I built 5 free tools to rank on Google. 6 weeks later, here's the honest numbers.

I sell a $39 product to indie hackers. 3 sales so far, all from Reddit and Indie Hackers. Zero from organic search.

So I decided to try the free tools SEO strategy. Build small calculators targeting low difficulty keywords, make them better than whatever's ranking, and hope Google notices.

I built 5 tools over about 6 weeks: churn rate calculator, CAC calculator, LTV calculator, revenue growth calculator, and a client qualification scorer. Each one targets a keyword with difficulty under 8 and decent monthly volume (320 to 5,400 searches).

The approach was simple. Most competing calculators are basic, two inputs, one output, done. I made mine more comprehensive. The CAC calculator does blended + per-channel CAC, LTV:CAC ratio, payback period, and benchmarks by industry. The LTV calculator has expansion revenue, NPV adjustment, and churn scenario modeling. The idea is that if someone's comparing tools, mine should be the one they actually bookmark.

Here's where I'm at in GSC:

- 1,260 impressions
- 6 clicks
- 0.5% CTR
- Average position: 20.9
- Domain Rating: 19

So yeah. Page 2-3 for most queries. Not exactly a traffic machine yet.

But the queries showing up are exactly right: "churn rate calculator", "customer acquisition cost calculator", "saas revenue calculator", "ltv calculator". The keywords I targeted are the ones appearing. Average position is slowly improving.

What I'd do differently: I probably should have started submitting to more directories earlier to build DR faster. I'm at 19 now, which limits how quickly I can crack page 1 for anything with competition. I'm also planning 4 more tools (break-even, burn rate, ROI, profit margin) because more indexed pages with internal cross-links should help the whole domain.

The honest take: free tools SEO is a slow game when you're starting from zero authority. My community posts and cold DMs produced all 3 sales. SEO has produced zero revenue so far. But I'm betting that in 3-6 months, organic traffic will compound in a way that outreach can't.

Anyone else running the free tools strategy? How long did it take before you started seeing real traffic from it?