
By Patrick Stox
Technical SEO at Ahrefs
Here's an advanced enterprise SEO ROI calculator that uses the language and numbers your c-suite will want to see and gives you ROI and LTV:CAC.
Retention Period: years
LTV:
NPV of LTV:
CAC:
ROI: %
Total SEO Costs ($):
All expenses directly associated with SEO efforts, including tools, salaries, content creation, link building, and agency fees. These costs are the basis for calculating Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC).
Total Customers Acquired:
The number of customers gained through organic search over a specific time frame. This value is crucial for assessing SEO’s effectiveness in acquiring new customers.
Average Revenue per Customer (ARPC) ($):
The average amount of revenue generated per customer. Calculated as total revenue divided by the number of customers acquired.
Churn Rate (%):
The percentage of customers lost over a specific period. This affects the customer retention period, which is calculated as: Retention Period = 1 / Churn Rate
Gross Margin (%):
The percentage of revenue retained after deducting the cost of goods sold (COGS). This ensures only profits are considered when evaluating customer lifetime value (LTV).
Discount Rate (%):
Reflects the time value of money, adjusting future revenues to present value. The Net Present Value (NPV) of LTV accounts for this factor: NPV of LTV = LTV / (1 + Discount Rate)
Scenario:
Results:
Ideally, this ratio should be at least 3:1. A higher ratio indicates efficient customer acquisition relative to customer lifetime value.

Patrick Stox is a Product Advisor, Technical SEO, & Brand Ambassador at Ahrefs. He was the lead author for the SEO chapter of the 2021 Web Almanac and a reviewer for the 2022 SEO chapter. He also co-wrote the SEO Book For Beginners by Ahrefs and was the Technical Review Editor for The Art of SEO 4th Edition. He’s an organizer for the Triangle SEO Meetup, the Tech SEO Connect conference, he runs a Technical SEO Slack group, and is a moderator for /r/TechSEO on Reddit.
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