What is Organic Traffic? Definition + How to Increase It

Whether you’re a marketer, business owner, or blogger, you’ve likely heard of organic traffic.

But what does it actually mean, and why is it important?

In this post, we’ll dive into everything you need to know about organic traffic – from what it is to how to increase it. By the end of this guide, you’ll have a better understanding of how to define organic traffic, what it means for your digital marketing initiatives, and some tips on how to start taking advantage of it.

Let’s get started!

What is Organic Traffic?

Organic traffic is the number of visitors who arrive at a website or landing page by clicking on an unpaid search engine result. It’s essentially any type of visitor that arrives at your site via the user’s search query.

For example, if you Google searched “best marketing practice,” you would find our site in the listings that appear on the search engine results page (SERP):

Anyone who clicked on our site through this search would be considered organic traffic.

Unlike paid search results, the meaning of organic search revolves around natural searches – that is, people who are actively looking for something specific and are typing in words or phrases into a search engine like Google or Bing to find it.

Why is Organic Traffic Important?

Organic traffic generation is crucial for any website or landing page because it allows you to reach potential customers who are actively searching for something related to your product or service.

Organic web traffic in digital marketing can help you gain visibility in search engines, which is key for increasing brand awareness and driving more leads. Plus, since organic visitors are already interested in what you offer, they’re likely to convert at a higher rate than other types of visitors.

8 ways to get more organic traffic

The good news is that there are plenty of ways you can increase your organic traffic. And you can start right away! Here are a few tips to get you started:

1. Keyword research

Performing keyword research is also important when trying to increase organic traffic. This will help you identify the keywords and phrases that are relevant to your business and have a high search volume. That way, you’ll know what terms to target in order to get more organic traffic to your blog. You can conduct this research by using keyword research tools like Google Keyword Planner or SEMrush.

2. Optimize for search engines

Organic search engine optimization involves ensuring your content is optimized for search engine algorithms to increase your organic traffic. This means using relevant keywords and phrases in titles and meta descriptions, as well as making sure your content is high-quality and informative.

3. Target less competitive keywords

Focusing on less competitive keywords can be a good way for a new website to increase its organic traffic. This is because the competition for these terms is usually lower, making it easier for you to rank higher in search engine results. You can find lower competition keywords by using keyword research tools such as Google Keyword Planner or SEMrush, for example.

4. Create content regularly

Creating new content on a regular basis can help to boost your organic traffic. This could include blog posts, ebooks, an infographic, videos, or any other type of content. The more fresh and relevant content you create, the more likely it is that your website will be found by search engines.

5. Link building

Building links to your website can also help to improve your organic traffic. This is because search engine algorithms take into account the number and quality of links pointing to a website when determining its ranking in search results. You can build links through guest posting, directory listings, or link exchanges.

6. Long-tail keyword optimization

Long-tail keywords are more specific and often have lower search volume, but they can be a great way to boost your organic traffic. By optimizing your content for long-tail keywords, you’ll be able to target the right people with the right content. Once again, you can discover long-tail keywords by using keyword research tools.

7. Blog content

Writing search engine-optimized blog content can be an effective way to drive organic traffic to your website, since it provides more opportunities for you to optimize your content and target relevant keywords. As long as the content is high-quality and informative, readers will be more likely to click on the link leading to your website.

8. Social media

Using social media can also be a great way to increase your organic traffic. Social platforms like Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram are popular places for people to search for content related to their interests, so optimizing your presence on these sites can help get more eyes on your website.

Benefits of organic traffic

Organic traffic can be an invaluable source of visitors for any website. It’s free and provides more direct access to potential customers that are already interested in what you have to offer. In addition, organic traffic has some other major benefits:

Increased visibility

The first few organic search results are often the first thing people will click on when they’re looking for a specific product. This increased visibility can help to build trust and credibility with potential customers.

Improves ranking in search engines

High performance in search engine results can help improve your website’s organic traffic. Simultaneously, high organic traffic across a multitude of pages will boost your search engine rankings for other pages- boosting your domain authority.

Attracts the right audience

Organic search traffic is often more qualified than paid traffic since it comes from people who are actively searching for a product or service. This means that these visitors are more likely to be interested in what you’re offering, which can lead to higher conversion rates. Learn more about what increasing your conversion rates can do for your business.

Higher conversion rates

Since organic traffic is already interested in what you offer, they’re much more likely to convert than paid traffic, referral traffic, or direct traffic.

What’s the difference between organic and direct traffic? Read about it here.

Scalable

Organic traffic can continue to grow as long as you keep optimizing for search engines. This means that it’s relatively easy to scale up your organic traffic without having to invest in expensive paid ads.

Long-term results

Unlike paid search, organic traffic can take some time to build up, but it can last for months and even years if you’re able to maintain a strong SEO presence.

Difference between organic traffic vs paid traffic

Organic traffic and paid traffic are two different types of search engine marketing. Paid traffic is generated when an advertiser pays for placement in a search engine, whereas organic traffic comes from unpaid search results.

Paid ads can be effective for targeting specific audiences and gaining quick visibility, but since it’s not free, there are limits on how much you can spend. Let’s take a look at the five major differences between organic traffic growth and paid search traffic:

Cost

The most obvious difference between organic traffic and paid traffic is the cost associated with each. Organic traffic is free, whereas paid traffic requires a financial investment. Paid traffic can cost anywhere from a few dollars to hundreds or even thousands of dollars. Some companies pay over $1,000,000+ a year on their paid traffic. It all depends on the scope of your campaign.

Speed of Results

Organic traffic typically takes longer to start producing results than paid traffic does. With paid traffic, you can usually see an immediate boost in website visitors, whereas organic traffic takes three to six months on average to build up.

Quality of Traffic

The quality of organic and paid traffic can vary greatly. While organic search engine users are usually actively searching for something specific, paid ad users may not be as interested in what you have to offer. For example, if a user clicks on an ad via their social media site because your product looked interesting, they may be less likely to buy it than someone who searches for your product directly by search query.

User Experience

Organic traffic is often preferred by users because it provides a more natural browsing experience. On the other hand, paid traffic can feel intrusive and interruptive for users. This notion is backed by research on click-through rates (CTR). For instance, the CTR for paid ads is around 2%, while the CTR for organic traffic is 30%.

Working to optimize your campaign? Check out our article on what’s a good CTR, and find tips on how to improve it.

Targeting Ability

Organic traffic is harder to target since you can’t choose the exact keywords or phrases that will bring users to your website. With paid search, however, you can target more precise audiences. You can customize your ads to reach people based on factors like location, interests, and much more. Organic traffic, on the other hand, is based solely on search engine results and isn’t as customizable without serious consideration of search engine optimization.

Conclusion

In conclusion, organic traffic can be a powerful tool for driving more visitors to your website. To increase it, you need to focus on keyword research and optimization, target less competitive keywords, create content regularly, build links through guest posting or directory listings, optimize for long-tail keywords, create blog content; and finally, make use of social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook. Understanding the intricacies of an organic visit can significantly enhance how we view our site’s engagement and traffic sources.

All these strategies are designed to help you get the most out of search engine algorithms so that your pages will rank higher in organic search results. With some effort and dedication to organic SEO practices, you’ll soon see an influx of new visitors coming directly from Google!

Frequently Asked Questions