How to Communicate the Value of SEO and Get a Buy-In

You understand SEO’s potential to boost website traffic and user engagement. But to truly demonstrate its worth to stakeholders – be it your manager, clients, or internal teams – you need to shift the focus and move beyond discussions of keyword positions and traffic figures to showcasing tangible results that directly contribute to core business objectives.

Learn to clearly articulate how your SEO efforts deliver measurable value, using language that resonates with their priorities, ultimately securing the resources and recognition you deserve.

To effectively communicate SEO value, frame your activities in the context of key business objectives. Consider these examples:

• Generating More Leads: Instead of saying, “Organic traffic to the ‘request a quote’ page increased by 35%,” demonstrate the impact: “Our targeted SEO content addressing key challenges in ‘enterprise cloud migration’ has resulted in a 28% increase in qualified quote requests submitted via organic search this quarter. This directly supports the sales team’s target of acquiring X new enterprise clients.”
• Driving Sales Growth: Rather than reporting, “Product page organic visits increased by 42%,” highlight the revenue impact: “This month, organic search generated £18,000 in direct product sales, a 12% increase compared to the previous period. This clearly shows how our SEO strategy is attracting customers ready to purchase.”
• Building Stronger Brand Recognition: Avoid simply stating, “We now rank for 60 new keywords.” Instead, explain the broader impact: “Our strategic content creation, focusing on core industry issues, has led to a 22% increase in organic brand mentions across relevant industry blogs and forums. This strengthens our brand’s visibility and establishes us as a thought leader in the sector.”

If you can show the ROI of your SEO investment, your stakeholders will understand the value, and you’ll find it easier to obtain approval for additional budget and resources.

Shift your reporting to metrics that directly prove business impact:

• Qualified Organic Leads: Track the actual number of valuable leads (e.g., form submissions, demo sign-ups, contact enquiries) originating from organic search. For example: “This month, organic search delivered 52 qualified leads, a 15% improvement on last month.”
• Improved Organic Conversion Rates: Measure the percentage of organic visitors completing a desired action (e.g., purchase, resource download, webinar registration). For example: “The conversion rate of organic traffic to our premium service sign-up page is 6.1%, significantly higher than the site average of 4.3%.”
• Revenue from Organic Search: Use analytics and attribution models to directly link revenue generated to organic search traffic. For example: “Organic search contributed £32,000 in revenue this quarter, representing 21% of our total online income.”
• Lower Customer Acquisition Cost (Organic): Calculate the efficiency of your SEO by dividing your SEO investment by the number of customers acquired through organic search. For example: “Our cost to acquire a customer through organic search is £28, considerably lower than £118 from Paid Social.”
• Strong Return on Investment (SEO ROI): Quantify the profitability of your SEO efforts by comparing the revenue generated to your total SEO investment. For example: “For every £1 invested in SEO this quarter, we generated £5.50 in revenue, demonstrating a compelling ROI of 450%.”
• Growing Domain Authority: Showcase the increasing strength and credibility of your website. For example: “Our Domain Authority has increased by 5 points this quarter, and we’ve secured valuable backlinks from four respected industry publications, enhancing our online authority.”

Structure your reports to present a clear and compelling narrative:

• Start with Strategic Alignment: “This report outlines the performance of our SEO strategy in directly supporting the company’s objective of achieving a 10% increase in online sales this quarter.”
• Highlight Key Achievements: “The primary driver of success this period was the 18% growth in revenue from organic search, directly resulting from our targeted product page enhancements.”
• Use Effective Visualisations: Include clear charts illustrating trends in organic revenue growth or comparisons of customer acquisition costs across different marketing channels.
• Provide Meaningful Context: “The increase in organic revenue is directly linked to the improved conversion rates on key product pages, which are a result of our enhanced product descriptions and user experience optimisations.”
• Demonstrate Progress Over Time: “Over the past six months, organic search has consistently contributed a larger share of overall revenue, establishing itself as a significant and growing revenue stream.”
• Include Illustrative Case Studies: “The optimisation of our ‘best [product category]’ guide led to a 22% increase in organic traffic to those product pages and a corresponding 15% rise in sales within that category.”

To truly showcase the impact of your SEO efforts, having the right tools at your disposal is essential. These platforms and features allow you to track, analyse, and present data in a compelling way:

• Google Analytics 4 (GA4): This is the bedrock of your web analytics, providing a wealth of data on organic traffic, user behaviour, conversions, and revenue attribution. Configuring conversion tracking and exploring user journeys within GA4 is paramount. Use GA4 to measure the real value of SEO, from clicks to your site all the way to conversions.
• Google Search Console: Offers invaluable insights into your website’s performance in Google search results. Monitor impressions, clicks, average position, and identify any technical issues hindering your organic visibility.
• SEO Platform Suites (e.g., Semrush, Ahrefs, Moz): These comprehensive tools offer features for keyword research, rank tracking (use with caution, focusing on trends rather than absolute positions), backlink analysis, site audits, and crucially, reporting dashboards that can often be customised to showcase key performance indicators.
• Data Visualisation Tools (e.g., Google Looker Studio, Tableau): These platforms allow you to connect data from various sources (GA4, SEO platforms, CRM) and create clear, insightful charts and dashboards that tell a compelling story about your SEO performance.
• CRM Integration: Connecting your CRM system with your analytics platforms allows you to track leads generated from organic search through the sales funnel, providing concrete data on lead quality and conversion rates to customers.
• Spreadsheet Software (e.g., Google Sheets, Microsoft Excel): While not as visually dynamic as dedicated tools, spreadsheets remain powerful for data manipulation, analysis, and creating custom reports, especially when combined with data exports from other platforms.

Select the tools that best align with your business objectives and reporting needs, ensuring you can effectively extract and present the data that truly demonstrates SEO’s value.

While the strategies outlined above are effective, it’s important to acknowledge that demonstrating SEO impact isn’t always a smooth journey. Here are some common challenges and how to navigate them:

• Attribution Complexity: Pinpointing the exact touchpoint that led to a conversion can be tricky, especially with longer sales cycles and multiple marketing channels. Solution: Implement robust attribution models within your analytics platforms, be transparent about the model you’re using, and focus on demonstrating the contribution of organic search throughout the customer journey.
• Time Lag for Results: SEO often takes time to yield significant results, which can be challenging when stakeholders expect immediate returns. Solution: Set realistic expectations from the outset, communicate progress regularly (even if incremental), and highlight early wins to build confidence. Focus on long-term trends rather than short-term fluctuations.
• Algorithm Updates: Search engine algorithms are constantly evolving, which can impact rankings and traffic. Solution: Stay informed about algorithm updates through reputable industry sources, be adaptable in your strategies, and focus on building a strong foundation of high-quality content and user experience that is more resilient to algorithm changes.
• Data Silos: Relevant data for proving SEO impact might be spread across different platforms (analytics, CRM, sales data). Solution: Invest in integrating these data sources where possible or establish clear processes for collating and analysing data from different systems. Data visualisation tools can be particularly helpful here.
• Stakeholder Understanding: Some stakeholders may have a limited understanding of SEO and its complexities. Solution: Educate them by using clear, business-oriented language (as emphasised throughout this post), focusing on the outcomes they care about, and avoiding technical jargon. Visual reports and case studies can be particularly effective in bridging this gap.
• Defining “Value” Differently: Different stakeholders may have different interpretations of what constitutes “value.” Solution: Understand the priorities of each stakeholder group (e.g., cost savings for finance, lead volume for sales, brand visibility for marketing) and tailor your reporting to highlight the aspects of SEO that are most relevant to them.

Be aware of potential challenges and proactively implement solutions, and you can navigate the complexities of demonstrating SEO impact more effectively and build stronger trust with your stakeholders.

By adopting these strategies and consistently demonstrating tangible business value through real-world examples, you can effectively communicate the crucial role of SEO, secure the support you need, and ensure your work resonates with both your audience and search engines alike.