Hi there, and welcome to issue #11 of the Outranked SEO newsletter.
In this issue, I’m going to break down why total organic revenue potential is the most valuable metric you're probably not using and share a free dashboard that you can use to really quickly calculate this.
You’ll learn:
- What total organic revenue potential is and what it tells you
- Why it's such a useful metric to calculate and track
- How to calculate it using my free dashboard
Let’s get into it.
Understanding total organic revenue potential.
It's pretty standard for SEOs to track the revenue being driven from organic search (usually overall, rather than granularly at category level, mind you), but that only tells you what you're driving right now (and how that's changed over time).
But I'm gonna take a guess you're not tracking what share of your total organic revenue potential in your market is.
And that you've probably not even calculated it.
That changes now.
Total organic revenue potential is an estimate of how much revenue your business could generate from organic search if you took the top spot for all relevant commercially valuable keywords.
You can also calculate a variant of this, achievable total organic revenue potential,' which is based on all of these keywords ranking in top 3 positions, rather than all in position #1. The reason being, it's more realistic to achieve this than absolutely everything being in the top spot.
It’s not about where you are today.
At least, not by default, although you can, and should, track what share of this you're currently getting.
It’s about what’s possible and what your market's worth; the total addressable revenue opportunity from organic search, based on your numbers (AOV or CLTV and organic conversion rate) alongside monthly search volumes and organic CTRs.
It tells you things like...
- Our total organic revenue potential is £2.11m per month (£25.32m per year)
- Our achievable total organic revenue potential is £1.32m per month (£15.84m per year)
- Right now, our share of total organic revenue potential is 23%.
Think of this as your north star for SEO: a benchmark that helps you and your stakeholders understand just how much is on the table if you get organic growth right.
It's a far more accurate and realistic way to calculate what's on the table than using total monthly search volume.
Why total organic revenue potential is such a valuable number to know...
Most SEO strategies are built around traffic growth. But traffic isn’t usually the end goal; revenue is.
Total organic revenue potential shifts the conversation.
It reframes SEO not as a vague visibility play, but as a measurable commercial opportunity.
Instead of saying, "we want to grow organic traffic by 20%", you can say, "we’re aiming to increase our share of a £15m opportunity." That’s the type of statement that lands with decision-makers.
This number is also invaluable for:
- Prioritisation: Not all categories are created equal. Revenue potential helps you allocate time, budget, and effort to the areas that could deliver the greatest commercial return; not just those with the most search volume.
- Benchmarking performance: If you’re currently capturing 12% of your achievable total potential, you now have a clear north star. And you can track that share over time to see real progress beyond rankings and sessions.
- Setting goals: Knowing the ceiling makes it easier to set meaningful KPIs; both for a marketing team and for the business. It allows you to define what success could look like, grounded in the market’s real-world value.
- Getting buy-in: Numbers like “£1.32m in achievable monthly potential” speak the language of commercial stakeholders. It’s much easier to get investment in SEO when the upside is quantified.
When you treat SEO like a revenue channel, not just a traffic channel, you start making smarter, more strategic decisions.
How to calculate your total organic revenue potential & current share of this...
Today, I'm sharing the dashboard that I use to calculate this on my projects.
You can grab a copy of this on Google Sheets here.
You'll need the following as inputs:
➔ An exhaustive list of commercial keywords for your business or category, with monthly search volumes.
➔ Average Order Value (AOV) or Customer Lifetime Value (CLTV); whichever best reflects your business’s revenue model.
➔ Organic conversion rate; ideally based on your actual analytics data for organic traffic.
➔ Current keyword rankings for all of your selected commercial keywords.
These are all data points you should have easy access to.
You'll find a full walkthrough here.
Using this insight to unlock investment into SEO…
One of the hardest parts of SEO isn’t knowing what to do; it’s getting the budget, resources, or internal buy-in to do it.
That’s where this number becomes your strongest commercial weapon.
When you can walk into a room and say, “There’s £15.8m in achievable organic revenue up for grabs, and we’re currently capturing just 23% of it,” the conversation shifts. You’re no longer talking about rankings or traffic, you’re talking about money left on the table.
Here’s how to use it effectively:
1. Anchor your case for investment in numbers the business cares about
Revenue potential helps you speak the language of decision-makers.
Whether you're asking for more content budget, development resources, or investment into digital PR, numbers like this give context and weight. You're not just making a request; you're presenting a business case backed by upside.
2. Show the gap between potential and current performance
It’s not enough to show the size of the opportunity, you need to highlight the gap.
If your current share is 12% of the achievable potential, what would it take to get to 20%? What’s that worth in incremental revenue? That delta becomes your justification for change.
3. Frame SEO as a growth channel, not a cost centre
By presenting SEO as a lever to unlock X% of a defined revenue opportunity, you're repositioning it from a line item on a marketing budget to a core driver of business growth. That changes how stakeholders view investment in it.
4. Tie proposed activity to impact on share growth
If you're asking for budget to drive organic growth, and to put into key initiatives, show how those initiatives will help grow your share of organic revenue potential. Make it clear what that increased share would be worth, in real numbers.
5. Use it to justify long-term thinking
SEO isn't an overnight channel.
But when you show the total upside over 12+ months, you create space for longer-term investments.
You're saying: “If we do this right, we can unlock £X million in the next year, but we need to start now.”
The takeaway…
Most SEO strategies focus on traffic growth. But traffic shouldn't be the end goal, revenue should be.
Calculating total organic revenue potential helps you:
- Show how much revenue is really available
- Prioritise your strategy
- Set meaningful SEO KPIs
- Make a stronger case for investment
It’s the number that reframes SEO as a commercial growth channel, and it should be in every SEO’s toolkit.
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If you learned something from this issue or it’s made you think about SEO a little differently, please consider forwarding it to someone else on your team.
I’m on a mission to make sure more SEO investment actually has an impact on real business metrics.
Appreciate you making it to the end; same time next week?
- James Brockbank
P.S. If you ever need expert support with SEO or digital PR and want to drive results that actually matter, I’d love to chat. Let’s talk.
✍️ From the Loft...
Fresh from our side of the web; here’s a few things me and other Lofties put out into the world this week.
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📌 This week’s bookmarks:
If I could only send three links to a fellow marketer this week, it’d be these…
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👋 Hi, I'm James...
Managing Director & Founder at Digitaloft.
I've spent the last 10 years building an agency that's perfectly positioned to help ambitious brands to drive real business growth from SEO and digital PR.
You might have seen me speaking at events like BrightonSEO, SMX and the International Search Summit.
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