Paid Listings versus Natural Listings

The question about what are more effective, paid listings or natural listings, is one that arises consistently. Although ROI is influenced in many different ways and can be very difficult to distinguish between each, there are some studies that do shed some light on the subject.

In a study conducted by iProspect (surveyed search engine marketers that did both SEO and paid listing advertisements), they found that more of these marketers got a better ROI from natural SEO than from paid search engine advertising. Although it was not unanimous, (over a 3 to 1 margin) marketers generated a higher ROI from SEO than from paid search advertisements.

Of the survey responses, 35% indicated a higher return on SEO, 11% indicated a higher ROI on paid search advertisements and 9% got similar returns from each. This also indicates that a large percentage of search engine marketers that outsource their search engine marketing don't, or can't determine whether they get a higher return from either natural SEO or paid listings.

Although this study tries to differentiate and quantify the value of each, the fact of the matter is that ALL the survey responses were completed by web marketers that implement BOTH paid and natural search engine campaigns. This information should not be viewed as an either/or question. As with most marketing campaigns that implement multiple strategies, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.

Bill Fukui
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