My 15 Minutes of Fame: Investing in SEO: Marketers are Doing More SEO Than They Think

A research concludes that 94 percent of searchers click through on organic search results, and that the top three positions in Google earn 61 percent of the clicks. These numbers aren't far off the numbers I’ve used for years when describing the importance of SEO in a marketing budget as well as ranking on Page 1 for the keywords prospects are searching on to find your organization. The GroupM and Nielsen numbers simply (and strongly) validate the importance of an on-going SEO strategy.

A significant disconnect, however, continues to exist between the impact that SEO can have on impressions, click-throughs and lead generation compared to PPC and the representation each receives in a typical marketing budget.

Take Forrester’s U.S. Interactive Marketing Forecast, for the years 2011 to 2016. Marketers are spending and will continue to spend, on average, 88 percent of their search marketing budget on paid search campaigns to access just 6 percent of the available click-throughs, and 12 percent on organic search in attempts to reach an astounding 94 percent of the available click-throughs.

I’m not the first person to point out this imbalance, nor will I be the last.

Based on the research, data available and assumptions below, an HR software company attempting to rank for this keyword should expect, if they were occupying position one in Google for the term “HR Software”, 24 clickthroughs per day from SEO and just two from PPC; three clickthroughs from SEO if they were in position six or seven for the same term and nothing from PPC.

Think of this more as a model for comparison rather than an exact answer since there are so many uncontrollable factors surrounding a keyword. (Read: Five Forces of Keyword Competition)

In this model, one must also consider the difference is resources (time and money) required to increase positions in SEO versus PPC. With SEO, the input of time and money is uncertain, however, the results are longer lasting. With PPC, one can instantaneously gain a top position, but it can disappear just as quickly without a trace of ever being there.

2120 monthly searches * 94 percent = 1992 * 36.4 percent /30 days = 24 daily clickthroughs for position #1 in Google.com for the keyword "HR Software"

The purpose here isn't to convince marketers to shift their marketing spend, nor is it intended to discount one marketing tactic over the other. (I believe there is a time and a place for all marketing tactics within a given strategy). The purpose is simply to take a closer look at SEO as a line item in a marketing budget and other marketing tactics that affect SEO.