Paid Search Driving Traffic To Retail Sites; U.S. Not The Goldmine

mediapost.com

Nearly two in every 100 visits to online shopping sites globally arrive via paid-search campaign. In the U.S. about 1.84% of the visits to shopping sites come from paid search.

The U.S., Japan, Canada, and Russia receive a lower share of traffic from paid-search campaigns, compared with the global average, according to a study released Thursday by SimilarWeb.  

The benchmark report analyzed a sample of 2016 worldwide desktop traffic data, comprised of about 3.8 billion combined organic and paid-search visits in eight verticals including clothing, consumer electronics and sportswear.

Brazil had the highest share of traffic from paid search at 4.14% during the study, followed by India with 3.75%; France at 3.04%; the U.K. with 2.33%; and Germany at 2.02%.

Among shopping categories, Home & Garden Web sites took the highest share of desktop visits from paid search at 3.95%, followed by Sports at 3.81%, and Jewelry at 3.07%.

The reports notes that U.S.-based Home Depot, Wayfair, Bed Bath and Beyond, along with France’s Leroy Merlin and Castorama, and Australia’s Bunnings are six brands in the Home and Garden category that made the Top 10 lists for organic and paid keywords leading traffic to sites.

The keywords Home Depot drove 5,133,000 visits; followed by wayfair at 1,716,000; bed bath and beyond at 1,557,000; maison du monde at 906,000; and Bunnings at 749,000 rounded out the top five.

Paid and organic traffic contributed about 48.53% of worldwide desktop traffic for the Sports category, Direct follows with 28.41, Referrals at 16.95%, social at 3.36, Display at 2.36%, and mail at 0.38%.

Consumers searching for Nike and Under Armour Sports products often search for outlet stores like "nike outlet" and "under armour outlet" to find less expensive and discounted goods will drive up the cost per click. Higher CPC rates are shown for keywords of a brand’s specific searches such as "Nike Air Max," or "curry 2."

Combine the paid-search traffic with display advertising and Sports-related Web sites averaged a 6.17% in desktop traffic, followed by Clothing at 4.34% and Home & Garden sites at 4.27%.

Sports Web sites at 2.36% saw the highest share of global desktop traffic from display advertising alone, followed by General Merchandise at 1.92%, and Clothing at 1.67%.