Must-Follow Guidelines to Maximize SEO ROI

Picture of Komal Chaturvedi
Komal Chaturvedi

Co-Founder & CEO, MotionGility

Maximize SEO ROI
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SEO consultants & marketers aim to make their efforts worthwhile by ensuring the right optimization practices.

 

However, a significant number of businesses fail to achieve a positive SEO ROI on their investments.

 

A survey among SEO professionals revealed that only 59% of SEO campaigns yield a positive ROI within a year.

 

Unfortunately, 41% of campaigns fail, often due to:

 

  • Inadequate budget allocations
  • Poor SEO strategy
  • Unrealistic expectations

Adding to the challenge, technological advancements like AI-driven search engines and platforms such as ChatGPT and TikTok are reshaping search behavior.

 

Relying solely on traditional SEO metrics no longer makes sense. For example:

  • Rank 1 results now capture only 27% of click-throughs, while rank 2 sees just 8% CTR.
  • Higher rankings don’t guarantee proportionate traffic, making ROI harder to justify.

What does this mean for marketers The job is getting tougher.

 

But don’t worry—Our guidelines on improving SEO ROI will help those few who are always ready to adapt in 2025 & beyond. 

What is SEO ROI?

SEO ROI simply tells you the probable return that can be generated for your business from your SEO activities.

 

As an important key performance indicator [KPI], it helps align your overall SEO goals to your business objectives.


To calculate SEO Return on Investment (ROI), SEO specialists study website traffic, search engine ranking, etc.


A positive SEO ROI places your website higher on search engine results pages (SERPs). You also see higher customer engagement and more sales.

7 Guidelines for SEO ROI Improvement

Pouring tons of resources to generate a positive ROI from SEO and not witnessing any subsequent results can seem overwhelming.

 

Based on the practices professionals follow, here are a few guidelines you can implement to improve SEO return on investment.

1. Maintain a fast & mobile-friendly website

Google & other search engines put mobile indexing as one of the top criteria to rank websites. 

 

As per Backlinko, there will be approximately 6 billion mobile users globally; therefore, businesses must prioritize mobile SEO optimization to attend to users’ search queries quickly.

 

Your website’s ranking will plummet if it doesn’t load within 3-4 seconds. So fast loading is non-negotiable. Besides that, pay attention to visual appearance and how customers interact with it.

 

Faster website loading lowers bounce rates, and users spend more time than competitors.

2. Target long-tail keywords

Users queries are becoming specific. More people are searching for long, specific keywords. For instance, people prefer to search for “best luxury New Year hampers for corporate gifts in India,” not only “New Year hampers.” 

 

With long-tail keywords, the intent of the search is clear. Websites get higher conversion rates—AIOSEO records 2.5 times higher conversions than generic conversions. Getting ranked for featured snippets is a plus.

 

Naturally, there’s a decrease in bounce rates, as customers get the content they’ve been looking for.

3. Don’t ignore local SEO

If local competitors are stealing your customers, it’s time to prioritize local SEO. According to Backlinko, 46% of all Google searches have local intent. Ignore it, and you’re missing out on traffic, calls, and in-store visits.

 

Start with building trust and credibility. Positive reviews & accurate business information help to attract genuine customers.

4. Re-optimize past content

As per Ahrefs, 96.55% of web pages receive no search traffic from Google. As of December 2024, there are 5.56 billion pages on the web,  yet websites don’t get enough leads. Zero impact!

 

If that’s the case, you don’t need more content; you need to update what you already have. 

 

A case study by Moz points out that re-optimizing content can boost organic traffic by 29% and impressions by 62.35%.

 

As an SEO services agency, we often suggest this strategy to our clients.  

 

3 months ago, we fixed the keyword cannibalization issue on our client’s website and increased their impressions by 120%.

 

Firstly we fixed what was underperforming, rewrote sections, added fresh stats, merged pages if required, and made it relevant again.

5. Optimize for voice search

These days, people aren’t typing—they’re talking, with 30% of netizens, aged 16-64,  relying on voice assistants each week.

 

With AI and voice assistants everywhere, conversational searches are exploding. Your content needs to keep up.

 

When optimizing for voice search, answer what people ask. Be natural & attend to natural, question-based queries.

Optimize your voice search for FAQs as well. Write them like you’re chatting with your best mate—natural, relatable, and to the point.

 

Picture the real questions users are shouting at their smart speakers, and give them helpful answers.

6. Leverage AI-powered SEO tools

AI isn’t just a buzzword in SEO anymore. Everyone’s using them to time and use them for what matters: strategy and creativity.

 

AI-powered platforms handle the grunt work—keyword research, content tweaks, and even link building.

Take help from tools like SEMrush and Ahrefs to go deep into data to pull out long-tail keywords so you can cater to the user intent.

You no longer need to spend hours fidgeting with technical SEO. Screaming Frog is a great tool to help you win the technical parts, providing you with complete SEO analysis. Or take the help from AI tools of your preference. 

 

Schema markup, meta tags, and troubleshooting crawling issues—it can do it all for you without needing you to learn a single line of code. 

7. Focus on E-E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness)

Google no longer just wants content; it wants user-intended content.  John Mueller, a search advocate at Google, has consistently underlined the importance of E-E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authority, and Trustworthiness) for websites.

Muller says.

“I think that’s always difficult. I don’t think there’s a magic trick that will automatically generate traffic from searches. I believe that following best practices in general for creating a nice website is always a smart idea.

 

Making sure you can spread the message is critical. But, especially for medical topics or anything more serious, I would consider everything related to the EAAT. So are expertise, authority, and trustworthiness.”  

Though these four elements might not directly impact your rankings, they’re a huge influence on how Google rates your site. Especially in 2024, with AI-generated content flooding the internet.

 

  • Experience: Share experiences, not just what you’ve read but lived or learned while working in your domain.
  • Expertise: Don’t just talk; back it up with solid knowledge—especially in fields like health and finance, where deep expertise is a must, not an option.
  • Authoritativeness: Build your reputation with quality backlinks and industry recognition—it’s not about being loud; it’s about being respected.
  • Trustworthiness: If your sources are weak or hidden, forget trust; Be transparent, accurate, and timely to earn credibility online.

How to Calculate SEO ROI Effectively

You can use this formula to calculate SEO ROI for your business: 

SEO ROI = (SEO Revenue – SEO Costs) / SEO Costs x 100


So SEO metrics for ROI for someone running an e-commerce store would look as:


SEO ROI:
Start with tracking your SEO. Calculate your conversion rate (sales from visits) and multiply by the average order value.

 

Example: 2,000 visits × 4% conversion rate × 50 = 4,000 in revenue.


SEO Costs:
Sum up your expenses. This includes consultant fees, tools, content creation, and technical improvements.


Example: Consultant fees 1,000 + tools 500 + content 500 = 2,000 in costs.

= (4,000 – 2,000) / 2,000 x 100 = 100% ROI.


Conclusion: Every 1 Rupee spent made you 2 Rupees.

SEO ROI Calculator

Your Digital Marketing ROI vs. SEO ROI

Marketing ROI and SEO ROI are not two different things. Digital marketing is a spectrum, comprising many channels—email marketing, social media, paid ads, and SEO—each contributing to your overall ROI. 


For instance, a 2023 marketing report mentions that email marketing delivers a remarkable ROI of 3,600%, while SEO provides a substantial ROI of 2,200%. SEO yields an average ROI of 22:1. 

 

For every dollar invested, you get a return of $22. Unlike paid campaigns that give immediate results but require ongoing investment, SEO is a long game. 

 

You may have to make an upfront investment, but it continues to drive traffic and conversions—even after the initial costs are covered.

5 Challenges of Measuring SEO ROI

1. Time lag between actions and results

How much time does it take to see your SEO efforts? A question marketers do not have an answer to. Because nobody knows, though there’s no ideal number of weeks or days, some can expect to see improvement in their search ranking in 3 to 4 months, or it can take up to years for some.


Google takes different metrics into account, including conversions, backlinks, etc. Coming in 2025, however, things are about to change.

 

Google’s December 2024 core update indicates that search engine ranking could maximize SEO ROI sooner after an update, keeping the center of ranking on user-first content.

Must-Follow Guidelines to Maximize SEO ROI

2. Difficulty tracking multiple customer touchpoints

Businesses are juggling SEO data from different corners of their online presence. Emails, mobile apps, offline channels, CRM systems, websites, etc.

 

With so much, that too requiring real-time management, marketers are under constant pressure. Of all, it gets difficult to figure out what touchpoints add to their conversations.

 

Problems with abundant data can further confuse SEO strategy for businesses, especially if it’s outdated or inconsistent.

3. Constant changes in search engine algorithms

Search engines are undergoing a revolution; with every update rolling out every month, measuring your SEO efforts can become a herculean task in itself. Even well-optimized websites falter.

 

For instance, though the August 2024 Core Algorithm Update from Google came unannounced, it resulted in 44% of sites reporting decreased rankings and traffic, while only 27% saw improvements. All sudden changes come with a swarm of challenges.

There’s a never-ending learning curve for marketers, only rising higher, overwhelming them with problems. Be it SEO budget, content strategy adjustments, or technical SEO challenges.

 

Barry Schwartz‘s LinkedIn poll throws interesting light on the core update’s impact:

August 2024 Core Update LinkedIn Poll

4. Challenges in measuring non-financial benefits

Not every SEO effort is measurable. Metrics like brand awareness and domain authority are tossed around like confetti, but in reality, you can’t slap them on a spreadsheet or measure their true contributions to improving your ranks. 

5. Complexity of evaluating long-term SEO value

One thing that’s true about SEO: It’s a long-term game with a compounding effect. It may take time, but each piece of content, every link earned, and all the optimizations add up over time.

 

It’s not immediate, and that’s frustrating for businesses hungry for quick wins. But chasing instant gratification often leads to corner-cutting, and with SEO, shortcuts rarely end well.

5 Strategies You Can Deploy To Maximize SEO ROI

How to improve SEO ROI

1. Set up robust tracking using tools

SEO isn’t about hoping for magic. You need to know your numbers well. Plug in Google Analytics and Search Console to get a complete analysis of SEO metrics.

 

If you want to stay ahead of your competitors, leverage AI-powered predictive ROI modeling. With minimal effort, it can help you forecast long-term SEO performance.

2. Think long-term

SEO is a process, not a push-button fix. Though it is not old news to marketers, most fail to create a strategy that builds sustainable growth over time.

 

The place of beginning is creating high-quality,  evergreen content that keeps driving traffic months—or even years—after it’s published. Invest in building authority through consistent link-building and user trust.

3. Drill down into details

Standard metrics won’t cut it here. You can design custom micro-conversion metrics that fit well with your business model.

 

These could include metrics like “time spent on key product pages,” “interaction with specific content elements,” or “progression through defined user journey stages.” 

 

This tailored approach would reveal the real influence of SEO on user behavior and conversions, offering insights far richer than generic metrics ever could.

4. Use smart attribution models to track

Stop guessing and start tracking.  You can use advanced attribution models to follow customers across their devices—from phones to laptops to tablets.

 

This gives you a clear picture of how SEO shapes their journey. These touchpoints can help you see where SEO adds value, helping you adjust your strategy and calculate SEO ROI with better accuracy.

5. Blend SEO with other channels

An AI-driven marketing platform can effortlessly merge SEO with other channels. You can analyze data, find synergies, and reallocate resources in real-time using machine learning.

 

By executing this strategy, you can figure out the best SEO metrics for ROI, optimize performance on different channels, and drive better SEO results.

Conclusion

With so much happening, you may feel skeptical about whether your efforts are worthwhile to generate your desired ROI or not.

 

SEO is evolving, like it always has, and it is high time to follow strategies like targeting long-tail keywords and optimizing for voice search. 

 

Working closely with an experienced SEO services company like us can help you perform well against Google Core Updates, rank on your business keywords, and attract quality web traffic.

 

Book a free 30-Minutes Discovery Call with our SEO expert.