Traffic Cost is a qualitative research metric that estimates the monetary value of a site’s organic traffic if a business were to invest in paid advertising (PPC) rather than SEO efforts. It is calculated based on the total number of Estimated Visits generated by targeted keywords and their Cost Per Click (CPC) for the country selected at the search engine level. Essentially, it provides insight into how much you would need to spend on paid ads to achieve the same amount of traffic as organically.
Similarly, Local Traffic Cost focuses on the value of organic traffic but at a local level. It calculates the cost using the Local Estimated Visits and CPC for the specific region or custom location selected for the search engine. This metric is particularly useful for local businesses seeking to understand the value of their organic visibility in their target markets.
By assessing Traffic Cost and Local Traffic Cost, you can gain valuable insights into the economic impact of both organic and paid traffic. These two metrics help you evaluate the return on investment (ROI) of your SEO strategies, enabling better decision-making when it comes to allocating budgets between organic SEO efforts and paid advertising campaigns.
Additionally, these metrics can be used for analyzing the performance of not only your website but also your tracked competitors based on their traffic volume and its monetary value.
Where to access the metrics
Both metrics are available under the Visibility reports as follows:
Websites & Search Engines reports as permanent table metrics:
Keyword Groups report as optional table columns:
Export options
Both the Traffic Cost and Local Traffic Cost metrics are included in export data for export data for Drive, FTP, Big Query, and Looker Studio, allowing for comprehensive data analysis and reporting.