What this calculator does
Traffic value answers one narrow question: if you had to buy these clicks instead of earning them, what would the bill be. Twelve thousand searches a month at an eight per cent click-through rate is 960 clicks, and at a $2.40 cost per click that is $2,304 a month, or $27,648 a year, that you are not paying an ad platform.
It is a benchmark, not income, and treating it as income is the mistake. The same 960 clicks at a 2.5 per cent conversion rate and $180 an order produce $4,320 a month of actual revenue. Those two figures have no particular reason to match: traffic value is set by what advertisers bid, and revenue is set by what your site does with a visit. Quote the first to compare channels and the second to decide what the ranking is worth.
The formula
Clicks are monthly searches × click-through rate, traffic value is clicks × cost per click, and revenue is clicks × conversion rate × value per conversion. Click-through rate is an input rather than something derived from a ranking position, because position curves differ by query type, by device and by how many ads and features sit above the first organic result. Take yours from Search Console, where it is measured rather than modelled.
| Term | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Traffic value | What the same clicks would cost at the going rate for paid search. |
| Click-through rate | Share of searches that click your result. Measured, not estimated from position. |
| Cost per click | What an advertiser pays for one click on that keyword. |
| Value per conversion | Average order value, or the value you assign to a lead. |
The inputs explained
| Field | What to enter |
|---|---|
| Monthly searches | Monthly search volume for the keyword, from a keyword tool or Search Console impressions. |
| Your click-through rate (%) | Your click-through rate for that query. Search Console reports it per query, which beats any position curve. |
| Cost per click if you bought it ($) | Cost per click an advertiser would pay. Keyword tools report this; it is the price of the benchmark. |
| Conversion rate of that traffic (%) | Share of that traffic that converts. Use the figure for the landing page, not the site average. |
| Value per conversion ($) | Average value of one conversion, net of refunds if you want the honest number. |
When to use it
Justifying work on one page
Enter the keyword and the page it lands on. Revenue a year is the figure that supports a decision; traffic value is the figure that gets attention in a meeting.
Comparing organic against paid
Traffic value is the direct comparison: it is what the clicks would cost through the ad auction at the current price.
Valuing an improvement
The value of one more point of click-through tells you what a better title or snippet is worth before you spend time on it.
Worked examples
Every figure in the tables below is produced by this page’s own calculator at build time, so the numbers and the tool always agree. Select any row to load that scenario.
What is a keyword worth at different search volumes?
Only the monthly search volume changes.
| Monthly searches | Traffic value a month | Clicks a month | Revenue a month |
|---|---|---|---|
| 500 | $96.00 | 40 | $180.00 |
| 2,000 | $384.00 | 160 | $720.00 |
| 12,000 | $2,304.00 | 960 | $4,320.00 |
| 40,000 | $7,680.00 | 3,200 | $14,400.00 |
| 100,000 | $19,200.00 | 8,000 | $36,000.00 |
How much is a better click-through rate worth?
The keyword is fixed and only your share of the clicks changes.
| Click-through rate | Clicks a month | Traffic value a month | Revenue a year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2% | 240 | $576.00 | $12,960.00 |
| 5% | 600 | $1,440.00 | $32,400.00 |
| 8% | 960 | $2,304.00 | $51,840.00 |
| 15% | 1,800 | $4,320.00 | $97,200.00 |
| 30% | 3,600 | $8,640.00 | $194,400.00 |
Questions
Why does this not ask for my ranking position?
Because a position does not give a click-through rate on its own. The curve changes with the query, the device, and how much of the page sits above the first organic result. Search Console reports your real rate per query, which is a better input than any published curve.
Is traffic value the money I am making?
No. It is what the clicks would cost to buy. Use the revenue line for what the ranking earns, and expect the two to differ, sometimes by a lot in either direction.
Why is the cost per click so different between tools?
Because they estimate it from different auction samples and different countries. It is a price, and prices move, which is why it is a field here rather than a number built into the page.
Should I use the site conversion rate?
Use the rate for the page that actually receives the traffic. Informational queries convert far below the site average, and using the average will overstate the value of exactly the keywords that are easiest to rank for.
What about brand searches?
Traffic value overstates them badly. People searching your brand name would mostly find you anyway, so the clicks are cheap to buy and the counterfactual is weak. The arithmetic still works; the interpretation does not.
For the on-page side there is keyword density and title tag length, which is where click-through rate is won. On the paid side, cost per click and return on ad spend use the same inputs.