PPC no.1 vs Natural no.1

[max99]

Tweet

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]

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]

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

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]

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.

[mboxl1]

[QUOTE=Qui Gon Jinn;342679]

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

How very true.QUOTE]

That's not important whatsoever. The question is asking whether PPC or SEO is better to go down.

If you are in no.1 natural position, then being top of the paid listings will benefit CTR. What you then need to ask yourself is' "Is the cost for each click actually worth it?"

So what if the click is £5 minimum. If you convert 50% and each conversion made you £100, then it'd be a pretty stupid thing not to do it.

Some companies spend a fortune to come top of the natural links (through SEO services). Ultimately, there is still a cost per customer to consider.

Let's take a quick look at percentages. To be in the sponsored links and be in top left (above natural links) you need to have a CTR of around 6%+.

In top position of natural you will get a CTR of around 22% (of the natural links not the whole page).

If no-one is using paid links, then you will get 22% of the traffic - in theory. The more sonsored ads that appear - the more that percentage will be eaten into.

Personally, if I had to chose one or the other - there are so many questions I'd have to ask.

SEO will take time to rise up the SEs. Do I have that time?

If you run a succesful and profitable PPC campaign, keep ploughing it back - you are just expanding your marketing budget.

How much will it cost me (either physically in time or in money) to get to No1 naturally?

[Qui Gon Jinn]

[mods hat off] .. whatever you decide mate ... remind me not to help out next time .. I was waiting for this thead to hopefully expand & also put forward some suggestions, but I guess you can find out for yourself.

[jaytrojan]

Its annoying paying for clicks when the person was going to visit your site anyway grrrr

[Brett]

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

I was watching my father-in-law on my PC the other day and he always clicked on the PPC ad that appeared above the SERPS first.

I asked him if he knew they were paid for links and he was oblivious.