SEO platform provider BrightEdge recently released a report showing the majority of websites studied within its Data Cube data set showed organic traffic was the largest source of traffic over paid search and social media across the sectors studied. 

source-of-traffic-brightedge

Sectors analyzed included:

  • Business Services
  • Hospitality
  • Media and Entertainment
  • Retail
  • Technology 

The data showed in all sectors that the organic channel was the main driver of traffic, but that percentage varied greatly – with Business Services showing the most gain from the organic search channel.

traffic-by-channel-brightedge

Paid search also varied by industry, with retail showing the most traffic from the channel. In comparison, social traffic was trivial to other channels studied across sectors.

Organic traffic drove a good portion of revenue for many sectors, including retail, business services, technology, and hospitality. However, the media and entertainment sector benefitted most from paid search, the data showed. 

revenue-performance-by-channel-brightedge

And, when looking at the ratio of traffic to revenue, paid search was a winner, the report said.

From the report:

While organic search generally drives the most traffic, paid search drives significant revenue, for the amount of traffic that comes from paid. When examining the ratio of traffic to revenue, it is clear that the paid channel more than carries its weight in delivering business results, especially for the Media and Entertainment Industry.

A BrightEdge rep was not available for further comment.

For more information, download the report here.


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