What is a good % traffic from Search engines.

What percentage of traffic is good from from search engine?

[caragh]

A client recently asked me -

"On average we achieve around 30000 visits per month of which around 4000-5000 (15%+) come through search engines. Would you say 15% is a typical figure for traffic that is generated through search engines or would you expect this figure to be higher?".

The website is a banking site but without online transactions or log in. It's more of an information site.

Does anyone have an idea what the typical % figure for search engine traffic to a site is?. I found it very difficult to find this online.

Thanks in advance.

[peewhy]

86% is a figure that was banded about.

If a site has no banner links, and no external website advertising and no repeat visitors, its search engine traffic is likely to be 100% give or take.

[caragh]

Thanks Peewhy.

You wouldn't have a link to any articles on this?. I'm hoping to send the client something definitive.

[Dayo_UK]

As with all things depends on the site.

If you have a good brand name (I would imagine a banking site might have strong brand awareness) you could get huge type-in traffic - this will skew your figures.

[Raymond]

My site has about 30% search engine traffic. The site has been around for 2 years. We have dedicated a large percentage of our workload on branding and it is paying off.

Though, MSN has recently dropped ALL our rankings all of a sudden. Based on the last 2 weeks traffic, we received only 1/3 of MSN traffic than we used to get. This is the exact reason why I focused heavily on referrals than search engines traffic right when we first started.

[Macguru]

Hi caragh,

>>I'm hoping to send the client something definitive.

My advice is dont even try to. Too many factors can weight in. Some pretty valid ones where mentionned above.

I care for some sites where almost no money at all have spent on product distribution. Logic, it's downloadable. Since they aim at specialised international audience, they spend very little in print advertising. They get 92 % traffic from search engines.

I work for some other sites with again no money at all have spent on product distribution. Logic, it's real estates. Since they aim at some local but wider audience, they spent more on print, billboards, radio and TV. I get about 30 % type-ins, but a large part of SE traffic includes the brand in the query. They used a search engine to find the brand, but this branding was generated on conventional media. When you set them appart of SE traffic, SE traffic gets less than 40 % overall.

I have this other real estates client who heavily bid on long term SE traffic, but neglected conventional media. They get more than 80 % new visitors from SE, but get only 30 % of total traffic of my real estates client above.

All three clients above are one shot deals. Consumers will probably never come back after they found what they needed. Some other sites will need frequent visits from the same visitors for moving lower value products.

You see, a lot of factors can weight in, branding, distribution, audience, products value and duration, consumer fidelity, etc.

You dont plan to sell houses like you would for movie tickets. Try to adapt a good marketing plan to your client's needs.

With SE traffic alone, you can't create demand, you can just respond to it.

[peewhy]

Thanks Peewhy.

You wouldn't have a link to any articles on this?. I'm hoping to send the client something definitive.

There's nothing definitive, all articles are written by someeone with an interest in the industry ...it depends whether you are buying or selling!

If you are selling search engine related services, the figure is in your favour!

If you are selling banner links and related services, the figure is in your favour!

If you are selling viral marketing, guess what?...the figure is in your favour!

Take a look at my previous post.

86% is a figure that was banded about.

If a site has no banner links, and no external website advertising and no repeat visitors, its search engine traffic is likely to be 100% give or take.

There are cases where search engine traffic is the sole source of customers....100%

It is also very logical and true that if a bank for example developed a website together with a TV campaign to be launched together and had no connection with search engines, directories, portals, banners, other links etc. The traffic to that site will be 100% from the TV commercial.

If one of my clients asked me your question, my reply would be based on the above.

[caragh]

Thanks everone for all your very comprehensive reponses.

I've talked to the client and discussed the factors you all have mentioned so we're going to take these into account going forward.

Thanks again.

[mrMister]

Most of my sites tend to border around 30%-40% traffic from search engines. With roughly the same from direct accesses (bookmarks and typing in the URL). The rest (20%-40%) come from links on the Web.

As for what would be considered good traffic from search engines...

I'd say 0%. If you can maintain a profit without the help of search engines, then you're on solid ground ;-)