SEO pays for itself when the extra jobs it brings in each month earn more than the retainer costs. Enter your average job value, your profit margin, how many enquiries you close and the monthly SEO price, and this shows how many extra leads you need to break even, compared with Local Services Ads.
Use your real numbers. Drag the sliders or type a value. If you don't know your close rate, leave it at 30%.
Job value times your margin. A $800 job at 40% margin leaves $320 to pay for marketing.
Monthly SEO cost divided by profit per job. At $1,000 a month you need a little over three extra jobs.
Jobs needed divided by your close rate. If you close 30% of enquiries, three jobs means about ten extra calls or forms a month.
Cost per lead uses a February 2026 benchmark of 888 contractors: about $39 for electrical, $51 for HVAC, $57 for plumbing and $53 blended. Ads stop when you stop paying. SEO keeps working, but takes four to six months to move.
The full reasoning, including when SEO is the wrong buy, is in is SEO worth it for a small business. If the numbers point to Maps first, see local SEO for service businesses.
Work out how many extra jobs a month the retainer needs to pay for itself. If it's one or two, the bet is reasonable. If it's fifteen, it isn't, and Local Services Ads or your Google Business Profile will do more for the money.
Local SEO usually shows movement in four to six months. Budget for paying without visible results for the first few months, which is when most small businesses quit.
Count last month's calls and form enquiries, then the jobs you booked from them. If you have no idea, 30% is a reasonable starting point for home service trades.
They're faster and easier to measure, and they stop the day you stop paying. SEO is slower and cheaper per lead over time. Most trades do best running ads first, then adding SEO once cash flow is steady.
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