organicsearchWhen it comes to driving internet users to a website, nothing beats organic search, according to data from BrightEdge that reveals that organic search drove 51% of website traffic referrals worldwide during June and July 2014.

Meanwhile, display, email and referred search ranked second, with 34% of referrals, paid search third (10%), and social media last (5%).

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Website traffic referral share varied by industry, of course, and organic dominated the business services space the most, fuelling 73% of all site referrals.

Organic’s share of traffic referrals huddled around 50% for media and entertainment, technology and internet, and hospitality sites, while retail rounded out the list (42%). Display, email and referred sources, as well as social, each grabbed their largest pieces of the pie in the media and entertainment space, while paid search was most successful at driving website traffic in the retail industry.

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When it came to website revenues, organic search was the top source across all industries, except media and entertainment. There, display, email and referred sources won, grabbing a 45% share, compared with 41% for organic.

Again, organic search saw the most success with business services, accounting for 55% of all website revenues in the space.

Paid search saw its largest share in the hospitality industry. However, social barely played a role anywhere, responsible for just 1% of site revenues in the hospitality, media and entertainment, and retail industries - and none in the other two.

Source: eMarketer.com