Google PPC traffic Vs Organic Results traffic?

Hi Guys,
I've been a lurker on here for about 6 months now, it's a great resource to read and learn about other people's experiences with SEO and PPC and I thought its time I should start contributing too!

I have a question that I'm struggling to find an answer to on the net but I'm sure it has to be mentioned somewhere! I'm writing a piece on levels of traffic in Google and wanted to know what percentage of clicks (traffic) goes through Pay Per Click compared to google organic results when users are looking at search results?

I'm sure I read somewhere that organic results make up 69% of click throughs from first page results. Would anyone have any thoughts or links where I could find out?

Dan

It all depends on which article/study you're looking at...and there certainly isn't a blanket statement that can hold true to all keywords and all industries.

But, it's generally accepted that natural/organic results receive anywhere from 70-80% of the traffic while PPC ads receive 20-30%.

This of course is completely different for really high trafficked terms that have no ads running on them.

-Brian Renner

Thanks Brian, I thought it might be difficult to pinpoint an exact percentage but that kind of ties in with articles/comments that I've read in the past.
Dan

Personally speaking i never click on ads when searching for something.And i know that organic search results are prefered by most who have some internet knowledge.

Exactly......people prefer organic results over google ads........and they only go for google ads if they don't get desired results in early stage.........and people with little knowledge of intenet hardly go to click on ads.......

I also prefer to click on the organic result page rather on the featured site at the right section - for the sole reason that it had to pay Google to get there.

The ones that are listed on the first few pages in the search results would connote that they have some useful content to offer (although not always). A site that is SEO'ed have done their homework and knows that content is an important aspect of SEO.

It really depends on the search query. For obviously purchase-oriented queries, Google displays more ads in an effort to get clicks on ads instead of organic listings. For example, the paid/organic clickthrough split on a query like buy plane ticket to new york could be 50/50 or even favor the paid listings.

However, for a keyword like fondue recipe, where the user has expressed less of an obvious interest in purchasing something from an advertiser, the split is likely to heavily favor the organic listings.