Google Claims 95% Traffic Loss When PPC Turned Off - Really?

[AccuraCast]

Google researchers recently updated this study they carried out back in July 2011 to find out how turning off a Paid Search campaign affects site traffic:

http://googleresearch.blogspot.com/2...es-update.html

They claim that traffic falls as much as 95% and this fall is not recovered by organic traffic.

What they cheekily fail to mention is whether the advertisers studied actually had organic rankings they could fall back on.

In other words, if most of the advertisers studied had #1 organic placement and were advertising on the same keywords, would they actually see a 95% loss of incremental clicks? - most probably not!

I've dissected their claims in a bit more detail on our Tumblr blog - http://accuracast.tumblr.com/post/19...-once-youre-at - and I'm keen to hear other peoples' thoughts on this.

Any personal experience with traffic losses associated with paused AdWords campaigns that you can share would also be most helpful.

[Webfu]

Yes, while organic traffic brings in a ton of traffic for free.... If I turn off the ads on any site, of course the traffic is going to go down.

[AussieWebmaster]

the drop is in actual paid traffic and the drop in the lift in CTR for the organic links when PPC is not there too

[Discovery]

There are many combinations for success. PPC and SEO have a symbiotic relationship boosting each others performance.


Clients with few organic rankings who use offline advertising channels such as radio and TV benefit greatly with branded keyword PPC campaigns.

Even with decent organic rankings PPC can help lift overall conversion rates.
Many folks hear an advertisement and search using a vast number of keyword phrases including misspellings which you may not rank for organically. PPC can help catch these high intent searchers.

But there is no doubt about it, Top 1-2 organic rankings for your primary keywords can generate dramatic results. The loss of these rankings would be far more detrimental than loosing the PPC ads.

The key is this: PPC may seem more expensive, but it is a highly reliable tool to target an exact audience at the right place and the right time. SEO traffic offers less control and rankings can disappear in a single change to Google's ranking algorithm leaving your business in desperate need of leads and sales.