How do you measure SEO ROI without falling into common pitfalls?

2 How to calculate SEO ROI with a simple formula

To calculate SEO ROI, you need to estimate two variables: your organic search revenue and your SEO cost. Here is a simple formula you can use:

SEO ROI = (Organic Search Revenue - SEO Cost) / SEO Cost x 100%

Organic search revenue is the amount of money you earn from the conversions that occur through organic search traffic. You can use Google Analytics or other tools to track your conversions and assign a monetary value to them. For example, if you sell products online, you can use the ecommerce revenue report to see how much revenue you generate from organic search. If you generate leads, you can use goal values to estimate how much each lead is worth based on your conversion rate and average customer lifetime value.

SEO cost is the amount of money you spend on your SEO activities, including tools, services, salaries, and overheads. You can use a spreadsheet or an accounting software to track your SEO expenses and allocate them to different categories, such as content creation, technical SEO, link building, etc.

3 How to avoid common pitfalls when measuring SEO ROI

When measuring SEO ROI, it's important to be aware of potential pitfalls. For instance, you should use an appropriate attribution model, such as linear or position-based, to give more weight to organic search and reflect its contribution more accurately. Additionally, you need to consider the long-term benefits of SEO when calculating ROI, rather than only focusing on short-term fluctuations. You should also compare SEO ROI to other channels within the context of various factors, such as the quality and intent of your organic search audience, the competition and difficulty of your target keywords, the seasonality and trends of your industry, and the goals and expectations of your business. Utilizing tools like SEMrush or Ahrefs to monitor keyword rankings and organic traffic over time can help in this regard.

4 How to improve your SEO ROI with best practices

Calculating SEO ROI is an essential part of improving your strategy and tactics. To increase your SEO ROI, you should focus on the most profitable keywords and pages. Use tools such as Google Analytics or Search Console to identify the keywords and pages that drive the most conversions and revenue from organic search. Additionally, align your SEO strategy with your customer journey by using tools like Google Analytics or HubSpot. Test and experiment with different SEO tactics and campaigns using tools like Google Optimize or Crazy Egg to gain insights into how they affect your conversions and revenue. Analyze the data and apply the learnings to improve your SEO performance.

5 How to report and communicate your SEO ROI to stakeholders

The last step in measuring SEO ROI is to report and communicate your results to your stakeholders, such as your boss, clients, or team members. To create persuasive SEO ROI reports, it’s important to use clear and relevant metrics and KPIs that show the impact of your SEO efforts on business outcomes, such as organic search revenue, conversion rate, cost per acquisition, and ROI. You should also use visual and interactive data and charts with tools like Google Data Studio or Tableau. Additionally, storytelling and context should be used to explain your results. Google Slides or PowerPoint can be used to create presentations that tell a story and highlight achievements, challenges, and opportunities.

6 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?