Is SEO worth it for your business? How to work it out
Yes, when all three of these are true: people search for what you sell, you can realistically win some of those searches, and a customer is worth enough to repay the work. You can check all three with free tools and your own numbers before you spend a penny. If any one of them fails, put the money somewhere else first.
Check one: do people search for what you sell?
SEO only brings you people who are already looking, so the first job is finding out whether anyone is.
- Google's Keyword Planner, free inside a Google Ads account, shows how often the terms you type in get searched for.
- Bing Webmaster Tools' Keyword Research does the same for Bing.
- Google Search Console, Google's free tool for seeing how your site appears in Google, has a Performance report listing the searches you already show up for. That's the most reliable evidence you'll get, because it's your own.
- Type your service into Google and read the suggestions as you type. Google says its autocomplete predictions reflect real searches done on Google, though some also draw on word patterns found across the web.
Some businesses find almost nobody searching, because the product is new or because customers find suppliers by word of mouth. If that's you, SEO will struggle to be your main channel, and partnerships or referrals will probably do more.
Check two: can you realistically win?
Search your main terms and look honestly at what comes back.
- Local businesses and small sites in the results mean there's room for you.
- National brands, marketplaces and directories in every result mean a harder, slower job. Local searches often show a separate set of map results, though, and you can still appear there through your Google Business Profile.
- Pages that answer the question badly are an open goal for a better page.
Check three: is a customer worth enough?
This is the check that decides it.
Work out what a new customer is worth to you in profit over the time they stay. Then work out how many enquiries it takes to win one. Now ask how many extra customers a year SEO would have to bring to repay its cost.
Here's the sum with round numbers, which are there to show the method rather than to suggest real figures:
- An SEO project costs £2,500.
- A customer is worth £1,500 in profit over the time they stay.
- So SEO needs to bring two customers to pay for itself, and everyone after that is profit.
If a customer is worth £50, the same project needs fifty of them, and the answer changes completely. So run the sum on your own figures before you decide. The same method answers the wider question of how much should a business spend on marketing, and what marketing costs in the UK gives you the price of each kind of help.
Do the sum over a year, not a month
Paid search brings clicks almost at once, and they stop the day you stop paying. A page that ranks takes longer to get going and then keeps bringing visitors with no charge per click. That's why some businesses run both: ads for speed while rankings build. If you're weighing up the paid side, compare Meta ads vs Google Ads and work out how much Google Ads cost for your own searches.
When SEO is the wrong first spend
Even when all three checks pass, hold off in three cases:
- You need enquiries next week. SEO won't deliver that, and paid search or your existing network is more likely to.
- Your website loses the visitors you already have. Fix the website first, starting with the nine homepage mistakes we see most often, because more traffic to a page that doesn't convert helps nobody.
- You can't take on more work. Then marketing of any kind isn't the priority.
How to start without overcommitting
You don't need a twelve-month contract to find out whether SEO will work for you. Start with the parts that are cheap, quick and useful whatever happens:
- Fix anything that keeps your pages out of Google's index, the list of pages it can show in results. Our diagnosis guide walks you through it.
- Complete your Google Business Profile and Bing Places listing, if your customers are local.
- Give each service a clear page that says what it is, who it's for and where you offer it.
- Improve the pages sitting just off the first page, which Search Console will show you.
- Watch Search Console for a few months. If the right searches start bringing clicks, more investment is likely to pay.
If that works, add new pages and start earning links from other local sites, month by month. If it doesn't, you've spent little and learned a lot.
How to tell whether it is paying
Judge it over months, against the numbers you picked before you started:
- Search Console: are you showing up for more of the searches that matter, and getting more clicks? Check Bing Webmaster Tools, Bing's version of the same tool, in the same way.
- Your analytics: are visits from unpaid search results rising, and are those visitors enquiring? The five GA4 reports worth knowing will show you.
- Your customers: ask every new one how they found you. It catches what the tools miss.
- The sum: run it again with real figures.
Does SEO still matter now AI answers the question?
Yes. Google says there are no additional requirements for appearing in its AI answers, the AI Overviews and AI Mode at the top of the results, beyond being on its list of pages and being allowed to show a short preview of your text. That's ordinary SEO, done well. Bing's webmaster guidelines say the same foundations support Bing search and Microsoft Copilot.
The work that helps you rank is the work that makes you worth citing, which is why I'd answer no to whether SEO is dead now everyone uses AI. What changes is the measuring: some of your visibility now shows up as a mention rather than a click, so check Bing's AI Performance report too.
A quick way to decide
Answer each one. The first three are the conditions above, and a no to any of them settles it: spend the money somewhere else first, whatever the rest say. If all three are a yes, the last three tell you whether now's the time.
People search for what we sell, in words we can list.
How to tell
You can list the words customers type to find a business like yours, and Keyword Planner or Search Console's Performance report shows real searches for them.
Businesses like ours appear in the results for those searches.
How to tell
When you search your main terms, local businesses or small sites appear in the results or the map, not only national brands, marketplaces and directories.
A customer is worth enough that a few extra a year would repay the work.
How to tell
You've worked out a customer's profit over the time they stay, and the number of extra customers a year needed to repay the work is small enough to be realistic.
We can wait months for results, not weeks.
How to tell
The business doesn't need new enquiries from search in the next few weeks, and you can judge the work over months, against numbers chosen before starting.
Our website turns visitors into enquiries reasonably well.
How to tell
Enough of the people who reach your site get in touch that more visitors would mean more enquiries. The homepage passes the half-hour check in our homepage piece.
We have the capacity to take on more customers.
How to tell
If enquiries rose next quarter, you could take on the extra work without turning people away or letting standards slip.
Before you commit, it helps to know how long SEO takes and how much SEO costs, so you can run the sum with real timings and prices.
When you're ready, our SEO audit and first fixes is a fixed £2,500 for the first stage, and any ongoing work after it is optional, with no minimum term.
Questions people ask
Is SEO worth it for my business?
Yes, when three things are true: people regularly search for what you sell, you can win enough of those searches to matter, and a customer is worth enough to pay back the work over time. Check all three before you commit, using free tools and your own numbers. If one fails, spend elsewhere first.
When is SEO not worth it?
When almost nobody searches for what you sell, when you need enquiries next week rather than over months, when a customer is worth too little to repay the work, or when the business can't take on more work. Then another channel, or fixing something else first, is usually better value.
Is SEO better than Google Ads?
They do different jobs. Ads can bring clicks almost immediately, and they stop when you stop paying. SEO takes longer, then keeps working without a charge for every click. Some businesses use both: ads for speed while unpaid rankings build.
How can I test whether SEO is worth it without spending much?
Do the free foundations first: fix indexing problems, complete your Google Business Profile, make sure each service has a clear page, and improve the pages already sitting just off the first page. Then watch Search Console for a few months. If the right searches start bringing clicks, more investment is likely to pay.
I founded oXo Creatives, an independent marketing agency and consultancy, in 2013 and run it full-time. Until 2026 I ran it alongside senior in-house marketing roles at Google, PlayStation and King, partner management at Meta, and digital product at NatWest.
Want help with SEO?
Help customers find you on Google, and in AI search, when they look for what you do. A few weeks for the audit and first fixes, then ongoing as content and links build.
