What is Value?
Value represents what you'd have to pay in Google Ads to get the same traffic you're getting organically for free. It's a simple but powerful way to understand the dollar impact of your search rankings.
The formula
We multiply your actual organic clicks by the keyword's CPC (what advertisers pay per click for the same keyword). The result is the equivalent ad spend you're saving by ranking organically.
A worked example
| Keyword | Clicks | CPC | Value |
|---|---|---|---|
| "project management software" | 50 | $12.00 | $600.00 |
| "how to manage projects" | 200 | $0.80 | $160.00 |
| "gantt chart template free" | 120 | $3.50 | $420.00 |
The first keyword drives the fewest clicks but has the highest value because each click is worth $12 in paid search. That's actionable insight: protecting and improving your ranking for that keyword has real dollar impact.
Why value matters
Not all traffic is equal. Value helps you see which keywords deliver the most business impact, not just the most visits. Use it to:
- Prioritize optimization efforts: Focus on high-value keywords first. A position improvement on a $600/month keyword matters more than on a $5/month keyword
- Justify SEO investment: When someone asks "what's SEO worth?", your total Value column is a concrete answer
- Spot at-risk value: If a high-value keyword drops in position, you know exactly how much revenue is at risk
When value shows $0
- No clicks: Even with a CPC, if a keyword gets zero clicks, the value is $0. This could mean you rank too low to attract clicks, or the keyword has low CTR
- No CPC data: If Keywords Everywhere doesn't have CPC data for a keyword, CPC is $0 and value will be $0 regardless of clicks. This is common for very niche or non-commercial queries
Total value
The sum of all your keyword values gives you a total traffic value, essentially what your entire organic search presence would cost to replicate with Google Ads. This number can be surprisingly large and is a great way to demonstrate the ROI of organic search.