Search engine optimization (SEO) helps your site and your pages show up faster when a user makes a relevant search. But Google and other search engines have gotten a lot smarter and SEO strategies have changed a lot. So, is SEO worth it in 2022? And, if so, how much is it worth? Let’s take a look.
Is SEO Worth It In 2022?
Google’s latest updates have allowed the search engine to understand languages (75 of them, in fact) better than ever before. The days of filling a page with keywords and ranking well are long gone. Modern SEO strategies require a lot more than keyword matching. They require well-crafted, informative, well-researched content, fast load times, and a high-quality portfolio of links.
With about 1.7 billion websites now online, the online landscape is highly competitive. Without active SEO efforts, it’s likely that your competitors will win top spots on a search engine results page (SERP) and get your customers’ attention first. So, though SEO strategies are different than they used to be, SEO is worth it in 2022. But how much is SEO worth? Getting a ballpark estimate for how much SEO is worth for your business can help you make a reliable budget.
How Much is SEO Worth?
There are several ways to estimate how much SEO is worth. These methods can show how much you might gain from improving SEO on a particular page, on your website overall, or by creating a new page to capitalize on a particular keyword.
These methods assume that focused SEO efforts will improve your page rank on a SERP, and thus win more customers’ attention and clicks. However, some industries and some keywords are more competitive than others. Keep in mind that some pages may require more effort than others to compete.
Competitor Comparison
If you search for terms that your customers might search for, do you repeatedly find that one or two competitors show up higher on the SERP that appears? When you click on your competitor’s pages, how do they look? Do they have informative content that is well-organized? Does their website load quickly, and is it easy to navigate? Or, do you think your site or content could perform better?
If you think your site could provide better information and a better online experience, you may be able to usurp your competitors and win a top spot. In this case, you might estimate how much SEO is worth based on your competitor’s current placements. You can estimate how much traffic your competitor receives using online traffic tools. If you can improve your SEO to compete, you may receive this much traffic.
Then, you can estimate value by multiplying this estimated traffic by your current estimated conversion rate. Then, with this number, multiply by the value of an average sale, or the average lifetime value of a customer, whichever makes more sense for your business.
Looking at your competitor’s performance, you can estimate how much SEO is worth. This equation will look like this:
[ (competitor’s organic traffic amount) x (your estimated conversion rate) ] x (average sale amount) = value of SEO for your site
Adwords Analysis
Another method you might use to decide how much SEO is worth for your site is to use Adwords. Google Adwords is a platform for buying ads. In particular, you can buy search ads, which appear at the top of a SERP when a user enters a particular keyword. Though organic (unpaid) results appear under these ads, they generally attract as much or more clicks, since users find organic results more legitimate and trustworthy than paid placements.
You can estimate how much SEO is worth using Adwords by searching for particular keywords, and see how much ad placements on these words cost. You can estimate costs based on impressions and clicks, and use these numbers to estimate weekly, monthly, or annual costs.
Remember, some keywords will be much more expensive than others. Keywords which demonstrate more buying intent, for example, will be more expensive, since customers are more likely to make a purchase when they search for these words. Also, keywords that are associated with larger purchases, like cars or legal services, will be more expensive than keywords associated with smaller purchases, such as small consumer items. Competition also plays an important role. For example, there will be fewer competitors buying ad placements for keywords related to local bicycle repair compared to online retailers of bicycling items.
Industry Benchmarks
Another, simplified way to estimate how much SEO is worth is to look at how much your industry spends on search ads. Remember, search ads allow you to pay for a position at the top of a SERP. SEO helps your pages appear organically at the top of a SERP, so you don’t have to pay for an ad. Though both of these options require some investment, SEO can be more valuable in the long run (we’ll discuss this more later).
Take a look at what your industry spends on search advertisements. This can give you a simple, ballpark estimate for how much high-quality SEO efforts may be worth to your business.
Is SEO More Valuable Than Ads?
Since anyone can pay for a position at the top of a search, why bother with SEO? This is an important question. In some cases, search ads might be the ideal avenue, especially if your pages aren’t going to be around forever. In most cases, however, SEO will be more valuable than ads.
When comparing SEO and search ads, you can think of SEO like building a house and search ads like renting an apartment. If you don’t need to stay in a spot very long, it makes more sense to rent. However, if you’re going to be in a spot for a long time, it makes more sense to invest in a valuable home, which you’ll continually get value from.
The same is true of SEO and search ads. SEO allows you to build up the value of your page and your site overall. If a particular keyword will continually be valuable to your website, you’ll want to invest in it and make sure that you stay at the top of a SERP. However, if you’re selling a temporary item or advertising a temporary event, putting a lot of effort into a valuable page might not have the same payoff.
In general, SEO allows you to improve your domain authority, which will improve the search value of your entire site. It also encourages you to improve your overall page performance, which will improve user experience and can improve conversion rates, among other things. SEO will also provide long-term traffic improvements, while advertisements will provide only short-term traffic gains.