BizSugar.com › Online Marketing › Study Gives Paid Search Ads Edge Over Organic

Do visitors from organic listings behave differently than those who arrive at your site via pay-per-click ads? And which type of visitor is more likely to buy?

According to a recent study, paid listings had a slight edge over organic search results. Visitors who clicked on paid links were 17% more likely to buy something and spent about 18% more on each order.

But the study found that visitors clicking on paid links are not necessarily the most valuable kind of Web site visitor. The better-performing group is comprised of people who arrive at a Web site by typing its Web address directly into their browsers or clicking on a bookmark.

Such visitors, who tend to be repeat customers, are the most likely to convert to buyers, doing so on 3.3% of their visits -- versus the overall conversation rate for the studied companies, which came in at 1.9%.