Free tool
SEO ROI calculator
SEO ROI is the revenue your organic search traffic brings in, minus what you spend on SEO, divided by that spend. Enter your monthly searches and expected Google position (or the visits you expect), your conversion rate and what a conversion is worth, and see your visits, conversions, revenue, ROI and payback month.
Switch to SEO cost to see what a budget costs per article and what it has to earn to break even. Every assumption is on the page and you can change all of them. No sign-up, and your numbers stay in your browser.
The starting numbers are an example, not a forecast: replace each with your own. Click-through rates by position come from SISTRIX's 2020 study, measured before Google's AI Overviews.
How the calculator works
Each result is one multiplication or division away from the numbers you enter. You can check every one with a pen.
- Visits a month = monthly searches × click-through rate at your position × (100% minus the share of clicks lost to AI answers). Or enter the visits you expect.
- Conversions a month = visits × conversion rate.
- Revenue a month = conversions × value of one conversion.
- ROI = (revenue minus cost) ÷ cost × 100.
- Payback month: traffic grows in a straight line from zero to full over the months you enter. Payback is the first month in which total revenue so far covers total cost so far, looked for up to 36 months.
- Break-even: conversions needed = monthly cost ÷ value of one conversion; visits needed = those conversions ÷ conversion rate; searches needed = those visits ÷ the share of searchers who click.
- Cost per article, visit and conversion = monthly cost ÷ articles, visits or conversions a month.
A worked example
Take 10,000 searches a month for your target keywords, an average position of 8 (3.2% of clicks in the SISTRIX study), a 2% conversion rate, $100 per conversion and $99/mo for SEO.
- Visits: 10,000 × 3.2% = 320 a month.
- Conversions: 320 × 2% = 6.4 a month.
- Revenue: 6.4 × $100 = $640 a month.
- ROI once traffic is at full level: ($640 - $99) ÷ $99 × 100 = 546% a month.
- With traffic growing over 6 months, the first 12 months earn $6,080 against $1,188 of cost, an ROI of 412%, and total revenue covers total cost in month 1.
- Cost view: $99/mo for 30 articles is $3.30 an article, and it breaks even at 1 conversion, about 50 visits a month.
None of this happens if the pages never reach that position, which is why the payback month and the break-even figures matter more than the headline ROI.
Click-through rate by Google position
The calculator fills in the click-through rate from SISTRIX's study of over 80 million keywords (published July 14, 2020): the average share of searchers who click the organic result at each position, across every kind of results page.
| Position | Average click-through rate |
|---|---|
| 1 | 28.5% |
| 2 | 15.7% |
| 3 | 11% |
| 4 | 8% |
| 5 | 7.2% |
| 6 | 5.1% |
| 7 | 4% |
| 8 | 3.2% |
| 9 | 2.8% |
| 10 | 2.5% |
- Positions 1, 2, 3 and 10 are stated in the study's text; 4 to 9 are read from its chart. The same study found the first result's rate ranged from 13.7% to 46.9% depending on what else the results page showed.
- The data predates Google's AI Overviews. Ahrefs measured a 58% lower click-through rate for the top result on searches with an AI Overview (December 2025). Use the "clicks lost to AI answers" field to allow for that.
- Below position 10 the study gives no figure, so choose "Another position" and enter your own rate.
Where to find your own numbers
- Searches, position and click-through rate: Google Search Console's Performance report lists impressions, clicks, CTR and average position for every search your site appears in. How to connect Search Console to BlogAmplify.
- Conversion rate: the share of organic visitors who buy, book or send an enquiry, from your analytics or your shop's reports.
- Value of one conversion: your average order value, or for leads, your close rate times what an average customer is worth. Enter profit instead of revenue for ROI on profit.
- Months until traffic arrives: your own experience is the best guide. New pages on a young site usually take longer to rank than new pages on an established one.
What SEO costs
The cost mode divides any monthly budget into a cost per article, per visit and per conversion, and shows the conversions and visits it needs to break even. For a sense of agency prices: in an Ahrefs poll of 439 SEO service providers, the most common monthly retainer was $501 to $1,000 (20.4% of them), the most common hourly rate $75 to $100 and the most common project fee $2,501 to $5,000.
BlogAmplify's prices, which the calculator offers as presets:
- Growth, $99/mo: one website, 30 researched articles a month (one a day) published to your blog, and the assistant.
- Growth + AI Visibility, $199/mo: everything in Growth, plus up to 50 questions your customers ask AI, checked every day on ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews, Google AI Mode.
- Extra articles: +30 articles a month for $75/mo each, up to 2.
Both plans start with a 3-day trial (card required). See pricing for the full details, or blog writer, agency or software: what each costs.
What the calculator leaves out
- A rate by position is an average over many searches. Ads, shopping results, maps and AI answers on a results page take clicks; a search for your brand name gives far more.
- Rankings aren't guaranteed. A page that never reaches the position you enter earns none of this.
- Revenue is not profit unless you enter the profit from one conversion.
- Organic visits do things the formula doesn't count: return visits, links from other sites, sales that start with a search and finish later, and mentions in AI answers.
- A straight-line ramp-up is a simplification. Real traffic arrives in steps and varies with the season.
Want to know how organic content earns its traffic in the first place? Read do blogs help SEO, or see how BlogAmplify plans, writes and publishes articles.
Frequently asked questions
How do you calculate SEO ROI?
SEO ROI is the revenue organic search brings in, minus what you spend on SEO, divided by that spend and multiplied by 100. Revenue is visits times conversion rate times the value of one conversion, and visits are monthly searches times the click-through rate at your position.
What click-through rate does each Google position get?
In a SISTRIX study of over 80 million keywords, published in July 2020, the first organic result got 28.5% of clicks on average, the second 15.7%, the third 11% and the tenth 2.5%. Real rates vary with the search and the result layout, so your own Search Console figures beat any average.
Do AI Overviews change the numbers?
Yes, on searches that show one. Ahrefs compared keywords with a Google AI Overview and found it cut the click-through rate of the top result by 58% (December 2025, 150,000 keywords). The calculator's "clicks lost to AI answers" field takes a share off the study's rates, so you can test that case.
How much does SEO cost per month?
It depends on who does the work. In an Ahrefs poll of 439 SEO service providers, the most common monthly retainer was $501 to $1,000 and the most common hourly rate $75 to $100. BlogAmplify costs $99/mo for an article every day, or $199/mo with AI visibility tracking.
How long does SEO take to pay back?
It depends on how long your pages take to reach their positions and what a visit is worth to you. The calculator grows traffic evenly over the months you enter and reports the first month in which total revenue covers total cost, or says so when that takes more than 36 months.
Where do I find my own numbers?
Google Search Console's Performance report shows the impressions, clicks, click-through rate and average position of each search you appear for. Your analytics shows how many visitors from organic search buy or enquire. For leads, multiply your close rate by what an average customer is worth.
Does the calculator save or send my numbers?
With JavaScript on, every result is worked out in your browser and nothing is sent anywhere. Without JavaScript, the Calculate button puts your numbers in the page address so our server can show the results. The calculator itself saves nothing.
Sources
- Why (almost) everything you knew about Google CTR is no longer valid, SISTRIX. Published July 14, 2020, updated July 7, 2025. Positions 1, 2, 3 and 10 are in the text; 4 to 9 are read from the study's chart. Checked October 15, 2026.
- Update: AI Overviews Reduce Clicks by 58%, Ahrefs. Published February 4, 2026. Checked October 15, 2026.
- SEO Pricing: How Much Does SEO Cost? 439 People Polled, Ahrefs. Updated August 15, 2024. Checked October 15, 2026.
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