Whether you're working with an SEO agency or doing it yourself, it's important to measure the impact of your SEO efforts.
Everyone knows how vital search engine optimization (SEO) is for building your customer base and increasing revenue—but it's also expensive. Paying for copywriters, website developers, and analytics tools—or contracting with an agency that does all the hard work of SEO for you—can add up quickly. As a small-business owner, you know that every dollar devoted to this strategy needs to lead to results.
So what kind of SEO ROI (return on investment) should you expect now and in the future? And how can you accurately determine the success of your campaigns? Learn more about how to measure your short- and long-term SEO return on investment below.
Why SEO matters
Search engine optimization is among the most powerful marketing tools for small-business owners. Google, for example, which dominates 85% of the worldwide search engine market, can put your site in front of hundreds of millions of people around the world. SEO remains one of the most effective ways to generate leads, maximize PPC (pay per click) campaigns, improve authority, and reach your audience segments.
SEO makes your website more visible to search users who might or might not know about your products and services. The higher you are on search engine results pages, the more people you can attract to your pages. SEO differs slightly from other marketing methods because it targets people already searching for information about your industry or products. For example, someone looking for similar products to yours might come across one of your product listings if it’s in a prominent position on a results page.
What is the ROI of SEO?
The ROI of SEO is the monetary value generated from search engine optimization after you've accounted for costs. You will generate a positive SEO ROI if the revenue from your SEO campaign is higher than the amount of money you spent on it.
In short, measuring SEO ROI can help you determine whether you made a good or a bad investment.
For example, let's say you work with an SEO agency that performs an SEO audit, makes changes to your website, and tracks the success of your campaign with tools like Google Analytics. All of these tasks require resources, either money or labor—so you want to know whether your efforts and hard work were worthwhile.
How to measure ROI of SEO
Measuring SEO ROI all starts with selecting the right key performance indicators (KPIs) to track. These metrics help you determine whether your investment in SEO was a sound one or not. According to Gartner, the top KPIs for SEO fundamentals are[1]:
Keyword ranking
This metric measures your keyword rankings on search engine result pages (SERPs), helping you determine whether you're using the correct terms to outrank your competition.
Conversion activity
Conversion activity for SEO ROI measures how often people complete a specific action after visiting your site from a search engine results page. You’ll learn about the conversion factors on your website that grow your customer base and increase sales, such as a newsletter sign-up, contact form submission, or purchases.
Bounce rate
The bounce rate for ROI SEO is the number of people who leave your site after a page loads without performing any specific action. Tracking this metric helps you learn how well your website fulfills a particular search user's query.
Pages per session
Learning how many pages people visit during a session helps you determine the value and quality of your website and how people interact with it. The more pages per session people visit, the more engaged they are with your site.
Organic sessions or visits
This metric tracks earned visits to your site from search engines, letting you learn how successful your content is in attracting search users.
/ Tech tip
Analytics tools make it easy to calculate the SEO ROI metrics you are most interested in. These tools can give you insights via reports, dashboards, graphs, and other data visualizations, which you can then share with team members and stakeholders.
Key considerations for measuring SEO ROI
Here are some things to consider when determining SEO return on investment:
Figure out your entire SEO investment. You must determine your SEO investment's entire cost before calculating SEO ROI. Consider SEO agency fees, software vendor licensing fees, the cost of labor, and the amount you actually spend on paid ads, website design and development, and copywriting.
Give your investment time. SEO campaigns, even the most well-executed ones, can take months or even a couple of years to generate results, so hang in there. Don't expect a return on your investment in the first few weeks of your campaign, and manage your expectations.
ROI might change over time. Expect ROI fluctuations when you change your keywords, website design, or other SEO elements. Over time, you'll learn which SEO techniques generate the most value from your spend, and you'll be able to predict ROI patterns and trends.
How to forecast your SEO ROI
All the above metrics tell you how your SEO campaigns have performed in the past, but what about the future? Forecasting SEO ROI is important because it lets you predict high and low traffic volumes and determine future demand for products and services.
Small-business owners often focus on present or near-term revenue from SEO campaigns without looking too far ahead. However, predicting SEO ROI six or twelve months from now can help you make better decisions about the future of your business. Plus, you can adjust budgets and optimize bidding techniques based on your long-term ROI predictions.
Analytics tools let you forecast SEO ROI without doing the calculations yourself. These tools evaluate historical data and trends in your business and make predictions. While not always 100% accurate, these insights can guide your campaigns and make them more effective and lucrative.
One of the best ways to plan for the future is to work alongside an SEO agency that can determine which keywords have proved lucrative in your campaigns and which have provided little value. Honing your current keywords can result in more revenue impact going forward. These companies are especially useful if you lack the time, resources, or expertise to track your campaigns yourself.
Ready to hire an SEO agency for your business needs? Browse our list of top SEO companies and learn more about their services in our hiring guide.
Narrow your search with our list of companies in the following areas:
Are you ready to track your SEO ROI?
Calculating ROI in SEO will ensure you are investing your money and resources into the correct places. You can measure SEO ROI by tracking relevant KPIs about how search users engage with your website and other online properties. That provides the intelligence you need to learn whether your search campaigns are successful. You can also forecast future SEO ROI to improve decision-making in the long term.
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