Just looking over my website stats I see that for the same keyword I get 800 clicks PPC and only 70 organic, even though I have the number one position for both worldwide. Does this make any sense? I always thought organic results got the majority of traffic but this implies that PPC adverts get 90% does anyone have any statistics on this?
I agree with you I think organic search results will usually get more traffic than the ppc ads. When I'm using a search engine I usually click on both the organic search results and the ppc ads.
It depends on a bunch of different factors (mostly the keyword/phrase). I have some phrases that get more PPC clicks and other get more organic clicks. I think some people are actually "trained" to use the PPC ads if they're looking to buy something.
If a ppc listing is above the organic, (which they are usually), a typical surfer does not know the difference between a paid ad and natural search result. I know it's hard for people who know the difference to accept, but it's true. This is also why google is so nuts with making you have a real landing site. They do not want the surfer figuring out the difference, because if they do, googles source of income would dry up.
since you hold number one position for both organic and sponsored result, your sponsored result would appear above organic result. since you need to play with your ad copy to get better QS and higher CTR so that you can get competitive pricing from adwords, your sponsored result more like will attract more visitors than your organic result as well.
a study by iprospect says 60% - 70% of people prefer natural search results http://www.iprospect.com/premiumPDFs/iProspectSurveyComplete.pdf Hitwise UK says about 60% prefer PPC ads http://weblogs.hitwise.com/heather-hopkins/2006/09/paid_and_organic_search_profil.html And marketing sherpa has published 2008's benchmark for paid vs natural, but I have not purchased a copy yet so I cant tell you the numbers http://www.sherpastore.com/onlinead08.html An interesting case study was done on conversions on natural vs paid and paid search has about a 9% higher conversion rate that natural search results.... really interesting facts to know' http://www.prnewswire.co.uk/cgi/news/release?id=179797
PPC > Organic for natural traffic.. Yet.. overall in pricing and stuff Organic FTW. To answer your question, if you site is on the bottom of page 1.. and the sponsored ppc is on top.. people will click the ppc more then the organic.