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What SEO is worth to you

This estimates what organic search is worth by working forward from search volume through click share, signup rate, and close rate to pipeline value. It then compares that against programme cost and shows the month you break even, which for SEO is usually much later than people expect.

Last reviewed 27 August 2026

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First-year value is a safer input than lifetime value.

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Result

Monthly organic visits at maturity

880

11.0% click share at this position band

Monthly pipeline value at maturity

$9,504

2.6 customers a month

First twelve months

First twelve months
MeasureValue
Programme cost$60,000
Value earned in year one$47,520
Months before results begin7
Breakeven13.3 months

Breakeven inside eighteen months is a reasonable case for the investment, provided the ramp assumption holds.

How this works

What the numbers mean.

  • 01Click share is set by position band and deliberately conservative. Classic click-through curves predate AI summaries, and Pew Research found people clicked a traditional result in 8 percent of visits where an AI summary appeared, against 15 percent where it did not.
  • 02Visits flow through your signup and close rates to produce customers, then customer value produces monthly pipeline value.
  • 03The ramp figure matters more than any other input. SEO earns nothing for the first several months, so the same annual numbers produce very different breakeven points depending on when results start.

Assumptions and limits

  • Click share figures here are conservative estimates, not measured rates for your terms.
  • Rankings are assumed to hold. In competitive categories they do not without ongoing work, which is why programme cost continues past breakeven.
  • First-year customer value is a safer input than lifetime value, which tends to make every channel look profitable.

Questions about this tool

Why is the click share so low?
Because zero-click search is now the norm. SparkToro's clickstream analysis found 68 percent of Google searches ended without a click in early 2026, and Pew Research found that an AI summary roughly halves the chance of a click on a traditional result. Using older click-through curves overstates traffic substantially.
How long does SEO really take?
For a new domain in a competitive category, expect little before month six and meaningful traffic somewhere between months nine and twelve. Anyone quoting faster than that is either working in an uncompetitive niche or describing something other than organic search.
Should I use lifetime value or first-year value?
First-year value, unless you have several years of retention data. Lifetime value makes almost any channel look profitable and it relies on a churn assumption that young companies cannot yet support.

Related

This tool is free and there is nothing to sign up for. If you would rather have the work done than calculate it, that is what Zway does.

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