SEO or SEM? When considering a search engine campaign to accomplish a business objective, it is common to wonder should we embark on an SEO or SEM campaign – or a combination of both? Naturally, consideration comes up about the advantages and disadvantages of being listed in the Organic Results (SEO) or the Sponsor Search Results (SEM). Karl Hauser, Right Place Media’s Director of Interactive, likes to reference SEM as a faucet, “You can crank it up when it’s working and turn it off when it’s not.” He also likes SEM for seasonal products and services. He acknowledges that SEO takes a completely different approach and can take some time to see desired results (for some). SEO also offers a number of different factors than simply optimizing your site for keyword density.
A new study by Engine Ready helps enlighten businesses that are contemplating that same question. Assuming that maximizing sales is their primary business objective, the results are rather intriguing.
The study concluded June 30 of this year and is based on traffic to 26 e-retail sites during a 12-month period. The study identified and used four primary traffic source categories:
- Organic Results
- Sponsored or Paid Results
- Direct or Bookmarks
- Other Referrer (possibly social media)
Some of the top findings from the Study:
- Visitors who arrive from Paid Search Ads are 50% more likely to purchase than those clicking on Organic Results.
- Conversion Rate was 2.03% for Paid Search versus 1.26% for Organic Search.
- Direct access produced the most visitors at 40% other referring sites and email were at 28% while paid search had 20% and organic search 12%.
- Paid Search visitors spent the most. Average order amount for a paid search visitor was $117.06 versus $109.27 for those coming from other sites, $106.64 per order on average from Organic visitors and $95.29 for direct visitors.
What can we take from this study? Paid Search performed well. Paid Search (SEM) ranking best for average order value and conversion rate is a big deal. Reasoning? SEM’s strong call to action in the description section could play a factor. So could the ability to enhance and optimize individual ads for individual products. As we mentioned last week, it is important to optimize your meta descriptions for SEO and a strong call to action should be a part of that.
What’s your take on the study?