SEO break-even calculator
SEO can be worth it when the profit from customers who find you through search repays the fee and the wait. Use the calculator to include the full contract cost, the months before results begin, your close rate, and the value of repeat business before you sign.
Check the offerAbout 20 leads a month at your close rate.
$12,000 total cost ÷ $200 kept per customer = 60 customers, spread across 9 active months.
At 5 out of 20, you need 27 leads a month. At 9 out of 20, you need 15.
The practical view
SEO work improves how search engines understand and surface your site. You are paying for strategy, technical work, useful content, local visibility, and measurement, not a guaranteed ranking.
Example: a 12-month SEO agreement with three months before new customers begin arriving. Change any number in the calculator to replace the example with your business.
Build the real total
Count the monthly fee, setup or audit charges, content production, website development, tools you must buy, and staff time needed for approvals. Use the complete cost of the plan you are evaluating.
Before you sign
Ask what will be delivered each month, when customer-producing work should begin, and what you keep if you leave. A ranking promise is not a substitute for a lead and customer measurement plan.
Read the result
The break-even target is spread only across months when results are expected. If leads arrive later than planned, the remaining months need to produce customers faster to recover the same total cost.
Track calls and forms from organic search separately, record which leads become customers, and compare that customer profit with the total SEO cost.
Straight answers
Keep checking the pitch
Running a nonprofit? The nonprofit version is coming separately.