If you own a business, you may have found yourself asking at some point whether SEO is a worthwhile investment.

 

This is naturally an important question, as you want to ensure that every expenditure you make will benefit your business operations.

 

In order to determine whether SEO is worthwhile for your business, you need to understand how to calculate the return on investment for search engine optimization as well as develop an understanding of the various measures used to determine SEO ROI.

How to Calculate SEO ROI

Almost all expenditures you make for your business have a return on investment. This could be by reducing costs or increasing revenue. Either way, SEO also has a return on investment.

In determining the return on investment for your SEO investment, you need to consider the following factors:

  • Organic website traffic
  • Rankings
  • Entrances
  • Leads

Organic Website Traffic

Organic website traffic is one of the first measures that many businesses will consider in determining whether an investment in SEO is worth it. The goal here is to determine whether your organic website traffic is increasing or decreasing over time.

 

Rankings
Rankings refer to where your site appears in a user search. The problem with this measure is that it can be somewhat difficult to measure. There is good news, however. Third-party sites can provide you with the ranking data you need to determine how your rankings change over time.

 

Entrances
The number of a website’s pages that receive organic referrals is referred to as entrances. The more pages your site has received organic referrals, the higher your return will naturally be.

 

Sales/Leads
The measure that tends to be most important to business owners is the number of sales/leads received. This is the number of prospective customers who have an interest in your products or services but who have not yet made a purchase. Interest could be expressed by making a purchase, calling your business or even completing a form online.

 

Ultimately, in order to evaluate this measure, you need to determine how many sales/leads you have obtained.

 

While all of these metrics are important in terms of determining SEO ROI, lead measurement is critical for all other measures. Without lead measurement, the other metrics cease to be important.

 

Ultimately, you must determine the amount you are willing to invest based on the return on investment you receive. Search engine optimization is a necessity in today’s online-driven world of business. Even so, it must demonstrate sufficient return in order to justify expanding investment in SEO.