Is SEO Worth It in the AI Era? (+ Costs and Benefits)

SEO can drive brand awareness, bring quality traffic to your site, and increase conversions — even as AI reshapes the search landscape. Read on to see why we think it’s still worth including in your digital marketing plan.

When it comes to digital marketing, big and small businesses alike tend to wonder: Is SEO worth it?

The marketing strategy is notoriously time-consuming up front with a sometimes-fuzzy return on investment (ROI).

Add in Google’s AI Overview, evolving search algorithms, and changing user behavior, and it’s easy to see why some businesses are questioning SEO’s value.

We tapped HawkSEM Senior SEO Manager Hayden Pochop to help us figure out the answer.

Is SEO worth the investment?

Yes, SEO is valuable for business growth.

Search engine optimization (SEO) can create value through increased revenue and sales — but also through brand awareness, email subscribers, lead generation, customer education, and enhancing other marketing campaigns like Google Ads and social media marketing.

Key benefits of SEO

SEO helps business owners in several ways beyond direct revenue generation:

Online presence and brand recognition: When your website ranks on the first page of the Google search results, it increases your visibility to potential customers actively searching for your products — and your conversion rate.

Improved traffic: Through keyword-optimized content, you can drive qualified traffic to your website.

Full-funnel nurturing: SEO allows you to appeal to potential customers at every stage of the buying process.

Trust and credibility: Increasing credibility as higher search rankings are often associated with higher trust from users

Long-term results: Results build over time (unlike PPC ads that stop the moment you cease funding)

Cost effectiveness: Unlike paid advertising, organic traffic doesn’t require paying for every click. While SEO requires upfront investment, successful content can continue generating traffic and leads long after publication.

Improved user experience and other marketing channels: Improves user experience by optimizing site navigation, load speed, and other on-page elements, which are SEO ranking factors

Competitive advantage: Ranking above competitors helps capture market share, establish authority, and earn trust before searchers ever reach a competitor’s website.

Will AI replace the need for SEO?

While AI Overviews have reduced clicks for some informational searches, they haven’t eliminated the need for SEO.

Businesses still benefit from appearing in AI-generated answers, ranking for commercial-intent searches, and building authority through high-quality content.

“SEO’s value proposition is evolving, not diminishing,” says Pochop. “While Google’s AI Overview answers some queries directly on SERPs, it also creates new opportunities.”

He adds that businesses now need to optimize for featured snippets, AI-generated search experiences, topical authority, and comprehensive content coverage.

This shift actually makes SEO more important for those who can adapt their strategies to capture attention in this new environment.

When SEO is worth it

SEO is often worth the investment — even with smaller budgets — to improve user experience and online visibility.

SEO is worth it when:

• You’re ready for long-term growth: SEO compounds over time. So a piece of content that ranks highly can bring website traffic for years with minimal ongoing work (after the initial time investment).
• You’re a local business: Local SEO is effective at connecting geographically-based businesses with local customers.
• You have existing content. Blogs, guides, tools, and documentation give SEO something to work with. If you’re building content anyway, optimizing it for the search engine results page (SERP) costs little extra.
• You have a high lifetime value (LTV): A high LTV suggests that each customer acquired through SEO contributes significantly to revenue, justifying more substantial investments in SEO campaigns.
• Your competitors are ranking: If competitors are ranking, that’s proof the channel works — you just need to outrank them.

When SEO is not worth it

While SEO is a worthy investment for most established businesses, there are some cases where SEO may not be the right move.

This includes when:

You need results fast. While SEO results can be long-lasting, they are slow to start — from months to even years.

Your target audience isn’t online. This is a rare one. But for a small percentage of businesses, their target audience may be mostly offline. In these uncommon instances, SEO would have few returns.

How to calculate the value of SEO for your business

After launching an SEO campaign, you can determine the value of your SEO investments by using a simple formula:

(Conversion Value – Investment Cost) / Investment Cost x 100% = SEO ROI

For example, imagine you invest $2,000 per month in SEO and generate $30,000 in revenue from customers acquired through organic search.

Using the SEO ROI formula:

(Conversion Value – Investment Cost) / Investment Cost × 100

($30,000 – $2,000) / $2,000 × 100 = 1,400% SEO ROI

In this example, every $1 invested in SEO generates $14 in return, making SEO a highly profitable marketing channel.

How long does SEO take to work?

While it can take two or three months for initial results, more substantial results can take a year or more.

The exact amount of time hinges on several key factors, including:

• Industry competition: Businesses competing in crowded industries often face a longer path to top rankings than those targeting niche audiences.
• Target keywords: Ranking for highly sought-after search terms generally requires more effort and time than less competitive keywords.
• Available resources: Businesses that can invest more in content creation, technical optimization, and link building often see faster progress.
• Your goals: Objectives like improving organic traffic can be achieved sooner than goals tied to metrics like revenue or lead generation.
• Ongoing efforts: SEO builds momentum over time. Consistent SEO work like publishing, optimization, and promotion typically produces stronger results than occasional updates.
• Current site health: Technical issues like indexing problems, slow-loading pages, or crawl errors can limit performance until they’re resolved.
• Site authority: Websites with a strong reputation and a history of earning quality backlinks often have an easier time improving rankings.
• Content quality: Useful, original content that satisfies search intent tends to outperform thin or generic web pages.
• Website age and history: Established domains often have an advantage because search engines have had more time to evaluate their trustworthiness.
• Search engine changes: Updates to Google’s ranking systems can influence how quickly SEO gains materialize, either positively or negatively.
• User experience signals: Factors such as page speed, mobile usability, and overall site experience can affect both rankings and engagement.

Further reading: How Long Does SEO Take to Work? Timeline + Tips for Fast Results

How much does SEO cost?

SEO pricing is typically:

• $3,000 to $10,000 per month for fixed rates
• $500 to $1,000 per month for local SEO
• $5,000 to $30,000 for one-time projects

The exact cost of SEO will depend on factors like the scope of work and whether you choose to work with an SEO agency, an in-house team, or freelancers.

While SEO can require a significant upfront investment, the long-term value often comes from traffic and leads that continue long after the initial work is completed.

The takeaway

Bottom line? SEO is changing — but it’s still an essential and cost-effective digital marketing strategy.

“SEO is clearly not what it once was, and our team’s approach to it has changed over the years,” says Pochop.

“Modern SEO strategies prioritize understanding the user’s intent behind search queries. The integration of AI and machine learning has transformed SEO.”

He adds that, with the rise of generative AI, this transformation has only accelerated. Businesses now need to create content that is not only keyword-optimized but also contextually relevant and user-focused.

From keyword research and content marketing to technical SEO and web design, partnering with a good SEO company or marketing agency can help make the most of your SEO efforts.

If you’re ready to reach the top of the search engine rankings and increase AI citations, reach out to the SEO experts at HawkSEM today.

This article has been updated and was originally published in August 2024.