Organic Vs. Paid Search Statistics: The Statistical Showdown

Your website needs to rank on search engines. Otherwise, your business will fall behind in a competitive, demanding, and vast market. Ranking on a search engine will lead to several competitive advantages such as improved website visibility, increased traffic, higher sales, and so on.

Marketers flock to various search engine optimization strategies, such as organic and paid search. These two are often pitted against each other due to their differences and varying results. 

One of the main metrics for measuring success in the search industry is through web traffic. Organic search leads by generating over 50% of all web traffic. Meanwhile, paid search only produces 15% of all web traffic.

SEO, which is generally organic search, also leads in terms of return on investment (ROI). Marketers report nearly 300% ROI from organic search. In comparison, paid search only exhibits an average of 200% ROI.

As a result of reports about organic search’s success, 3 out of 4 marketers see SEO as an effective strategy for various marketing aims, while only 1 out of 5 marketers agree that paid search is the most profitable marketing strategy.

For some marketers, instead of setting the methods against each other, they maximize the opportunity and combine the two. This full-on search tactic successfully gave rise to 75% of B2B traffic. Moreover, using both organic and paid search can result in 25% more clicks and 27% more profits.

The in-depth organic vs. paid search statistics in this article will thoroughly explore the differences and similarities between the contrasting web marketing strategies.

Organic vs. Paid Search Statistics Key Findings

1. Organic search generates over 53% of all web traffic, while only 15% comes from paid search.
2. The average return on investment (ROI) of a successful SEO effort is 275%, while a pay-per-click strategy generates an average of 200% ROI.
3. According to 75% of marketers, SEO is an effective strategy for various marketing objectives. Meanwhile, only 19% of marketers agree that paid search is the most profitable marketing tactic.
4. Marketers often combine organic and paid search. As a result, 75% of B2B traffic comes from paid SEO, attesting that organic and paid search can work together.
5. Marketers who use both organic and paid search experience 25% more clicks and 27% more profits than just using one or the other.

Organic vs. Paid Search: What’s Their Difference?

The main difference between organic and paid search is the cost. Both organic and paid searches have monetary costs and require time and effort. However, organic search is more cost-effective than paid search as the latter incurs additional fees for advertisement placements.

Essentially, marketers are paying for advertisement placements on a search to rank as soon as possible. Thus, paid search has the upper hand over organic search regarding speed. 

A paid search can sit at the top spots of the search engine results page (SERP) in minutes. Meanwhile, ranking organically may take a few weeks to several months.

Paid searches are predominantly at the top of SERPs. Some appear at the bottom as well. Sandwiched between these ads are organically ranked content, which are less inviting for consumers. 

On the other hand, organic search efforts take some time to achieve rankings. But when the results are finally showing up, they are highly sustainable resulting in a constant drive of organic traffic to a high-ranking website.

Noting these differences in each search’s strengths and weaknesses, the results lead to organic search comprising 53% of all web traffic. Meanwhile, paid search takes up 15% of all web traffic.

The following sections will further highlight the differences between organic and paid search through various statistics and insights. It will also examine usage, similarities, and overlaps between the search strategies.

Organic vs. Paid Search: Which One is Better Based on the Statistics?

Numerous statistics lie ahead for insightful discussion to determine which is the better marketing strategy for search.

Return on Investment: Organic Search Reaps Higher ROI Than Paid Search

Marketers primarily measure the profitability of their search investment through the ROI ratio. As reported, a successful SEO strategy reaps a 275% ROI. That means that for every $1 spent on SEO, marketers receive $2.75 in net profit.

A pay-per-click strategy follows closely at an average of 200% ROI. Applying the same context as before, a $1 spend for pay-per-click will generate a $2 net profit.

Click-Through Rate (CTR): Paid Search Generate Higher CTR Than Organic Search

Paid search content essentially appears at the first few spots on the search engine results page like Google. As a result, Google paid search ads have an average CTR of 4.34% across various industries. 

The Travel and Leisure industry produces the highest CTR of 8.24% on their Google paid search ads ventures, reflecting the profitable nature of the sector. Meanwhile, the Ecommerce and Marketplace sectors have a 1.36% CTR for Google paid search ads, the lowest among the measured industries.

Organic search exhibited less than half of the paid search’s average CTR at only 1.82%. This time, the Automotive industry leads with a 3.50% average CTR, while the Information Technology and Services and Saas sectors both demonstrated a 1.32% CTR.

Note that, however, these CTR values are not general. CTR differences between paid and organic search could be influenced by the content’s position. For instance, the #1 Google organic search result can gain up to 31.7% CTR.

Cost-Per-Click (CPC): Organic Search is More Cost Effective Than Paid Search at $0 CPC

Cost-per-click or pay-per-click (PPC) is the amount a marketer pays every time someone clicks on their advertisement. Thus, it only applies to paid searches.

In 2023, marketers reported an average CPC of $4.22 for a paid search ad. That is $4.22 more than what marketers need for organic search!

That’s because any traffic produced from organic SEO incurs no additional CPC. Thus, proving how more cost-effective organic search is than paid search.

Conversion Rate: Organic Search Has a More Successful Conversion Rate Over Paid Search

The top pages in the search engine results page directly influence consumers’ decisions. These customers often click on organic results, which end up getting more conversions. That means the blog successfully fulfilled its call-to-action, which may promote buying a product or availing the service. 

According to the latest research, organic search has a conversion rate of 14.6%. Meanwhile, PPC only exhibits a 10% conversion rate. The higher the conversion rate, the more successful the marketing effort. Hence, organic search does better than paid search in terms of converting clicks into sales.

Number of Clicks and Ranking: First Organic and Ad Positions Give Rise To Nearly 50% More Clicks

The main metric for search optimization is ranking, specifically appearing at the first position of the search engine results page. Whether a page ranks organically or through a paid placement, the results drive 49% of all clicks on the top-positioned page.

Disadvantages of Organic Vs. Paid Search Told Through Statistics

Just like any other marketing method, organic and paid searches have certain drawbacks.

The most controversial disadvantage of paid campaigns is how 67.5% of users can’t differentiate organic search results from paid ads. Customers will essentially click on the search result that best serves their intent, regardless if it’s organic or paid.

More importantly, 37% of global Internet users use ad blockers, which remove paid advertisements on their advantageous placements. At that point, only organically occurring content will show up in the SERP.

On the other hand, 80% of consumers who don’t use ad blockers attempt to skip paid search results and personally favor organic ones.

These statistics on paid search disadvantages may seem to tip the favor of organic search, but even the latter has its catch. 

As mentioned earlier, organic search takes a while to gain momentum. Marketers report an average turnover of almost three months. The actual time period depends on several SEO factors.

SEO marketers consider these factors from the very start, which highlights another drawback of organic search: it’s time-consuming.

In comparison, paid search ads have established rules and processes, allowing a more lenient procedure and its results are almost instant. While paid search content is already reaping its benefits, organic content is still growing to its potential.

Overall Effectiveness and Impact: Success in Organic and Paid Search Efforts Is Closely Related

Both organic and paid search have their fair share of strengths and weaknesses in various aspects. 

In some cases, marketers prefer to avail of paid search placements and advertisements to move forward with their marketing endeavors. According to 74% of brands, PPC ads significantly drive their business.

Meanwhile, other marketers swear that organic search can boost their organization’s value of a blog by 429%. Then, at least 50% of marketers consider SEO to be “very effective” to achieve marketing goals.

Organic vs. Paid Search: What Are Their Similarities?

Organic and paid search similarities do not stop at their goal of holding the first SERP position. The two opposing strategies have slightly more in common than most people know.

Both strategies rely on keywords. Paid search still follows the search engine’s keyword manual and will only appear necessarily with content that ranks organically. Generally, the two work the same, but paid search is a fast-tracked version of organic search. Meanwhile, organic traffic translates to higher business credibility and quality leads. 

Despite their few similarities, organic and paid search could be combined to work together and maximize their benefits.

How Can Paid vs. Organic Search Work Together?

Rather than seeing organic and paid search as competing strategies, some marketers figured out that the two can work together effectively, and in many ways.

Using Paid Search To Help Test Organic Keywords

Before investing in the long process of acquiring organic traffic, some marketers use paid search to test if certain keywords will yield their desired objectives. In this strategy, marketers develop some content and set up a paid ad campaign.

As a result, the content page will appear at the top of SERP, ensuring the visibility of the target keyword to consumers. With that, it will be easier for practicing marketers to gauge whether their target audiences are receptive to the keyword, content, and overall, their website.

Marketers measure this test’s success by correlating certain metrics together. For instance, a marketer got a lot of clicks, but their bounce rate was high and the conversion rate was low. That means they failed to align well with user intent or sustain their customer’s attention despite the traffic surge.

For this test, generating a high number of clicks is an expected result already. Marketers aim to observe higher conversion rates and lower bounce rates.

Using Paid Search for Hard-To-Reach Keywords and Organic Search to Strengthen Paid Campaigns Create a Mutually Beneficial Strategy

The reality of SEO is that consistent top rankings aren’t always guaranteed. And paid search can always use some extra push despite the paid advantage. 

Some marketers use paid search to increase their visibility on SERP for hard-to-reach keywords. Then, the increased brand visibility from paid campaigns indirectly translates to a higher organic ranking.

At the same time, marketers create outstanding content to keep ranking organically. Ensuring that content is still excellent will build credibility on your website, which, in turn, helps boost your paid campaigns.

With this strategy, marketers found the balance and mutualistic relationship between paid and organic search. 

Organic and Paid Search Results

Putting together paid and organic search strategies lead to increased brand recall, 25% more clicks, and 27% more profits compared to using only one of the search strategies. 

In Conclusion: Despite Their Differences, Start Using Both Organic and Paid Searches

The data above show that organic paid search has varying levels of success through various factors. Some key metrics to measure success are dominated by organic search, while paid search thrives on other metrics.

However, some marketers discovered that organic and paid search have direct and indirect correlations in certain aspects.

This discovery led to tactics that combine organic and paid search together. In some cases, marketers utilize paid campaigns to check whether a keyword and its content will thrive in SERPs.

By using paid-organic search, marketers report individual successes on both search marketing strategies. Moreover, the clicks and profits reported are higher than those of just using one search strategy.

In summary, leveraging both organic and paid search strategies can lead to greater success than relying on just one.