How do the SEO calculators work?

Open Growth, then Calculators (also a tab on Forecast). Three calculators put a money value on SEO: Conversion & ROI works out what your SEO spend returns from your visitors, leads and clients; SEO vs Google Ads compares the total cost of paying for clicks with building rankings; and Revenue from rankings shows what moving one search up the results could be worth each month. They run in your browser and cost nothing.

#Pick your currency

Choose your Currency at the top. The calculators use your own figures, so pick the currency you think in; it is remembered.

#Conversion & ROI

The Conversion Tracking Calculator follows your funnel: visitors, then enquiries, then paying clients.

1. Pick your Industry. Benchmarks are pre-filled for it; adjust them to match your business.
2. Optionally add a Keyword (optional) to fetch its monthly searches from Google's Keyword Planner, when Google Ads is connected. Otherwise the volume is marked placeholder, not measured: put in your own number.
3. Set your current position and target position, Visitor → Lead rate (the share of visitors who enquire, call or fill in a form), Lead → Client close rate, Average client value and Monthly SEO investment.
4. Press Calculate.

You get the Monthly Funnel (clicks, leads, new clients), Cost Metrics (Cost per click, Cost per lead, Cost per client), Return on investment rated Excellent, Good, Marginal or Negative, Break-even clients, Scenarios (conservative, your figures and best case) and Your rates vs industry benchmarks.

#SEO vs Google Ads

What does it actually cost? SEO vs Google Ads sets your Average Google Ads CPC, Target monthly clicks, Monthly SEO investment, Months for SEO to reach target and Time horizon (months) against each other. It shows the Total over the period for each, the SEO breakeven month (when SEO, with Ads covering the ramp-up, has cost no more in total than Ads alone) and your Effective cost per click (SEO). It assumes you pause Ads once rankings reach the target.

#Revenue from rankings

What's a higher ranking worth? takes Monthly searches, your Current position, a Target position, your Conversion rate (%) and Average order / lead value, and shows the Monthly gain if you move from one position to the other, using average click rates by position.

#Questions people ask

#Why does it say A placeholder, not a reading?

We could not get a real search volume, for example Google Ads is not connected, the market is set to Worldwide, or Google has no volume for that search. The message says which. Put your own number in. See search volume.

#How accurate are the results?

They are as good as the figures you put in. Click rates by position are industry averages; real ones vary with ads, AI answers and how well known your brand is.

#Can I forecast real traffic for my own searches?

Yes, with the traffic Forecast, which starts from your Search Console data.