What it does
It walks you through four steps: add your search data, set the ranking improvement you’re aiming for, add what a customer is worth, then read the forecast. Each step explains what it’s doing and why, and you can go back and change anything without starting again. If you want to see how it works before finding your own data, there’s an example forecast you can load in one click.
You load your Search Console query export. The calculator reads it in your browser, shows you where you are now, and lets you model one change: moving up the results by however many places you think is realistic.
It applies the click-through curve to every term individually rather than to your average position, which matters because a term moving from 18 to 6 is worth far more than one moving from 60 to 48 on the same impressions.
Then you add the commercial numbers, which are the ones only you know: conversion rate, what a sale is worth, and what you’re thinking of spending.
What makes it different
It uses your data, not a keyword tool’s estimates. Google Trends cannot give you search volumes, whatever anyone tells you. It publishes relative interest on a 0 to 100 scale. Your Search Console impressions are measured, and they are about your site.
It derives your own click-through rates. Rather than applying a published CTR curve, it buckets your queries by position, divides clicks by impressions, and uses your real rates wherever there’s enough data. Published curves are averages of everybody, and you are not everybody.
It shows you a calibration check. Before you trust any forecast, it tells you how closely the model reproduces the clicks you already get. If it’s badly out, the forecast is wrong and you’ll know immediately.
It accounts for AI Overviews, which most calculators ignore entirely.
Nothing is uploaded. The file is read in your browser and stays there. For a tool asking for your search data, that needs saying plainly rather than being buried in a privacy policy.
How to get your export
Search Console, then Performance, then the Queries tab, then Export and choose CSV. Set the date range to the last three months first. Open the zip and use Queries.csv.
If you don’t have Search Console access, there’s a manual mode where you enter terms by hand, though you’ll need volumes from a keyword tool and they’ll be estimates.
Taking the forecast away with you
The forecast is yours to keep and to share with whoever signs things off. You can download the full working as a CSV, with every assumption the model used, save the growth chart as an image, print the page or save it as a PDF, and copy a plain-English summary for an email. Nothing is emailed to you and no address is asked for.
What it cannot know
It doesn’t know whether the improvement you’ve asked for is achievable, because you chose it and nothing here looks at your competition. It treats a move from 40 to 35 the same as a move from 6 to 1, which are very different jobs.
It also can’t see the terms you don’t appear for at all. Impressions only exist where you were shown, so the biggest opportunity on most sites is invisible to this tool by definition.
That last point is worth sitting with. If the calculator tells you there’s limited upside in your current terms, that may be true, or it may be that the real opportunity is a set of searches you’re nowhere near.
Related
The model behind it is the same one I use in client work. For the reasoning, see content quality and E-E-A-T on what makes a page worth ranking, and SEO for how the work runs. Other tools are on the tools page.
FAQ
Is the SEO ROI calculator free?
Yes, free and with no sign-up. It runs entirely in your browser, so there’s no account to create and no data for me to store. You can use it as often as you like without telling me anything about your business.
Do you see my Search Console data?
No, and you do not have to take my word for it. The file is read locally by your browser and nothing is sent to any server. You can confirm it by loading the page, disconnecting from the internet, and then using the tool anyway.
Why does it give a range instead of a number?
Because a single number would be false precision. The inputs are estimates, the improvement you pick is a choice rather than a certainty, and search moves underneath both. Three scenarios make that uncertainty visible instead of hiding it behind a decimal point.
Can it tell me which keywords to target?
Not by itself. It works from terms you already appear for, so it can show where the value sits in what you have. Finding searches you don’t appear for at all is a different job, and usually the more valuable one.
Want the version with judgement attached?
A calculator can do the arithmetic. Deciding whether the target is realistic needs someone to look at what you’re up against. Get in touch, or start with a free assessment.