How to forecast SEO costs, time to rank, and return on investment: ​
​
Ask yourself these 7 questions...
​
​
1. Is it possible to rank for this in 3, 6, or 12 months?
2. If I rank top 3, what is the CTR from organic search / expected clicks?
3. How fast do I need a positive ROI here, or is this a long-term (1-3 year) play?
4. Is the intent to buy (faster ROI), or just get information (long-term)?
5. What is the CPC of this keyword / what are people bidding?
6. How much will it cost to write/build out this page to be good enough to rank?
7. How many links will we need based on competition ranking here, at an avg. cost of $300-$1000 per link?
​
By breaking down keywords with these questions, you'll quickly understand what your focus should be.
​
Take the example in the image.

​
If you're an SEO agency, you might think "of course we need to rank for international SEO!"
​
But when you take a look at competition, search results, intent, time to rank, and more, you quickly understand that this single search alone may take years, $35,000+ in backlinks, and a 5,000 word guide that costs thousands more.
​
All for informational, low intent traffic that builds a brand over years, rather than driving conversions quickly.
​
Depending on your goals, budget, and desired payback period, this might not be the topic to spend your money on.
​
Always ask these 7 questions before targeting new keywords.

-Jeremy

Subscribe to SaaS Content for more behind-the-scenes strategy breakdowns from our agency clients:

About the author ✍️ Hey! I'm Jeremy Moser. I'm co-founder and CEO at uSERP, a 50+ person performance-driven SEO firm helping high-growth tech companies like Fivetran, Freshworks, ActiveCampaign, Monday, and hundreds more scale profitable customer growth.