How to Increase Organic Search Traffic (And Why It Matters)
Organic website traffic measures the number of users that find your domain via a web query. These users could be in any sales funnel stage, but they are actively looking for your brand, product, services, or information relevant to your location or industry. Especially for small businesses, organic clicks are invaluable because once the work is in place, it’s free. That fits most budgets, doesn’t it?
What is Organic Traffic?
Organic search is the term used to describe the number of website visitors who arrive at a domain through a search engine results page (SERP). When you click on a blue link after searching, for instance, 'digital marketing agency traverse city,' you’re initiating an organic search query and setting off an organic session.
Organic traffic is measured primarily in sessions or users and includes visits from search engines like Google, Yahoo, Bing, and Yandex—but mostly Google. As of April 2024, Google controlled 90.8% of the global search engine market, so when marketers talk about organic search, they’re mostly talking about Google.
The Benefits of Organic Website Traffic
Organic traffic is incredibly valuable for several reasons. Organic sessions are:
Free
Allows you to reach consumers who have never heard of your company
Attracts users with a relevant interest in your brand
Increases your brand’s authority and credibility
Generates data to guide future marketing efforts
One of the most important benefits of organic search marketing is efficiency. Most small businesses don’t have an endless marketing budget (ours is about $5). That means investing in a strong organic presence delivers lasting returns even after the work is in place. That gives brands more flexibility in budget allocation; with a strong organic presence, a local bike shop can focus its paid search efforts during the busy spring and summer months on specific offerings (think rentals) and rely on organic to move merchandise or raise brand awareness.
The Drawbacks of Organic SEO
SEO isn’t perfect, and there are a few reasons why it can’t be your only marketing priority.
SEO takes several months to fully ramp up, while paid search can have an immediate impact
Not all clicks result in conversions
It’s not really free, as it takes time and expertise to research, write, and implement SEO-rich content
How to Increase Organic Traffic
Increasing organic search traffic demands rigorous keyword research, creating informative and useful content, following technical SEO best practices, and winning backlinks.
Keyword research - Find keywords that apply to your brand, service, or products and strategically implement those in new or existing content. It’s also important to understand the user intent of various phrases and whether they reflect a user looking to convert or for general information.
Content creation - Organize those keywords on highly relevant and useful information across site service pages, blog pages, and other types of content.
Technical SEO—This one gets into the nitty-gritty of site structure, page indexing, and more; it is a unique field within SEO (and we dig it).
Link building—When other websites link to your content, it shows Google and other search engines that your site is trustworthy.
What’s A Normal Share of Organic Traffic?
Organic is one of five (or so) traffic acquisition channels you’ll find in your Google Analytics 4 property (we can set one up for you).
Organic search - Folks searching for stuff
Paid search - Users who land on your site from a paid ad
Referral - Users who land on your site from another website
Social - Users who land on your site from a social media site
Direct - Users who land on your site by searching your exact URL (or AutoFill)
Email - Users who land on your site from an email
We’ve got an excellent guide to traffic acquisition that’s worth a read!
The share of organic search varies widely, but most experts say organic traffic should account for 50% or more of your domain’s total sessions. For smaller companies, we typically see between 45% and 65%. Companies with larger paid search or paid social media budgets tend to have a slightly lower share of organic sessions. Organic traffic share may also vary seasonally as search volume changes.
Invest In Sustainable, Cage-Free, Organic SEO
Organic search is the ground game of any successful small business. At Sovis Media, we’ll help you find the SEO retainer or content package that suits your budget and marketing goals, whether it'sa technical site audit, optimization project, or a six-pack of high-quality blogs. The best time to invest in SEO was six months, but today is pretty good, too. Drop us a note, and let’s get started!