: $1,500 a month covering up to 50 tracked organic leads, then $30 per lead, so it rises with the leads you enter rather than staying at the floor. Return on the SEO fee is gross profit (revenue × your margin) minus that fee, divided by it, so it counts profit, not just revenue. This is an estimate from the numbers you entered, not a forecast or a promise: it assumes a steady state SEO reaches over months, not on day one, and says nothing about how contested your market is. Your real margin, close rate and customer value are the ones that matter. We never assume them for you.
What the estimate can't see
Four things the calculator leaves to reality.
A calculator multiplies the numbers you give it. Whether those numbers are achievable in your market is the real question, and it depends on these.
How many people search
Real demand for what you sell in the markets you serve. Thin demand caps the return no matter how good the work is.
How contested it is
Who already holds the results you want and how much they've invested decides how long and how much it takes to move.
Time
SEO compounds. The return in month twelve looks nothing like month three, and the investment keeps paying after the work stops.
Why we won't dress this up as a forecast
Any provider can show you a spreadsheet where SEO returns ten times its cost. The inputs are the whole game, and an optimistic input turns a projection into a sales tool. We'd rather hand you the calculation and let you use your own honest numbers than hand you a number designed to close you.
For some businesses the maths closes in a single month. For others: low customer value, thin search demand, or a market where the incumbents have a decade of head start. It doesn't close at all, and no price would make it work. We'd rather find that out with you before you sign than after.
When you're ready for real numbers instead of estimates, send us the site. We'll assess the actual demand and competition and tell you whether the investment pays back, or recommend a smaller scope if it doesn't.
See also
Related across the site.
Start here
Numbers look worth it? Let's pressure-test them.
Send the business and the markets you serve. You'll get a real read on whether the demand and competition support the return the estimate suggests, or an honest no.