Study: Organic Search Drives 51% Of Traffic, Social Only 5%

After analyzing “billions of pieces” of content, content marketing firm BrightEdge claims organic search is the primary driver of website traffic to business sites, while social barely generates a blip on the traffic radar.

The BrightEdge study found organic search drives 51 percent of all visitors to B2B and B2C websites, trumping all other non-organic search channels, including paid search (10%) and social (5%).

Traffic Sources:

BrightEdge went beyond breaking down traffic sources to examine how traffic is distributed by industry.

According to the study, organic search traffic accounted for 73 percent of all traffic to business services site, more than a 20 percent jump from the 51 percent when evaluating organic search across all sites.

The business services sector also received the least amount of traffic from display, email and referred compared to the other industries, gaining less than 20 percent of its traffic from the three sources combined.

Web Traffic Sources by Industry:

When comparing the ratio of traffic to revenue, things equal out a bit more, with display, email and referred sources capturing a larger share of revenue than organic for the media and entertainment industry.

Revenue Per Traffic Source by Industry:

Opinions expressed in this article are those of the guest author and not necessarily Search Engine Land. Staff authors are listed here.

About The Author

Amy Gesenhues

Amy Gesenhues was a senior editor for Third Door Media, covering the latest news and updates for Search Engine Land, Marketing Land and MarTech Today. From 2009 to 2012, she was an award-winning syndicated columnist for a number of daily newspapers from New York to Texas. With more than ten years of marketing management experience, she has contributed to a variety of traditional and online publications, including MarketingProfs, SoftwareCEO, and Sales and Marketing Management Magazine. Read more of Amy's articles.