Understanding the ROI of SEO: Why It’s Worth the Investment

Understanding the ROI of SEO: Why It’s Worth the Investment

Search engine optimization (SEO) has become a cornerstone of digital marketing for businesses across all industries. As more consumers and businesses turn to online channels to research products and services, companies must ensure their digital presence stands out. However, many companies struggle to measure the return on investment (ROI) of their SEO efforts, often questioning whether the results justify the costs. This is especially true for businesses investing in SEO strategies tailored to their unique needs.

In this post, we’ll explore why SEO is a worthwhile investment for businesses, how to measure its ROI, and why SEO can be a game-changer for long-term business growth. Understanding the ROI of SEO will help you make informed decisions about your marketing budget and allow you to track success effectively.

Why SEO Matters for Your Business

SEO involves optimizing your website and content to rank higher in search engine results, making it easier for potential customers to find your business when searching for relevant products or services. In today’s highly competitive digital landscape, businesses that don’t prioritize SEO risk getting overlooked by their target audience.

The primary benefit of SEO is its ability to drive organic traffic to your website. Unlike paid advertisements, which require ongoing investment, SEO works over time to increase your website’s visibility and drive high-quality traffic. This leads to a higher likelihood of conversions, whether that’s making a sale, generating leads, or encouraging customers to take some form of action.

SEO is also an essential element of building long-term brand authority. Websites that rank highly in search results are seen as more credible by search engine users. When your business consistently appears at the top of search results for relevant keywords, it builds trust with your audience and encourages them to engage with your content.

The Role of a B2B SEO Firm in Maximizing ROI

For businesses that operate in the B2B space, SEO can be even more complex. B2B companies tend to have longer sales cycles, more technical offerings, and a unique target audience. That’s where partnering with a specialized SEO firm can make a significant difference.

A B2B SEO firm understands the nuances of B2B marketing and how to implement SEO strategies that cater specifically to the needs of businesses targeting other businesses. They can help identify the most relevant keywords for your industry, create high-quality content that speaks to decision-makers, and implement technical SEO strategies to improve your website’s performance. This tailored approach ensures that your SEO strategy is aligned with your business goals and maximizes your ROI.

Key Metrics for Measuring SEO ROI

Tracking the ROI of your SEO efforts requires an understanding of the key metrics that matter. While it may not always be immediately obvious how SEO impacts revenue, the right metrics will help you assess the effectiveness of your strategy and make adjustments as needed.

1. Organic Traffic
   Organic traffic refers to visitors who arrive at your website through search engines rather than paid ads or direct traffic. An increase in organic traffic is often the first sign that your SEO efforts are paying off. By tracking the number of visitors from search engines, you can see whether your rankings are improving and whether your content is reaching your target audience.
2. Keyword Rankings
   Keyword rankings track where your website ranks for specific keywords in search engine results. This metric is essential for understanding how well your site is optimized for relevant search terms. If your rankings for high-value keywords are improving, it’s an indicator that your SEO strategy is on the right track.
3. Lead Generation
   For many businesses, the ultimate goal of SEO is to generate leads. By tracking the number of form submissions, downloads, or inquiries generated through organic search traffic, you can assess how well your SEO efforts are contributing to lead generation.
4. Conversion Rate
   The conversion rate measures the percentage of visitors who take a desired action on your website, such as making a purchase, signing up for a newsletter, or downloading a white paper. SEO aims not only to drive traffic but also to convert that traffic into customers or leads. A higher conversion rate signifies that your SEO efforts are attracting the right audience and driving engagement.
5. Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC)
   Customer acquisition cost refers to the cost of acquiring a new customer through marketing efforts. By comparing your CAC before and after implementing SEO, you can measure whether SEO is helping you acquire customers more efficiently than other marketing channels. SEO typically has a lower CAC than paid advertising because the traffic it generates is organic and sustained over time.
6. Revenue and Sales Growth
   Ultimately, the ROI of SEO is about how it impacts your bottom line. By tracking how much revenue your business generates from organic search traffic, you can determine whether your SEO investment is yielding financial returns. Many businesses see a direct correlation between increased organic traffic and increased sales or revenue.

Why Partnering with an SEO Firm Makes Sense

While it’s possible to manage SEO in-house, many businesses find that partnering with a specialized SEO firm leads to more significant and measurable results. Here’s why:

1. Expertise and Experience
   An experienced SEO firm brings specialized knowledge and expertise to the table. They understand the complexities of B2B marketing, including the long sales cycle and the need for targeted, value-driven content. With a deep understanding of SEO best practices, they can implement strategies that yield tangible, long-term results.
2. Tailored Strategies
   A professional SEO firm creates customized strategies based on your business’s unique goals and target audience. Unlike generalized SEO services, these firms focus specifically on your industry, competitors, and customer personas, allowing for more targeted campaigns that drive higher-quality leads.
3. Staying Ahead of SEO Trends
   SEO is constantly evolving, with search engine algorithms frequently updated. A dedicated SEO firm keeps up with the latest trends and ensures that your SEO strategy adapts accordingly. This allows your business to stay competitive and avoid falling behind on critical algorithm changes.
4. Measurable Results
   A good SEO firm provides transparent reporting and analytics to track the performance of your SEO campaigns. They help you understand the ROI of your investment by tracking key performance indicators (KPIs) and adjusting strategies based on data.

Conclusion

SEO is one of the most effective ways to drive organic traffic, generate high-quality leads, and increase sales for your business. By tracking the right metrics and working with a specialized SEO firm, you can measure the true ROI of your SEO efforts and ensure that your strategy is aligned with your business goals. SEO may take time to yield results, but the long-term benefits far outweigh the initial investment, making it a valuable and worthwhile marketing strategy.

If you’re looking to maximize your SEO efforts and boost your business’s digital presence, partnering with an experienced SEO firm can provide the expertise, insights, and customized strategies needed to achieve sustainable growth and measurable success.

Is SEO Worth It? The Answer Is in This Flowchart

Marketing researcher and educator at Ahrefs. Mateusz has over 10 years of experience in marketing gained in agencies, SaaS and hardware businesses. When not writing, he’s composing music or enjoying long walks.

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69% of marketers actively invest in SEO (source). Why? SEO is worth the investment for so many marketers typically because of these five benefits:

1. Targeted and compounding traffic . SEO can attract the right visitors who are likely to become customers. SEO content continues to draw traffic over time, leading to steady growth.
2. Connects with buyers at every stage . SEO helps you reach people at different points in their buying process, from just browsing to making a purchase.
3. Boosts your visibility, and lowers your competitors’ . Improving your search rankings makes it harder for your competitors to be seen. Your success in SEO directly impacts their visibility, giving you a competitive edge.
4. Lowers customer acquisition costs . Over time, SEO becomes cheaper than other marketing methods. You don’t pay for each visitor, as you do with ads. This means you get more value from your initial investment as your traffic and sales grow.
5. Enhances trust in a brand . SEO boosts trust in brands by signaling credibility and expertise through higher search rankings, making users more likely to choose them over competitors.

But how do you know if SEO is worth the investment for you ? Well, if people are searching for what you do or sell OR searching for solutions to problems you help to solve, then SEO will probably be a good investment. And this is true no matter if your’e a small, local business or a global brand.

You can look at this problem as a flowchart:

However, if the answer to all of them is “no,” then you may be better off with a different type of marketing.

Not sure how to answer those questions? Read on to learn more.

Question 1. Are potential customers searching for what you sell or do?

If you run a local business, then the answer to this question is almost certainly “yes”—at least statistically:

• 4 in 5 consumers use search engines to find local information (Google).
• 76% of people who search on their smartphones for something nearby visit a business within a day (Google).
• 28% of searches for something nearby result in a purchase (Google).

In short, if you’re not showing up for relevant local queries, then you’re leaving money on the table. Local SEO helps with this, and we have a full guide on that.

But if you have an e-commerce, SaaS, or small online business, this may not be the case, especially if you’re doing something completely new or really niche.

Let’s say somebody invented a brilliant relaxation program/product and gives it a completely new name. That name surely won’t have any search volume. But as you can see, the problem of not experiencing effective relaxation does. So that person can create content answering questions about relaxation and generate awareness about their relaxation program.

If you need more information for your research, you can take it to the next level with features offered by paid SEO tools. Not only can you look up more keywords in one run, but you also get more metrics, have access to advanced filters, and can even see your competitors’ keywords.

A small sample from our Keywords Explorer. Here, you can see similar research for relaxation-related questions, but we’ve also used more seed keywords and advanced filters to show low-competition keywords with considerable traffic. Also, you can see the Traffic Potential (TP) of those keywords—more search volume doesn’t always translate to more traffic.

But how much does SEO really cost?

So if you answer “yes” to question #1 and/or question #2, then SEO is worth it in theory. But there’s one more thing to it: the cost/effort may outweigh the reward.

Basically, you have three options for investing in SEO:

1. Hiring an agency/consultancy — Probably the most expensive option, costing from $99 (agencies) to $171/hour (consultancies). In many cases, you will also need to pay a monthly retainer. On the upside, you don’t have to learn SEO, and you can start fast.
2. Building a team or outsourcing to freelancers —Somewhat expensive. On average, SEO freelancers cost $71.59/hour, and an in-house SEO specialist costs $71K/year (in the U.S.). You need to know what you’re doing, and you need to invest time in the hiring and onboarding process.
3. Doing it yourself — The cheapest option. But it takes time to learn the ropes.

There may be a fourth “hybrid” option: hiring an agency/freelancer for some time to see the results. Then you may want to build an in-house SEO team or even learn SEO yourself.

We surveyed members of the SEO industry to find out how much they charge for SEO services and what pricing models they use. Read the study here.

If you decide to hire an SEO agency or a consultant, ask them if they think SEO will be worthwhile for you. A good agency will give you an honest answer and explain why it’s the case one way or another.

And if you’re interested in the do-it-yourself path, start from our introduction to SEO.

Final thoughts

So if you’re looking to boost your business with SEO, the absolute number #1 consideration is to determine whether queries related to your business get any search demand. After all, SEO is all about channeling a part of that search demand to your website.

Finally, the answer provided in this article is the most straightforward and quickest response to your question as possible. However, it is not a thorough analysis of your business and its market environment. Treat this as the first step in your SEO journey, and consider creating or consulting a professional to devise a tailored SEO strategy for you.

Got questions or comments? Ping me on X or LinkedIn.

One of our blog posts explaining a solution with the use of Content Explorer. This article gets an estimated 1.3K monthly organic traffic.

To see if people are searching for problems you can help solve, just use a keyword research tool as we did in question #1. This time, insert the name of the problem your product or service can solve. Also, see the Questions tab to look for relevant questions.

Let’s say somebody invented a brilliant relaxation program/product and gives it a completely new name. That name surely won’t have any search volume. But as you can see, the problem of not experiencing effective relaxation does. So that person can create content answering questions about relaxation and generate awareness about their relaxation program.

If you need more information for your research, you can take it to the next level with features offered by paid SEO tools. Not only can you look up more keywords in one run, but you also get more metrics, have access to advanced filters, and can even see your competitors’ keywords.

A small sample from our Keywords Explorer. Here, you can see similar research for relaxation-related questions, but we’ve also used more seed keywords and advanced filters to show low-competition keywords with considerable traffic. Also, you can see the Traffic Potential (TP) of those keywords—more search volume doesn’t always translate to more traffic.

But how much does SEO really cost?

So if you answer “yes” to question #1 and/or question #2, then SEO is worth it in theory. But there’s one more thing to it: the cost/effort may outweigh the reward.

Basically, you have three options for investing in SEO:

1. Hiring an agency/consultancy — Probably the most expensive option, costing from $99 (agencies) to $171/hour (consultancies). In many cases, you will also need to pay a monthly retainer. On the upside, you don’t have to learn SEO, and you can start fast.
2. Building a team or outsourcing to freelancers —Somewhat expensive. On average, SEO freelancers cost $71.59/hour, and an in-house SEO specialist costs $71K/year (in the U.S.). You need to know what you’re doing, and you need to invest time in the hiring and onboarding process.
3. Doing it yourself — The cheapest option. But it takes time to learn the ropes.

There may be a fourth “hybrid” option: hiring an agency/freelancer for some time to see the results. Then you may want to build an in-house SEO team or even learn SEO yourself.

We surveyed members of the SEO industry to find out how much they charge for SEO services and what pricing models they use. Read the study here.

If you decide to hire an SEO agency or a consultant, ask them if they think SEO will be worthwhile for you. A good agency will give you an honest answer and explain why it’s the case one way or another.

And if you’re interested in the do-it-yourself path, start from our introduction to SEO.

Final thoughts

So if you’re looking to boost your business with SEO, the absolute number #1 consideration is to determine whether queries related to your business get any search demand. After all, SEO is all about channeling a part of that search demand to your website.

Finally, the answer provided in this article is the most straightforward and quickest response to your question as possible. However, it is not a thorough analysis of your business and its market environment. Treat this as the first step in your SEO journey, and consider creating or consulting a professional to devise a tailored SEO strategy for you.

Got questions or comments? Ping me on X or LinkedIn.

Topics with high traffic potential and low competition. Results are in English and show sites that a new site can compete with. Go.

SEO is often worthwhile in this case because you can create content that teaches searchers how to solve their problems with the help of your product or service. This is precisely what we do at Ahrefs.

One of our blog posts explaining a solution with the use of Content Explorer. This article gets an estimated 1.3K monthly organic traffic.

To see if people are searching for problems you can help solve, just use a keyword research tool as we did in question #1. This time, insert the name of the problem your product or service can solve. Also, see the Questions tab to look for relevant questions.

Let’s say somebody invented a brilliant relaxation program/product and gives it a completely new name. That name surely won’t have any search volume. But as you can see, the problem of not experiencing effective relaxation does. So that person can create content answering questions about relaxation and generate awareness about their relaxation program.

If you need more information for your research, you can take it to the next level with features offered by paid SEO tools. Not only can you look up more keywords in one run, but you also get more metrics, have access to advanced filters, and can even see your competitors’ keywords.

A small sample from our Keywords Explorer. Here, you can see similar research for relaxation-related questions, but we’ve also used more seed keywords and advanced filters to show low-competition keywords with considerable traffic. Also, you can see the Traffic Potential (TP) of those keywords—more search volume doesn’t always translate to more traffic.

But how much does SEO really cost?

So if you answer “yes” to question #1 and/or question #2, then SEO is worth it in theory. But there’s one more thing to it: the cost/effort may outweigh the reward.

Basically, you have three options for investing in SEO:

1. Hiring an agency/consultancy — Probably the most expensive option, costing from $99 (agencies) to $171/hour (consultancies). In many cases, you will also need to pay a monthly retainer. On the upside, you don’t have to learn SEO, and you can start fast.
2. Building a team or outsourcing to freelancers —Somewhat expensive. On average, SEO freelancers cost $71.59/hour, and an in-house SEO specialist costs $71K/year (in the U.S.). You need to know what you’re doing, and you need to invest time in the hiring and onboarding process.
3. Doing it yourself — The cheapest option. But it takes time to learn the ropes.

There may be a fourth “hybrid” option: hiring an agency/freelancer for some time to see the results. Then you may want to build an in-house SEO team or even learn SEO yourself.

We surveyed members of the SEO industry to find out how much they charge for SEO services and what pricing models they use. Read the study here.

If you decide to hire an SEO agency or a consultant, ask them if they think SEO will be worthwhile for you. A good agency will give you an honest answer and explain why it’s the case one way or another.

And if you’re interested in the do-it-yourself path, start from our introduction to SEO.

Final thoughts

So if you’re looking to boost your business with SEO, the absolute number #1 consideration is to determine whether queries related to your business get any search demand. After all, SEO is all about channeling a part of that search demand to your website.

Finally, the answer provided in this article is the most straightforward and quickest response to your question as possible. However, it is not a thorough analysis of your business and its market environment. Treat this as the first step in your SEO journey, and consider creating or consulting a professional to devise a tailored SEO strategy for you.

Got questions or comments? Ping me on X or LinkedIn.

Companies producing smart bathing systems (or smart baths) like Kohler probably need to invest in other types of marketing before people really catch up with their technology. Right now, everyone is just taking a normal bath. Data via Ahrefs’ free keyword generator.

So the first step is to plug what you do or sell into a keyword research tool and see if there’s any search volume.

For example, if we plug “commissary kitchen” into Ahrefs’ free keyword generator, we see that it has an estimated monthly search volume of 5,900 in the U.S. alone. This answers our question: People are searching for what we do.

But even if this isn’t the case, people may be searching for individual products or services you offer. So it’s worth plugging some of these into a keyword tool as well to see if people are searching for them. If that’s not the case, don’t worry. SEO may still be worthwhile—and that brings us to question #2.

Question 2. Are potential customers searching for solutions to problems your business helps to solve?

Even if people aren’t searching directly for what you do or sell, they may be searching for problems to solutions you can help with. And there’s quite a high chance for this given that:

• 68% of online experiences begin with a search engine (BrightEdge).
• 71% of B2B researchers start their research with a generic search instead of queries containing a brand name or product ( Google ).
• 53% of shoppers say they always do research before a purchase to ensure they are making the best possible choice ( Google ).

For example, we have a tool called Content Explorer that’s basically a searchable database of billions of webpages. Virtually nobody is searching for it on Google. However, they’re searching for problems the tool helps to solve, such as link prospecting or finding content ideas.

Topics with high traffic potential and low competition. Results are in English and show sites that a new site can compete with. Go.

SEO is often worthwhile in this case because you can create content that teaches searchers how to solve their problems with the help of your product or service. This is precisely what we do at Ahrefs.

One of our blog posts explaining a solution with the use of Content Explorer. This article gets an estimated 1.3K monthly organic traffic.

To see if people are searching for problems you can help solve, just use a keyword research tool as we did in question #1. This time, insert the name of the problem your product or service can solve. Also, see the Questions tab to look for relevant questions.

Let’s say somebody invented a brilliant relaxation program/product and gives it a completely new name. That name surely won’t have any search volume. But as you can see, the problem of not experiencing effective relaxation does. So that person can create content answering questions about relaxation and generate awareness about their relaxation program.

If you need more information for your research, you can take it to the next level with features offered by paid SEO tools. Not only can you look up more keywords in one run, but you also get more metrics, have access to advanced filters, and can even see your competitors’ keywords.

A small sample from our Keywords Explorer. Here, you can see similar research for relaxation-related questions, but we’ve also used more seed keywords and advanced filters to show low-competition keywords with considerable traffic. Also, you can see the Traffic Potential (TP) of those keywords—more search volume doesn’t always translate to more traffic.

But how much does SEO really cost?

So if you answer “yes” to question #1 and/or question #2, then SEO is worth it in theory. But there’s one more thing to it: the cost/effort may outweigh the reward.

Basically, you have three options for investing in SEO:

1. Hiring an agency/consultancy — Probably the most expensive option, costing from $99 (agencies) to $171/hour (consultancies). In many cases, you will also need to pay a monthly retainer. On the upside, you don’t have to learn SEO, and you can start fast.
2. Building a team or outsourcing to freelancers —Somewhat expensive. On average, SEO freelancers cost $71.59/hour, and an in-house SEO specialist costs $71K/year (in the U.S.). You need to know what you’re doing, and you need to invest time in the hiring and onboarding process.
3. Doing it yourself — The cheapest option. But it takes time to learn the ropes.

There may be a fourth “hybrid” option: hiring an agency/freelancer for some time to see the results. Then you may want to build an in-house SEO team or even learn SEO yourself.

We surveyed members of the SEO industry to find out how much they charge for SEO services and what pricing models they use. Read the study here.

If you decide to hire an SEO agency or a consultant, ask them if they think SEO will be worthwhile for you. A good agency will give you an honest answer and explain why it’s the case one way or another.

And if you’re interested in the do-it-yourself path, start from our introduction to SEO.

Final thoughts

So if you’re looking to boost your business with SEO, the absolute number #1 consideration is to determine whether queries related to your business get any search demand. After all, SEO is all about channeling a part of that search demand to your website.

Finally, the answer provided in this article is the most straightforward and quickest response to your question as possible. However, it is not a thorough analysis of your business and its market environment. Treat this as the first step in your SEO journey, and consider creating or consulting a professional to devise a tailored SEO strategy for you.

Got questions or comments? Ping me on X or LinkedIn.

https://almostfearless.com/understanding-the-roi-of-seo-why-its-worth-the-investment/https://ahrefs.com/blog/is-seo-worth-it/