So, how do you actually put a number on SEO?
Traffic going up feels good. You see the graph climb, and you know something is working. But that’s usually where the conversation gets stuck. Because the next question is always the harder one. What is that traffic actually worth?
We started thinking about this while working on our benchmark report for SaaS SEO, where we analyzed 50 SaaS companies. There were clear patterns in how the strongest brands were growing, especially in how they looked at paid acquisition.
That stuck a chord. So we decided to look closer.
This time again, we focused on seven B2B SaaS companies we keep coming back to. Box, Databricks, Figma, HubSpot, Stripe, Twilio, and Zoom.
But instead of just tracking visits, we looked at traffic value. Using data from Ahrefs, we estimated what it would cost to buy the same traffic through Google Ads, based on real CPCs.
Well…that’s what this report is about.
Organic search brings in a combined (7 brands) $20.9M in monthly traffic value. To generate that same traffic through paid channels, the estimated spend would be around $816K per month.
That sets the baseline. The thing that stood out to us was how differently each company is getting there.
Data source: Ahrefs, March 2026. These are directional estimates based on CPC data and should be treated as indicative.
What becomes clear from these results is that organic is not just a growth channel anymore. In most cases, it is actively reducing how much these companies need to spend on paid acquisition. The variation in how each team approaches this is where the real insights come in.
Ranked by estimated monthly cost to replicate organic traffic through paid ads (Ahrefs traffic value metric).
Traffic value gives us a clearer way to compare these brands. Instead of looking at traffic in isolation, we’re looking at what that traffic would actually cost if it had to be bought.
Top performers by traffic value:
The rest of the pack:
1. HubSpot is a clear example of the difference.
2. Zoom tells the opposite story.
3. High-intent compounds quickly, and Databricks stands out here.
And we've been seeing this pattern throughout. Traffic value is about what that traffic is worth. You should not mistake it for just how much traffic you have.
Value per visit tells you what each click is actually worth. It is a quick way to understand whether organic traffic is coming from buyers or just users.
The gap is actually in the intent, and that’s pretty clear from what we see here.
Twilio and Databricks follow a similar pattern. Queries like “SMS API” or “data lakehouse” come from users who already know what they are looking for. Their traffic is smaller in volume but comes from technical and enterprise queries where intent is clear and competition is expensive.
Again, the gap in value per visit is not about who’s doing better or worse SEO. The focus is on intent. Some brands capture demand at the decision stage. Others capture it earlier and convert it differently.
Calculating SEO ROI here is simple. For every $1 spent on paid search, look at how much value organic generates alongside it.
SEO ROI Multiple = Monthly Traffic Value / Monthly Paid Search Spend
It is not a full cost picture, but it is a clean way to compare how each brand balances paid and organic.
You’ll get a better idea when you look at the ROI across the seven:
Figma stands out, but this is not random. They spend just $2.7K per month on paid search and still generate $3.48M in traffic value.
As we saw earlier, a lot of its growth comes from the product itself. Community files, templates, and user-generated content keep bringing in traffic without needing paid support. That is what drives the 1,286x return.
Stripe, Twilio, and Databricks follow a more balanced version of this. Paid is there, but it does not carry growth. Organic does most of the work, especially in high-value, technical queries.
HubSpot. It spends the most on paid, but that is intentional. Organic still delivers 12x the value of that spend, which keeps the overall system efficient. Paid and organic are working together, not replacing each other.
Zoom sits at the lower end of ROI. As we saw before, this is tied to traffic mix. A large share of its traffic comes from navigational queries, which lowers the overall value per visit and brings down the multiple.
Most of these brands are not relying on performance marketing to drive growth. They are using organic methods to reduce the reliance on paid ads. The higher the ROI, the more organic is carrying the system.
While overall traffic tells you a certain part of the story, the real value sits at the page level. Across these brands, a small set of pages drive a disproportionate share of SEO value.
And they rank for high-intent keywords where users are ready to act.
It is important to understand that all high-value pages are not designed for acquisition.
Pages like login and sign-in are often ignored in SEO strategy. But the data shows something different.
Stripe’s login page alone generates $713K in traffic value.
Why? Because branded searches like “stripe login” still carry high CPC. Competitors bid on these terms. Owning that traffic protects your users and avoids leakage.
The same pattern shows up with Zoom.
These are not acquisition pages. But they still hold strong SEO value because of consistent search demand.
These pages sit closer to conversion.
Even small variations, like regional login URLs, can generate meaningful returns.
Utility and product-led pages drive consistent value. HubSpot’s email signature generator is a strong example for that. It attracts users with a simple need, then introduces them to the broader product.
Figma does the same with tools like wireframing. These pages target users who are already searching for a solution.
Now, let's look at each one individually and see how their SEO structure actually looks when you zoom in at the brand level.
Stripe shows what happens when a product becomes the default choice. A lot of its SEO strength comes from being everywhere developers already are.
Stripe leads in total traffic value, and it’s not coming from just one place. The homepage alone drives over $800K, but what’s interesting is how much value also comes from login and dashboard URLs. That’s pure brand demand showing up in search.
Product pages like payments add another strong layer of commercial intent. On top of that, Stripe’s developer docs keep pulling in high-intent users without needing heavy paid support.
HubSpot doesn’t try to win on volume. It wins on how much each visit is worth.
HubSpot plays a very different game. It has fewer visits, but each one is far more valuable. Nearly half its traffic value comes from just the homepage, with the CRM page adding another major chunk.
What stands out is how tightly everything connects. High-CPC keywords like CRM and marketing automation bring in buyers, while tools like the email signature generator pull in broader traffic and funnel it down.
And unlike others, HubSpot is actively spending big on paid alongside SEO.
Figma is doing the opposite of HubSpot. Massive traffic, low cost, and almost no paid spend.
Most of this comes from scale. The homepage alone brings in over 5M visits, but the real engine is the long tail. Pages like wireframe tools, design guides, and AI generators keep adding new entry points.
This isn’t just content. It’s product-led SEO. Templates, community files, and resources keep generating pages that rank on their own.
Twilio sits in a high-value category, and you can see it in the numbers. Even with lower traffic, the value per visit stays high.
Pages like SMS, pricing, and phone numbers capture users who are already evaluating solutions. At the same time, documentation brings in developers searching for specific implementations.
When we look at it, Zoom has the largest traffic volume but also the lowest value per visit.
Most of its top pages are login, join, and download. That means users already know the product and are just trying to access it. These queries bring scale, but not much commercial value.
There’s a clear gap here. Very little of this traffic comes from decision-stage searches like pricing or comparisons.
Databricks operates in a space where clicks are expensive, and it shows. Even with under a million visits, the traffic value stays high.
The homepage alone contributes a huge share. Alongside that, learning content like certifications and free editions helps bring in users who are already serious about the space.
Box has the lowest overall traffic value, but there’s a clear pattern you can’t help but notice. Some pages, like virtual data rooms, generate very high value from very little traffic. That’s enterprise SEO working exactly as it should.
The issue is scale. There aren’t enough of these high-value pages to move the total number.
Where a keyword ranks matters as much as the keyword itself. Traffic value doesn’t just come from how many keywords you rank for. It depends on where those keywords sit. The gap between position 1 and position 7 is often the difference between capturing demand and barely showing up for it.
The largest share of “almost there” keywords sits in positions 4-10. These are terms where the page is already relevant and ranking, but it is not capturing maximum clicks yet.
Shifting even a fraction of these into the top 3 can significantly change overall traffic value without needing entirely new content.
This distribution shows how rankings are split between top positions, mid-range visibility, and deeper long-tail coverage across brands.
All of these figures might look like a lot of numbers. But when you sit with it for a minute, you’ll find a pattern. The brands that win are building pages that quietly pull in the right kind of demand, over and over again.
Don’t just chase traffic.
Zoom gets all the clicks. HubSpot gets the buyers. That’s the difference. A smaller keyword with real intent will always do more for you than a big one that just brings people in and out.
Your homepage is doing more than you think.
Look at HubSpot or Databricks. Their homepage isn’t just sitting there waiting to convert. It’s pulling in a huge chunk of their total value. If you’re not treating it like a search page, you’re leaving a lot on the table.
Product pages aren’t just for conversion.
Stripe’s payments page and HubSpot’s CRM page bring in people who are already comparing options. These pages should explain, rank, and convert.
Docs aren’t boring.
For Twilio and Databricks, documentation is how they get in early. Someone searching for a technical problem today will often choose a tool tomorrow.
Free tools and guides quietly do their work.
Figma doesn’t rely on one big page. It has hundreds of small ones. Guides, templates, tools. Each one brings in a slice of traffic. Together, they add up.
Your easiest wins are already on your site.
Look at those position 4-10 keywords. Stripe and HubSpot have thousands of them. They’re already close. A small push there often beats starting from zero.
This only works if you stick with it.
Figma, Stripe… none of this happened quickly. It builds slowly, then all at once. That’s the nature of SEO.
And just as important, understand what you’re looking at.
All the numbers in this report come from Ahrefs. They’re solid benchmarks, but they’re still estimates, taken at a specific point in time (March 2026).
These numbers move. Traffic shifts. CPCs change. Rankings go up and down. So don’t treat this as the exact truth, take it as direction. Because the real takeaway is what the number is pointing you toward.
If you strip it down, it’s pretty simple. Build pages that answer real searches. Focus on intent. And just keep going!
