2025 SEO ROI Statistics to Know (WOW)

We surveyed 48 of our clients and close friends that run businesses online utilizing SEO to drive business growth. Of the results below, we’ve found a number of compelling SEO ROI statistics for 2025 that shows that SEO is still a great channel to invest in even amongst changing market conditions.

In the survey, we also asked participants how they felt about upcoming AI changes. That’s the advancement of AI Overviews appearing in more SERPs (search engine results pages) as well as Google’s announcement of AI Mode in March of 2025, which is expected to result in even fewer clicks to websites if Users choose to adopt the full AI-mode through Google.

Key Takeaways

• Strong ROI Despite Market Shifts: 92% of surveyed companies achieved 1.8X or greater SEO ROAS within 8 months, proving SEO remains one of the most effective and cost-efficient channels in 2025—even amid AI disruption and evolving search behaviors.
• Talent Drives SEO Wins, Not Tactics Alone: 51% of respondents cited hiring the right talent as the number one driver of SEO ROI. Teams led by senior strategists or expert-level practitioners consistently outperformed those relying on junior talent or agency churn.
• AI Isn’t Killing SEO—It’s Just the Next Evolution: Despite headlines, 51% are not concerned about AI diminishing their SEO ROI. These seasoned operators view AI tools and SERP changes as new frontiers for influence—not existential threats.

Compelling SEO ROI Statistics for 2025

In the survey we asked our participants a number of questions including:

• Average ROI (determined by ROAS) achieved within 8-months.
• Top reasons why SEO was falling short in previous years.
• Measurement of how they felt AI was going to impact SEO in 2025.

Types of companies that we surveyed:

• Technology: SaaS, consumer internet, and other technology-related businesses that utilize search to drive leads, customers, and demand.
• B2B: Companies that offer business services with higher ticket values, such as consulting, business services, and business-service-technology mixes.
• eCommerce: Companies that utilize search to sell direct-to-consumer as well as business-related products (batteries, custom clothing, and printing).

Of our participants, we noted that, on average, the spend for SEO in their organization was anywhere from $48,000 to $220,000 per year. Mostly made up of SEO team members (senior leaders and strategists), copywriters, or an agency mix of all of the required roles.

Want to hire an agency that knows how to get returns? Hire us.

ROAS (Return on Advertising Spend) Achieved

Not surprising and the reason why we particularly feel organic search is still a very high opportunity channel is the average return on advertising spend (ROAS) achieved by the companies that we surveyed.

Of the companies that we surveyed, the average percentages of ROAS came back as:

• 38% achieved 1.8X
• 27% achieved 2.4X
• 17% achieved 3.2X
• 10% achieved 4.2X
• 8% achieved 4.8X

We asked our survey participants to look at an 8-month timeframe and investment picture window. The benchmark for the advertising spend was the average amount they spent on either internal SEO teams or hiring external agencies.

Unsurprisingly, the participants that came back with the highest ROAS also had the highest profit margin rates per customer acquisition. Most of the 4.8X ROAS companies were in the B2B space where ticket values are much greater and competition is much lower.

The average ticket value per lead or “customer acquired” was well into the $5,000 to $15,000 range. With one B2B SaaS company suggesting that their average contract value could be anywhere from $48,000 per year to $120,000 per year. Resulting in 5-10 MQLs secured per month being significant for the business.

Contributors to SEO ROI Success

Contributors to SEO ROI success aimed at trying to determine where the majority of "shifts" occurred within the companies channel strategies that led to the most returns. This included wanting to know about people, process, and hiring/firing decisions.

Of the companies that we surveyed we asked where they felt a majority of their return on investment (ROI) came from and where they made calibrations in terms of their process and the results came back as the following:

• 51% noted talent as the primary reason for higher returns
• 36% noted higher velocity of output as the reason for higher returns
• 11% noted choosing “easier to win” keywords as a reason for higher returns
• 2% noted changing SEO agencies as the reason for higher returns

In short, it would seem that talent is really the highest reason for better returns. Suggesting that hiring the right people in the right seats is one of the main contributors to achieving success in the channel.

One survey participant said: “We see a lot of applicants for job postings that have more junior experience in search marketing and in particular organic search experience. It took us over 7 months to find the right leadership in the role. However, once we did that, it was clearly the key to winning. Senior leaders know how to pivot and get results while junior talent might get stuck and stall out.”

Related: B2B SaaS SEO Guide

Types of SEO Work Contributing to ROI

We asked the types of work that the teams were doing that contributed to a majority of the ROI in the space.

Of the survey participants we bucketed the answers into four key categories:

• Technical SEO
• Content Marketing
• Thought Leadership
• Product/Service Page Creation

The participants in the survey suggested that they witnessed the most attribution to SEO ROI of those four categories as the following:

• Content Marketing: 48% saw larger growth in demand generation.
• Product/Service Page Creation: 34% saw larger growth in demand generation.
• Thought Leadership: 12% saw larger growth in demand generation.
• Technical SEO: 4% saw larger growth in demand generation.

In short, this aligns with Google’s philosophies as of 2022. Where both topical authority and authority of domains or websites is largely driven by the ability to execute highly unique and compelling pages that align with User expectations and address very specific queries or questions on behalf of the User (a campaign to improve search results by Google).

Concern Over AI and SEO ROI

Participants were asked a yes or no questionnaire asking whether they felt as though AI was going to continue to have a long-lasting impact on their SEO ROI. Interestingly, we see the survey results being somewhat split, but the split was a surprise.

Based on how much of the space seems dominated by “SEO is dead” concerns, we were surprised to see these results. However, it’s important to note that some of these participants have been investing in SEO for 5+ years. Meaning, they are quite adaptable to the frequent changes the space often requires.

Fear over AI dominating their SEO ROI returns:

• 51% suggested they are not concerned over AI
• 48% suggested they are concerned over AI

One participant responded by saying, “ChatGPT, Perplexity, and other AI tools that are coming out just seem like ‘yet another search engine to us.’ We’ve been in this space long enough to see how quickly changes can happen. At the end of the day, it’s just another place to market our brand. And another place to learn how to speak to customers in the early stages of their life cycle and influence them toward our great company offerings.”

Findings from Survey

From the survey, it seems like the major takeaways would be some of the following:

Best Type of Work to Invest in SEO

Best type of work to equip your SEO team to focus on:

Mistakes to Avoid While Investing in SEO

Types of SEO mistakes to avoid: