From SEO to Paid Ads: How Full-Service Digital Marketing Builds a Connected Growth Strategy

Back in 2009, NYU Stern professors Anindya Ghose and Sha Yang ran one of the first rigorous studies on this exact question. Their research on organic and paid search interdependence found that combined click-through rates were 5.1% higher when a brand showed up in both organic and paid results than when it appeared organically alone, and conversion rates jumped nearly 12%. Interestingly, they also found organic listings boost paid ad performance more than the reverse — roughly 3.5 times more, because people simply trust an organic result a little more than a sponsored one sitting next to it.