I recently created some custom filters in Google Analytics to illustrate SEOmoz's traffic over the past 12 months:
SEOmoz's Traffic Sources Distribution
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Data from March 15, 2010 - March 14, 2011
Here's the breakdown in percentages:
- Search (Google, Yahoo!, Bing, Baidu, etc.): 36.0%
- Direct (Bookmark + Type-In): 27.7%
- Feed (RSS via Feedburner): 7.9%
- Social (Twitter, Facebook, Reddit, Hacker News, StumbleUpon): 5.9%
- Partners (Distilled, Open Site Explorer, WebsiteGrader): 2.5%
- Blogs (SELand, SERoundtable, AVC, etc.): 2.0%
- Forums (WebmasterWorld, Google Webmaster Groups, etc.): 0.7%
- PPC (AdWords): 0.2%
- Other (uncategorized + everything else): 17.3%
As SEOs, we know that search traffic has vulnerabilities and fluctuations that are out of our control. The recent examples of sites that were unintentionally affected in the the Farmer/Panda update is a good example, but there are hundreds of potential issues, both from our own efforts and those of others (the engines themselves, our competitors, etc.) that can affect things outside of large-scale algo updates.
We've also felt the search engines moving in a more "holistic" direction, and seeking features that "brands" have, but generic sites don't in order to reward the former in their rankings. I did a presentation on this topic at the recent Be-Wizard! San Marino event, included below:
It's my sense that increasing the diversity of sources is an excellent path for online marketers to take, especially at this junction, because:
- Search engines want to reward sites that "naturally" attract traffic from other sources - those who get clicks on the links that point to them, who have social media sharing happening aroud their content and who aren't simply a "farm" for search visits.
- The online world is diversifying at a much greater clip in the last 3 years than anytime since the mid-90's. Instead of consolidation, we're seeing expansion as sites like Reddit, StumbleUpon, Twitter, Facebook, Yelp, YouTube, etc. all expand their reach and newcomers like Foursquare, Path, Quora, StackExchange, Groupon, LivingSocial, and many others become substantive traffic drivers. Sites that can't play in these new ecosystems will likely lose out to their early-adopter-friendly competitors.
- No single source of traffic is wholly "safe," but a diversified portfolio has much less associated risk.
- Diversifying traffic sources means experimenting with new potential channels for traffic, and that means potentially finding sources that send great visits, links, citations, shares, etc.
- Getting to a new channel before a competitor can be key to owning mindshare and traffic from that source.
- Diversification makes it less likely that a road bump in any single channel can have a devasting impact on your overall business. One thing I'm very thankful for is that SEOmoz only gets ~30% of its traffic from Google. Should they ever (intentionally or unintentionally) alter our ability to perform, we won't be dead in the water (unlike many of our peers in similar spaces).
Of course, knowing what we have to do is the easy part. Executing on that is much more challenging. That's why, over the next 18 months, it's my goal to start investing more energy into research, case studies, content and, of course, software, to help. In order to win at SEO, we're going to need to win at ALL of inbound marketing, and luckily, the side effects are incredibly beneficial, too.
Very good points raised Rand. It seems like an increasing number of people are becoming overly reliant on either one tactic (or a series of very similar tactics) or reliant on one stream of traffic. One thing that I think has been a great side effect of the announcement that social factors impact search is that it helps practiitoners and clients recognise that generating more natural traffic is within our remit as well - it's not just about rankings and organic traffic... though we can still try to improve performance through those channels.
Edit: P.S. Thanks for keeping it TAGFEE/Classy and sharing your traffic breakdown by channel.
As SEOs, we're all too likely to shoot ourselves in the foot by focusing only on search traffic. We need to be more holistic in our approach; to be online marketers instead of mere SEOs.
I cannot but agree with your call to a diversification of traffic to web sites, as I believe that any intelligent web marketing strategy would be based on "digital" marketing mix.
And I am pretty excited to see the future softwares SEOmoz will put into production related to all other sources but just Search Engines.
Actually, when it comes to SEOs, is their somehow generalized conservative position in thinking to the web just in term of SERPs. That is not bad at all, but it limits their opportunities and, especially, limits the opportunity to put the experience SEOs have in order to influence with their analytical methodology to other web marketing tactics.
The other big problem related to this great new diversification of traffic sources is that we are generally seeing a bad planned sinergy between all them, and I am a firmly believer that SEOs, as professionals and because traffic is their "daily bread", could really become a central figure in the marketing mix.
Thumb up for the super pro new avatar photo :P Thats quite a change
It was due... I could not show anymore a photo of three years ago ;)
So we should diversify for two reasons:
1, To appease the algorithm.
2, In case the algorithm shoots us in the foot.
I feel like a needy little girl and the algorithm is my overpowering boyfriend.
Anyway, I know you said you would not be dead in the water if you lost a sizable portion of your search traffic but what portion of your conversions come from search traffic?
I'd add a bunch more reasons:
Hopefully, some of that came across in the post, too.
To be fair, I was not trying to over simplify your post. I did find the post useful and took away all the points you mentioned above. I was just being a smart ass ;-)
For the record, if I was told I could only read one SEO blog, it would this one.
This pretty much IS the only blog I read nowadays... no time for anything, but I force time for this or I know I'd end up with too much time (from having no work due to getting behind with stuff... just in case anyone didn't get that) ;-)
Traffic Portfolios - thats the term I was looking for. Just like stocks we feel having a diverse set of conversion channels can only help strengthen the Brand and the Promise. Just like SEO has evolved, so has the marketing space. I like the optimism Rand, it eliminates the excuse to complain and focuses me on the task at hand - increasing business for my clients.
You said it right! You get a thumbs up from me. Diversify and take care of customers.
I like that this post explains the need for all kinds of traffic vs. just "relevant" traffic, or the kind that SEO mainly focuses on. I think lots of times SEOs (myself included) forget that we are essentially brand marketers and that while our job is to increase visibility and traffic to our individual or client's sites, we should always bear in mind the need to apply basic marketing strategies to our efforts. Let's not forget that the most powerful and effective way to inform and influence people is by word of mouth, which in turn will lead to more traffic, more links, more visibility, and ultimately higher rankings. If we are focusing only on targeted traffic, we miss out on the potential benefits that can't be planned for or expected when performing SEO services. Its no surprise to me that SEOMoz's direct traffic is so high, think about how many SEOs come to the site and then share their experiences with friends and co-workers. I originally learned about SEOMoz from a co-worker when I first started SEO and have never done a Google search to find their site or any of their other tools, sites or services. I think the "additional Traffic" is the best way to see gains in ways that weren't previously considered or even thought possible. Kudos to SEOMoz for diversification and for sharing these statistics.
I've been finding that SEO is really starting to look a lot like marketing, just doing it online. Inbound marketing, online marketing, internet marketing, it is simply marketing.
The advice to obtain diverse traffic is one I wholly agree with. It's basic business and life strategy of not putting all your eggs in one basket.
I like that post very much because we get - all day in - day out - confronted with companies who want to rank in Google for number one position but are not willing to put some effort into it.The more sources the more work they have and - nowadays we all know, it's more than just maintaining a website. They have to be active in social media, blogs etc. engage and harvest the fruits then.But sometimes it's really hard to make them understand the way it is. You presentation of the evolution of the rankings will help here, too, to convince and argue.
So right!
Educating our clients and helping them move past old or faulty ideas is huge.Â
 Having SEO only focused on the search engines giving only importance to rankings and the traffic thereby is surely a very myopic view. As today the SEO has evolved and demands an overall quality web presence alongwith a content rich website.
And from the larger perspective too only when the traffic from the direct, referral sites, social media and the search engines show an increasing and an improving trend only then true growth can be acheived on the web for that site.
The recent trends show that all the sources are in some way or the other getting integrated and only having the right marketing mix with quality content (whether it is your own or UGC)  as the focus will  generate the so called insurance (if I may say so) for a long term web presence and continued traffic to your site incase one of the sources get affected due to one reason or another.
But for this kind of holistic presence SEOs need a lot of support from the website owner or some responsible person from the company as establishing an identity on the web is the basic requirement and that can be acheived only if the top management of the company take adequate interest in the quality web presence which needs to be created. As this cannot be created by just posting x no. of tweets or posts on twitter and facebook. A Â persona with a soul, brand, voice, authority, etc. has to be created on the web for the company.Â
I think more appropriate title for this post is: 'Traffic source diversity is essential for Successful Business'
and why? cos we can't rely too much on SEO anymore?
When you talk about different traffic sources like social, PPC etc you are not exactly talking about SEO or are you. It sounds more like inbound marketing which is a broader field than SEO.
"One thing I'm very thankful for is that SEOmoz only gets ~30% of its traffic from Google. Should they ever (intentionally or unintentionally) alter our ability to perform, we won't be dead in the water (unlike many of our peers in similar spaces)."
I am shocked to see that seomoz gets only 30% traffic from Google organic search and shaken to hear that the brand ambassador of SEO, 'Rand' feels safe about it. Really Rand if you are so unsure about the organic traffic (even after employing only white hat seo tactics)Â then how i can blame an average business which feels safe in investing in PPC (which is more a 'you get what you paid for in X days ' type advertising model) than SEO (which is 'you may/might/may not get what you paid for in about.......days').
"Search engines want to reward sites that "naturally" attract traffic from other sources"
Yet to see this happening in real world.
Why diversification of traffic sources has become essential? Because SEO is no longer a promising marketing channel. This is what i think of after reading this post.
I think we'll just have to agree to disagree. My passion for SEO and for sharing the power and value it can add to a business doesn't cloud my thinking so much that I can't see the danger in becoming overly reliant. I also strongly feel that search engines don't particularly want to rank pages/sites that receive no traffic from other sources (an indication that they're not actually valuable/relevant resources, but simply able to game an algorithm). That's just not the kind of SEO I'm interested in practicing or evangelizing.
As you alluded to in the OP, traffic diversification not only protects you against having all your traffic eggs in the organic search traffic basket, it actually enhances your organic search traffic. It's now well established that developing traffic from social media, partner sites, blogs, forums and feeds has a positive impact on SEO. Additionally the more traffic you receive, even direct, ppc and "other" traffic sources, the more likely your site will be improving in those metrics we know improve visibility in the SERPs. IMHO, going forward, those SEOs who refuse to adopt a more holistic approach will be left behind by the SEOs who do.
Yes, and to back up your argument Rand, we are seeing, despite all the On-Page changes we have made to make one of our sites as healthy as possible - as reflected in our diagnostics on SEOMoz's Webapp, our site rankings are barely making our benchmark set in November.
Which adds weight to the argument, that diversification of incoming sources and inbound marketing is becoming increasingly significant in the Google algos, and a critical player for overall revenue in the digital marketing mix.
Actually you'll probably find that "indirectly" SEOmoz gets a lot more traffic than that from natural search. With all the content, news, social stuff, etc that they put out... a lot of people will be coming across that stuff through natural search and then following it in via the partners, etc... so the figures are a little skewed in that sense.
Plus. And this is a BIG PLUS... getting more traffic from other sources doesn't mean you're getting less through natural search does it! If I was getting 1 million visits per month through natural results only, and then I started a social campaign or whatever else and then I was getting 2 million visits per month, that would mean my natural search traffic had gone from 100% SEO to just 50% SEO. It doesn't make the SEO traffic any less relevant, it just means I've done a great job with the social media! Make sense?
So true! Many people, including myself, get so caught up in increasing traffic from the SERP's that we don't spend enough time in broadening online traffic channels. Search is so vulnerable that it can't be relied on!
SEOmoz is a major source of content, so I would think that naturally they would be fine if something happened and they lost Google traffic. Not that they would.
The problem is when you have smaller companies that do not have the time and or resources to generate that type of content, or spend time in forums, etc. in an effort to diversify the source of traffic. Sure, it would be great if they did, but that's virtually impossible for most small businesses. Unfortunately, moves in this direction would shut out more and more smaller companies that lack the time, money, intelligence to do all of these things.Â
But I wholeheartedly agree that it is a great goal to get this type of diversity in your traffic sources. It's just unrealistic for many folks. Â
You must have a production team (Graphics, Copywriting etc). Not to mention aggregating it all to twitter, FB, Slideshare etc.to put together these slides and articles. I would love to see anarticle on how you co-ordinate your content launches, which from the outsideappears so seamless.Â
where do you find time to actually do work for clients! It's a pleasure reading your stuff
Searchengineman
Yeah all SEO's need to target all areas of the web to obtain traffic. The days of worrying just about SEO are far gone. you need to think social, forums, Q&A, Blogs, Video sites the list is endless where ever you can get hits you need to target or you are left behind.
But really you alos need to focus on high quality traffic, I find whilst I can trive 1000's of visitors from some social sites the conversion rates from this 1000 visitors may only be the same as say 100 visitors from Bing!!
Hi Rand,
Its cool seeing that a SEO company like SEOmoz is getting much traffic from other marketing sources. Did you happen to look at how the conversions distribution is like (presuming that different marketing sources has a different conversion rate)?
Question: So, then, aside from the fact that the traffic is poor, what would be wrong with buying expired domain traffic? It diversifies the number of root domains sending clicks to a site, is a channel for inbound marketing (albeit maybe not a great channel), etc. And from what I'm reading online, traffic increase may be 1 of the over 200 signals for ranking? Is that true or not?
Another interesting and important perspective on the SEO process. I am not a believer in putting all my eggs in one basket, but if you were to see my inbound traffic analysis you would probably think otherwise. Thanks for great insight!
Great slides.
It'd be feckless to become overly reliant on one source of traffic, though if one source lands the temptation can be to neglect casting the net wider.
Note to self: do not become complacent
I want to make a video about this!
Why?...
I talk to to many people who think I know MAGIC!
I still have to remind clients that search engines are not everything and... shocklingly that Google isn't everything either. People get hooked on search rankings and forget the aim is to promote their business effectively, of which Google and search in general is ONE component of that. Takes a while to sink in sometimes. I think Google's about 25% of our site visitor 'entrance ways' - and we must spread the risk. What's here today, may not be tomorrow, especially in on-line developments so it's so wise that you diversify.
Thanks for the article - a worthwhile read and a great reminder to us all.
Many companies, right or wrong, rely on Google for 75% or better of their traffic. I know of several, so it is a little more difficult explaining that they don't need to rely on Google. Sure, more focus on other areas would bring in more traffic and reduce Google's dominance on referring traffic, but when people see that the traffic is coming from G, they invest more and more to appease G.
Yeah kinda a newbie to SEO but I have found immediate positive imapact of diversification
I work in a relatively small nice, but at the moment cannot compete with the top 2 or 3 results. By diversifying my inbound traffic sources through inbound marketing and offline marketing, I have managed to increase traffic to my site, which has in turn had a positive effect on my natural rankings as well.
Keep up the good work - loving the transparency / TAGFEE approach!
Not only does taking a diversified approach to link building look good to the search engines, it also protects your site. If you just relied on social networking as the main source of your traffic, what happens when Facebook goes dark for a few hours because of a glitch? Your site is basically invisible while it's down. You have to use a variety of traffic sources to make sure your site can withstand an attack on one.
"In order to win at SEO, we're going to need to win at ALL of inbound marketing"
Rand, coming on the back of your recent and rather enthusiastic post on Hubspot's funding, are we about to see SEOmoz evolve into InboundMarketingMOZ? Either I'm reading too much into this or you are being very open in your thinking ;)
Insightful article. Obviously every company or group is going to be different. Ideally those companies or groups should first try to better understand the online behaviors of their potential customers and clients so that they spend their time and energies focused on those incoming traffic channels more efficiently.
I also found the SEOMoz traffic distribution chart (above) of interest. Two of the three largest traffic sources (Direct, Other) are not pinned down in terms of what the actual sources are. Is it even possible to draw any conclusions from this data, in terms of what the actual traffic sources are?
it looks like inbound marketing is the way of the future! i agree, traffic from other sources is very important to survive. who knows that one day people will be way more into social and interaction from other sites than just search. we need to be where the most people are. another very important thing all sites should achieve is top of mind awareness wherein people no longer need to look for you from search engines, they type your domain right away.
As in life, it's not prudent to rely on a single source of sustenance; contingency must be a required element of any online marketing strategy.
If the tree of Google bears no fruit, us hunter gatherers must go forth and acquire other means to survive. The really smart ones of course had already planted an array of alternative crops and in the face of a Google Famine Update, will be much better placed to endure.
Ok, this is the super post of the day for me! Yes you are right focusing on search engine to get traffic and completely depended on that will not a very good idea. I think one should have some backup for the rainy day!
Including organic search traffic one should also focus and invest on other channels to get targeted traffic like PPC, QA sites (I am not sure if the traffic is convertible), Forums, Videos, blogs, research papers and others.
I think this is the point where I can say that after you are down with organic rankings for your desired terms the next goal of SEO should be to start branding and do something that people remember you (look at the direct traffic SEOmoz received).
In order to stay in people mind and heart one have to come out of the house and express him/herself as an expert. Help others with consultation, share research, Say Thanks and many other techniques.
Sounds great in theory as most things do, aside all the graphs and pie charts, the reality is, anyone with top ranking is either a huge brand, old trusted website or a very good spammer. Reality being, the spammer is most common.
Having worked with a large number websites which have all had a large volume of different traffic sources, I cannot say this has ever had an impact in the SERP.
Sounds good, and in an ideal world, makes perfect sense. But if this was the case, would half the sites which dominate the SERPS still be there, I think not.Â
Rav
Big Hit Media
 Â
I think it's meant to be interpreted more as 'traffic diversity is a good thing to pay attention to', rather than 'traffic diversity alone will definitely increase your position in search engines'. Sometimes it's kind of depressing that results are spam/top brand related, but there are plenty of less competitive search terms out there that can make a difference. It's worth spending time doing research rather than just thinking, 'Ok, I sell blue bananas, that means I need to rank #1 for "blue bananas"'. - Jenni
Excellent post! And it's great for those that don't have much time to read.
About the Evolution, I think Google is being more and more efficient on what he always has emphasized: create content for users. And that's it.
For those who have multi-language website, the best we can do is to create real, reeeeeal good content, because we have no time to do all the things SEO requires for each language/website. At least, not we.
We are focusing on Inbound Maketing, but not all, mainly in: Email Marketing, Facebook engagement and Twitter (helping the SEO). We are trying to create real good content for clients. That's it. No more link building, no more exhausting afternoons with keyword research, no more anything of that!
Cheers,Fran.Â
Very thrilling post and especially thet slide.Thanks Rand.
I've always been obsessed by the idea of the variety of traffic source.It is more safe and assuring.I do not wish to be 100% controlled by Google (or any other gigantic companies).
The shift of seach engine algo mentioned in the slide indicates to us that SEO is heading towards a more user-focued area.And I believe that one day in the future,the online marketing will have less and less differences from traditional off-line marketing (only with more quantatative and measureable metrics).
Great reminder Rand. I think too many companies still look to the search engines to survive online and they simply can't do that if they want to succeed in the long term. Â I've been working on a post that talks about this exact topic and I'll be sure to reference your post in it since I think it has some great points that people may be interested in.Â