It’s February, which means the NFL’s annual Superbowl is just around the corner. Each year, millions of people tune in to watch the game itself, as well as all of the creative advertising that is guaranteed to be on display. Extravagant campaigns from the likes of AT&T or Geico will take the spotlight, while many ads for new businesses will make their debut at the game as well.

As entertaining as the Superbowl ads may be, just know they are also very costly. In fact, the average Superbowl ad spot can run a company for $6.5 million dollars. For many businesses, this is nearly impossible to ascertain. However, for big corporations with endless marketing budgets, the Superbowl is their chance to make a statement.

With every ad that runs during the Superbowl, we have to wonder where $6.5 could have been better spent. Specifically, we wonder why major corporations invest so little in SEO while spending so much money on paid advertising campaigns. Unlike certain ad channels, SEO can yield unbelievable returns over time.

Your small business may not be in the range of running a Superbowl spot, but it could absolutely be making money from SEO efforts.

First, What is SEO?

SEO is the acronym for Search Engine Optimization. The goal of SEO is to ensure that your website or blog shows up on search engine results pages (SERPs) when appropriate search terms are entered into online forms. A strong SEO campaign benefits both users and website owners by providing relevant content that increases user experience, while also promoting the website itself in a way that attracts traffic, which can then be monetized through ad channels like AdSense.

What Does It Take to Run a Successful SEO Campaign?

To start with, you need a website or blog. Once you have a site created, there are three main goals to consider:

1) Making sure the proper keywords are being used throughout your site Without using the correct key phrases, your content will likely never make it to the SERPs. If you want your site to show up when people search for specific words or phrases, those words need to be present throughout the website as well as on every page of the site’s blog section.

2) Ensuring that your website’s content is unique and not stolen Content theft is a major problem with many sites, especially those that refuse to pay for ad space or try their hand at SEO without knowing how it works. While there are ways around duplicate content issues, hiring a quality content writer is worth the investment if you want original articles with solid information rather than copied work from other websites.

3) Increasing social media influence Once your site starts ranking on SERPs, users will begin clicking your content and visiting your website. The more traffic you have, the more money you can potentially make from ad placements. The best way to increase social media followers is by providing quality material that people will want to share with their friends.

How Much Does a Successful SEO Campaign Cost?

Finally, we arrive at a very important question: how much should an effective SEO campaign cost?

For those looking for insight on pricing, it all depends on what industry you’re in, as well as where you rank among competitors online. In order to figure out the average price of a successful SEO campaign, one market research study conducted by Quora surveyed nearly 2,000 small-to-medium sized businesses about their current marketing budgets and results thus far.

Survey results showed an average of $4,657 was spent on SEO marketing for the following 12 months. Yearly results varied from industry to industry, but metrics were fairly similar across all businesses. For example, while some reported having no ROI due to their efforts over the past year, many others reported positive results with improved traffic and leads.

While this price tag doesn’t take into account the cost of labor or other associated fees, it does offer insight into what marketing budgets are allocated toward SEO services each year. Depending on how much you’re willing to pay for professional help running your campaign, costs will vary greatly. Keep in mind that low-cost options do exist when it comes to hiring out your marketing needs.

SEO vs. The Superbowl

From this data we can see that the average cost of an SEO campaign is far less than the average cost of a standard ad run during the Superbowl. While you may never reach the same audience as the Superbowl through an SEO campaign, anything is possible.