What Sells Best Online: SEO or PPC?
August 17th, 2009 by Bob Bly
According to a new study by Internet Retailer, visitors who arrive on a site from pay-per-click (PPC) advertising are 50% more likely to buy than traffic generated by search engine optimization (SEO).
The study found that the average conversion rate from paid search is 2.03% vs. only 1.25% from organic search.
Visitors sent to web sites via e-mail marketing convert even better, at 6.9% — a figure confirmed in my own business after tracking the results from literally millions of e-mail messages.
Why is this so? The study did not speculate, but I have my own theory: the more the prospect knows about what he will be offered on the web site or landing page before he gets there, the higher the conversion rate.
E-mail gives you the most information about what to expect, so the conversion rate is higher. PPC ads have significantly less copy, so the prospect is not as clear on what is being offered, and conversion rate is less.
SEO has the lowest conversion because of the limited description displayed in the Google search engine results page (SERP), and also because most marketers don’t take as much care writing their description meta tags as they do their PPC ads and e-mail copy.
Source: SIPA Alert, 8/17/09.
This entry was posted on Monday, August 17th, 2009 at 7:46 am and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
August 17th, 2009 at 8:41 am
What a nice blog you have..thanks for all this information
August 17th, 2009 at 8:46 am
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August 17th, 2009 at 9:47 am
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August 17th, 2009 at 10:35 am
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August 17th, 2009 at 10:39 am
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August 17th, 2009 at 10:52 am
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August 17th, 2009 at 11:13 am
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August 17th, 2009 at 11:36 am
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August 17th, 2009 at 12:36 pm
Well I do have to say this is a rather broad statement.
Any skilled SEO pays a great deal of attention to the description and title tag as these are very affective to induce a click in the SERPs. Also the reality is there is more space available for a message in a Organic result than there is for the average PPC ad.
Email well thats a different issue all together
“SEO has the lowest conversion because of the limited description displayed in the Google search engine results page (SERP), and also because most marketers don’t take as much care writing their description meta tags as they do their PPC ads and e-mail copy.”
August 17th, 2009 at 12:43 pm
Hello Bob,
I think there is room for some further considerations here: when we talk conversions it is essential to associate a conversion rate to a specific set o keywords.
The closer your keywords to the end of the purchase process, the higher the conversion rate.
There are niches online with very high organic conversions, if you look at hotel conversions figures drop dramatically … so at the end of the day I wouldn’t support this study too much, i.e. suggest that a Client invest in PPC (or paid advertising) instead of organic search.
August 17th, 2009 at 1:31 pm
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August 17th, 2009 at 1:41 pm
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August 17th, 2009 at 1:50 pm
Interesting study. I think it would be great to see a study like this go deeper. For instance, there’s obviously a HUGE difference between search PPC conversions and content PPC conversions.
None-the-less, I agree with Bob’s reasoning, but would add that I think people have come to expect more focused solutions to their problems with a PPC ad. They know a company has paid to get you to their site and are therefore probably more commited to solving your problem.
The major problem with PPC is the tremendous power Google has over you. At anytime they want, they can change a policy and drop your ad – no matter how well it’s performing and how relevant it is to your audience. For this reason, among many others, it would be a mistake to rely 100% on either SEO or PPC. You’ve got to keep “changing the channel” as Masterson would say.
August 17th, 2009 at 2:09 pm
Google has great power over all of us, the whole world, far beyond PPC. I hope they read Stan Lee and adhere to his motto, “With great power comes great responsibility.”
August 17th, 2009 at 4:55 pm
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August 17th, 2009 at 5:01 pm
Couldn’t agree with you more, Bob.
A Google slap can wipe out a huge chunk of income and good luck getting any feedback from Google on the whys and hows for it.
Personally, I think it’s becoming so, so important to have a blog or newsletter (preferably both) where you’ve got an audience that can stay in touch with you. Not rocket science, I know, but I waited way too long to get on board.
August 17th, 2009 at 5:35 pm
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August 18th, 2009 at 12:58 am
i think this is because the difference in landing page quality,
August 18th, 2009 at 4:29 am
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August 18th, 2009 at 4:29 am
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August 18th, 2009 at 7:13 am
In response to #18, the conversion rate differential was solely the source of the traffic (PPC vs. SEO), as they both went to the same web pages.
August 18th, 2009 at 1:34 pm
It seems to me that conversion rates are higher with PPC and email because those are advertising. The people clicking through know they are responding to advertising. They know that at the destination page someone is going to try to sell them something. People who respond to advertising are more likely to buy.
SEO has the lowest conversion rate because people who click through from organic Google results are more likely gathering information for a later purchase but less likely to be ready to buy right now.
My guess, anyway.
August 18th, 2009 at 4:00 pm
The reason ppc converts better is because it is more targeted. A well-constructed ppc campaign uses keywords specific to a product or service and lands the visitor ON the very best landing page for that product or service.
Very few sites manage to get good placement for all of their products, services and keywords in the organic listings. If you land potential buyers on pages that are less specific or that have many other options they will always convert at a lower percentage.
August 19th, 2009 at 9:12 am
Bob said above that in this specific instance PPC and SEO traffic landed on the *same page.*
August 19th, 2009 at 12:38 pm
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August 26th, 2009 at 2:46 am
“”"SEO has the lowest conversion because of the limited description displayed in the Google search engine results page (SERP), and also because most marketers don’t take as much care writing their description meta tags as they do their PPC ads and e-mail copy.”"”
I’m pretty happy with my description meta tags on my websites…but only because I do not understand how they could be improved.
Am I being another Bill B. to ask you to expand on this particular point in your article? lol
Lynne Gordon, 100 Percent Health
August 26th, 2009 at 1:30 pm
Ken: You are correct that in THIS case, the conversion from SEO vs. PPC was measured from the same pages. “Internet Strategist”is correct that, in GENERAL, PPC campaigns drive traffic to specific, matching landing pages, while organic traffic often goes to the home page, which converts less efficiently than a landing page.
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