SEO Versus Paid Search Conversion

Posted December 1st, 2006 by John

Search engine optimization for organic listings is only a first step for retailers as conversions improve even more by including paid search services such as Pay per click (PPC). The advantage of sponsored listings is that you can control costs with bid management and they go live immediately. So how does Paid search stack up against organic listings?

I looked to Marketingsherpa.com for those answers, and they didn’t disappoint!

• Average of all campaigns: SEO had higher conversion rates; SEO (4.2%), Paid search (3.6%)
• Delayed e-commerce/service purchase campaigns: SEO had higher conversion rates; SEO (6.3%), Paid search (4.2%)
• E-commerce product/service purchase campaigns: SEO had higher conversion rates; SEO (4.1%), Paid search (3.8%)

In general, the search engine conversion rate is more than banner ads, affiliate marketing links, and other referring links because the search engine for the most part brings qualified traffic to your site, leading to greater conversion rates.

However, there is plenty of evidence supporting the use of both search engine optimization and paid search to drastically increase traffic and conversion rates. The reason behind it is simple. Users choose to click more frequently on an organic listing when they are also seen as a sponsored link due to trust and credibility. If a search engine returned widgets.ca in its organic results and lists it in its paid placement than “It must be relevant!�

Therefore I would suggest to marketers to use both SEO and Paid search to achieve the greatest conversion rates if you have the budget.