WebSideStory, Inc., a provider of digital marketing and analytics solutions, has announced the results of a new study that shows paid search has only a slight 9% edge in conversion rates over organic search. In a study of business-to-consumer (B2C) ecommerce sites during the first eight months of this year, paid search--keywords bought on a pay-per-click basis at search engines such as Google, Yahoo and MSN--had a median order conversion rate of 3.40% at business-to-consumer ecommerce sites using the company's HBX Analytics technology. This compared to a conversion rate of 3.13% for organic search results, defined as non-paid or natural search engine listings, during the same January-to-August timeframe, according to the WebSideStory Index, a compilation of ecommerce, site search, and global internet user trends. The study analyzed more than 57 million search engine visits. Order conversions occurred during the same session.
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