PPC no.1 vs Natural no.1

[max99]

Just wandered if anyone knows the % difference in the number of visitors someone gets between ppc no.1 position and no1 in natural position ?

Also between no.1 , 2 and 3 in natural positions and the % of visitors


Cheers
Max

[drivetowin]

Guess it depends on the wording of your entry in the Natural Results and the wording of your ad but I seem to remember a white paper from Google some time ago saying the ratio was about 60% natural search 40% ppc.

What is certain is that you have no1 position in natural search and no1 position in ppc you will get substantially more traffic than just being no1 in either search or ppc alone - even if there are no ppc ads currently showing for your term you will still get more traffic for being there as well as at the top of the natural results as research has shown some people always look at the right hand side of the screen.

[Darren M]

I've managed to get to no.1 in the natural results for a few terms that I used to bid on with Adwords and it seems to me that the traffic split can be different for each search term or keyword.

For some terms I'm certain the PPC ads are getting most of the traffic, but I know the Adwords ROI on those keywords is not good. For other terms I've found that people are inclined to ignore the ads and click on the natural results first.

I used to use Adwords to gauge search volumes and the pick out terms that were worth doing some SEO on, but I don't think this gives you a completely accurate picture. I've found a lot of surprising differences between PPC and natural traffic volumes and even their sales conversion ratios.

[Stellar]

Strangely, I have a site that is at number 1 on the natural, but has a £5 minimum bid on PPC. So it is not good enough to be able to bid on, buts its good enough to be number 1 naturally. weirdos.

[moredial]

Originally Posted by Stellar Strangely, I have a site that is at number 1 on the natural, but has a £5 minimum bid on PPC. So it is not good enough to be able to bid on, buts its good enough to be number 1 naturally. weirdos.

The #1 position may be due to the weighting of the inbound link factors rather than the on-page factors which are taken into account with the PPC. Or, the 'call to action' on the page has them clicking away from your site too soon and therefore decreasing your site's factors.

[max99]

Originally Posted by Stellar Strangely, I have a site that is at number 1 on the natural, but has a £5 minimum bid on PPC. So it is not good enough to be able to bid on, buts its good enough to be number 1 naturally. weirdos.

exactly same here, its bizare

Originally Posted by moredial The #1 position may be due to the weighting of the inbound link factors rather than the on-page factors which are taken into account with the PPC. Or, the 'call to action' on the page has them clicking away from your site too soon and therefore decreasing your site's factors.

my site hasnt got many inbound links tho, so its bit odd really

[moredial]

Originally Posted by max99 exactly same here, its bizare my site hasnt got many inbound links tho, so its bit odd really

You only need one or two quality links - they can be the equivalent of thousands of poor quality links. I aim for 3 or 4 quality links, then stop playing the 'lets spam google with links' game.

[beejeebers]

Most surfers dont' even know the difference between paid and organic search results.

[Stellar]

You only need one or two quality links - they can be the equivalent of thousands of poor quality links. I aim for 3 or 4 quality links, then stop playing the 'lets spam google with links' game.

Thats a good point.

[PriceInspector]

its more like 80% natural 20% PPC according to a new report from econsultancy.

[Qui Gon Jinn]

Most surfers dont' even know the difference between paid and organic search results.

How very true.

the traffic split can be different for each search term or keyword.

Also agree with this, for the keywords that we rank on average number one ... or thereabouts ... in paid search, we generally find our CTR is over 50% ... as for number 1 in organic search, I can only dream ... but I guess we "all rank well for something"

It may also depend how many ads there are, the more there are, the less % that click on organic search results. So maybe aim to cover both bases. Some believe that advertising on Google can affect your organic listings.

Where many merchants make errors, in that they think they have a divine right to appear high (or number one) in search engines for every variation & mis-spelling or hybrid spelling of their name & that they get a 100% click through rate, when it's nowhere near that.