PPC Statistics

Break down of who/how many click on Sponsored links compared to natural

[jeffkatz]

Does anybody have any stats about what % of people click on Sponsored Results compared to Natural Results? In addition, are there differences in the % who click on sponsored results based on user demographic?

Thanks :).
-Jeff

[shorebreak]

I couldn't find the thread on this that I'd seen back in August 2003, but do remember reading that the conversion rate for paid search traffic was >50% higher than for organic search.

[shorebreak]

Here's an article referring to a 2003 IAB study that claims to quantify the relative CTRs of paid search vs organic:

[searchengineposition.com...]

and the IAB study itself:
[iab.net...]

You have to pay to get the report, but the percentages are listed in the first article, 18% vs 4.5% for organic.

[tfanelli]

I just asked this question anohter place in WW and basically what the response was from several people was this:

1. Paid listings provide better CTRs for products and services than corresponding free listings in the same rank.

2. Conversions to sales is higher with PPC than organic.

[jeffkatz]

Thanks guys. Quick question. What does a CTR mean for search listings?

For an online ad, CTR is the % of people who click on your advertisement out of all visitors to a given website (right?).

However, when referring to a search engine it is the % of users who click on your site out of all those who search for a given keyword?

I apologize if this is too much of a beginners' question.
-j