Rex says
Money math without the spreadsheet headache. Plug in your numbers and I'll show you exactly where the dollars land.
Try a scenario
Click to load — tweak from there.Inputs
Result
Monthly paid-media replacement value
$144,000
Estimated revenue from organic traffic
$125,400
SEO investment ROI
1100%
Effective CAC of SEO-driven customers
$9.09
Monthly conversions from organic
1,320
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How to use this
- 1Enter monthly organic sessions.
- 2Enter average cpc for equivalent keywords ($).
- 3Enter conversion rate of organic traffic (%).
- 4Enter average order value ($).
- 5Enter monthly seo/content investment ($).
- 6Read your monthly paid-media replacement value on the right — it updates as you type.
- 7Hit Share to keep the scenario or send it to someone.
About this calculator
SEO doesn't have a bid you can point to, which makes it easy to underfund relative to paid channels that report a tidy CPC and ROAS every day. This calculator estimates the paid-media replacement value of your organic traffic: it multiplies monthly organic sessions by an estimated cost-per-click for equivalent commercial-intent keywords, giving you the dollar amount you'd have to spend on paid search to buy the same volume. It also computes the resulting revenue and 'effective CAC' of that organic traffic based on your conversion rate and average order value, so you can compare SEO's economics directly against your paid channels on the same basis. This traffic-value framing is the standard way in-house SEO teams justify headcount and content budget to finance teams that otherwise only see search as a paid line item. It understates the full picture in one direction (SEO also drives brand awareness and top-of-funnel value that's hard to price) and overstates in another (not every keyword you'd rank for organically is one you'd actually bid on in paid, since ROI-negative keywords wouldn't be bought), so treat the output as a defensible floor estimate, not gospel.
Worked example
Using the values the calculator loads with:
Inputs
- Monthly organic sessions: 60000
- Average CPC for equivalent keywords: 2.4 $
- Conversion rate of organic traffic: 2.2 %
- Average order value: 95 $
- Monthly SEO/content investment: 12000 $
Results
- Monthly paid-media replacement value: $144,000
- Estimated revenue from organic traffic: $125,400
- SEO investment ROI: 1100%
- Effective CAC of SEO-driven customers: $9.09
- Monthly conversions from organic: 1,320
What each field means
Inputs
- Monthly organic sessions
- The monthly organic sessions used in the calculation. Starts at 60000 so you have a working example on load.
- Average CPC for equivalent keywords ($)
- The average cpc for equivalent keywords used in the calculation, measured in $. Starts at 2.4 $ so you have a working example on load.
- Conversion rate of organic traffic (%)
- The conversion rate of organic traffic used in the calculation, measured in %. Starts at 2.2 % so you have a working example on load. Accepted range: 0–100 %.
- Average order value ($)
- The average order value used in the calculation, measured in $. Starts at 95 $ so you have a working example on load.
- Monthly SEO/content investment ($)
- The monthly seo/content investment used in the calculation, measured in $. Starts at 12000 $ so you have a working example on load.
Results
- Monthly paid-media replacement value
- Returned as a money amount in US dollars and shown as the headline result. It recalculates instantly whenever you change an input, so you can compare scenarios without reloading.
- Estimated revenue from organic traffic
- Returned as a money amount in US dollars. It recalculates instantly whenever you change an input, so you can compare scenarios without reloading.
- SEO investment ROI
- Returned as a percentage. It recalculates instantly whenever you change an input, so you can compare scenarios without reloading.
- Effective CAC of SEO-driven customers
- Returned as a money amount in US dollars. It recalculates instantly whenever you change an input, so you can compare scenarios without reloading.
- Monthly conversions from organic
- Returned as a whole number. It recalculates instantly whenever you change an input, so you can compare scenarios without reloading.
FAQ
Where do I get a realistic average CPC?
Google Keyword Planner or a paid SEO tool (Ahrefs, Semrush) will show CPC ranges for your target keywords. Use a traffic-weighted average across the actual keywords you rank for, not a single high-value head term, since long-tail terms usually make up most of your organic volume at much lower CPCs.
Isn't this overstating SEO's value since not all that traffic would be bought as ads?
Yes, partially — some long-tail informational queries have real CPC value but wouldn't be profitable to bid on directly. Treat this as the replacement cost of the traffic, useful for budget conversations, not a claim that you'd actually spend this much in paid search for the same outcome.
How should I use the effective CAC number?
Compare it against your paid channel CACs. SEO's effective CAC is usually much lower once the content is ranking, because the marginal cost of an additional visitor approaches zero — you already paid for the content and technical work. The upfront investment is the real cost, amortized over the content's ranking lifespan.
Should content costs include salaries?
Yes, include fully loaded cost: writer/agency fees, SEO tool subscriptions, and a reasonable share of any in-house strategist time. Understating cost makes the ROI look artificially better and leads to under-resourcing decisions later.
Accuracy and limitations
- Results are estimates before tax, fees, and inflation unless an input explicitly covers them.
- Rates are treated as fixed for the whole period — variable-rate products will drift from this projection.
- This is educational maths, not financial advice. Check anything contractual with the lender or your accountant.
Related tools
Cite this calculator
Writing about this topic? Grab a citation — every link helps keep these tools free.
RevenueLab. (2026). SEO Traffic Value Calculator. Retrieved from https://www.revenuelab.fyi/toolbox/seo-traffic-value-calculator
<p>Source: <a href="https://www.revenuelab.fyi/toolbox/seo-traffic-value-calculator" target="_blank" rel="noopener">SEO Traffic Value Calculator — RevenueLab</a> (2026).</p>
Source: [SEO Traffic Value Calculator — RevenueLab](https://www.revenuelab.fyi/toolbox/seo-traffic-value-calculator) (2026).