And use of news searches surges ahead

Worldwide search statistics compiled by Google Analytics show that 2009 has been the year of natural search as, for the first time, it has generated consistently greater traffic than paid search.

But there is also a clear divide emerging from the Google Analytics figures.

They show that there remains a strong reliance on PPC search results in the territories of the Far East. This perhaps reflects a difference in cultures where a company’s trust among its customers is measured in terms of the amount of money it is prepared to invest in promoting its products and services on line.

SEO has also opened up a clear gap ahead of PPC searches when it comes to traffic volumes generated through news searches.

Indeed, while volumes of generic searches are staying relatively consistent, the big growth has been seen in searches of news reference sources, such as Google News or MSN News.

Over the five years to 2009, news site searches have grown exponentially, as consumers have come to trust them to be more independent than generic search. In this area, PPC and SEO searches stayed broadly level until the end of 2008, when SEO first took a clear lead, which it steadily stretched over the following year, and was continuing to do so at the time this was written.

PPC traditionally hits an annual high as Christmas approaches, with surfers looking for gifts, and presumably turning to the PPC results as they see familiar brands represented among them.

But for each of the last three years, that peak has been lower than in the preceding year, meaning that companies relying on PPC for their rankings at this time are almost certainly getting smaller returns on their outlay.

Google’s findings show clearly why so many companies are placing greater emphasis on securing listings in Google News, as these have come to be seen as more trusted and impartial than both organic and PPC results.