<p>Colen, thanks for reading my article and finding the time to write! </p> <p>The travel industry is relatively small compared to other industries with gigantic players that serve more generic or day-to-day needs. Logic tells us that the majority of people can't afford to travel on a weekly or even monthly basis, while other industries have daily transactions with their audiences, and that's why the travel industry has a much smaller number of visitors on a monthly basis than those larger sites. On the other hand, I see your point about my initial data sample. Even so, I don't think you'll see a big shift in numbers. I've checked the rank of travel industry domains, and they seem not to be very high compared to those other industries. As you know, rank is calculated based on the number of visitors a site receives on a daily and monthly basis. Here's a <a href="https://www.dropbox.com/s/okplh14g6zp39v7/Screen%20Shot%202017-07-14%20at%2011.58.53.png?dl=0" rel="nofollow">link</a> to a screenshot that shows what I'm talking about.</p> <p>As for distribution of traffic across sub-categories in the travel industry -- that's something that might depend a lot on the data sample.</p>

<p>I don't think it involves bots, etc., since I took it the data from SimilarWeb, and I'm certain that they clean it. However, I can't give a 100% guarantee about the process that is involved, as I don't know exactly how they work with raw data before sharing it with their users.</p>

<p>Hey Rachel,</p> <p>I agree that we have plenty of other ways to generate quality traffic; but still, I've noticed that organic traffic usually has the best conversion rates. However, I've not worked closely with Bing or Yahoo. I assume their organic traffic should bring results that are similar to Google's organic visitors, but I haven't researched organic results on those platforms.</p>

<p>Thanks for your comment! And when I was analyzing data, I noticed this URLs. They rank very high!</p>

<p>Thank you, Omi! :)</p>

<p>Thanks for your kind words. I really appreciate this!</p> <p>In regards to your question, there's no way to know besides asking directly. That's something that comes from your PR activities, and the impact of these channels affect your sales in direct inquiries. However, the other idea that comes to mind here is that you can add a GTM code if you have an email address listed somewhere on all websites. It could help tell you where your users come from when they decide to send you an email.</p>

<p>Thanks, Brendon :) Yes, that's very simple, but really powerful approach :)</p>

<p>Hey Juan</p> <p>Thanks for your comment!</p> <p>I agree with you about the importance of not only measuring but also measuring it on the right frequency. For instance, I have a funny case here. I deal with a cleaning company who has it in their head that it's really important to measure clients' satisfaction rates (and yes I agree with this). However, they call me on a weekly basis and ask me the same questions that really show nothing to them. Besides being unhelpful to them, it makes me a bit frustrated since I don't feel that they really care. They simply collect numbers.</p>

<p>Felicia, that was a huge (and lovely!) surprise to spot my name among the top10 community member commenters! And I definitely need to invest more time in my future posts for Moz blog in order to be listed in other categories as well :)</p>

<p>Hey Julie,</p> <p>Thanks for your comment! However, the Buffer, Razor, and Simply Measured blogs are not purely focused on promoting a product or a company. They cover a broad range of topics and have more than promotional content, which is why we included them in the research. </p>

<p>Hi Jason, </p> <p>Thanks for your comment! Actually, those blogs are not only writing about SEO/SMM; they're industry leaders started by a group of SEO/SMM experts. As all of those blogs were started by people who were mostly involved in SEO and SMM, they were focused on channels that these professionals know inside out. So, that's why I think my assumption makes sense.Talking about SEO provides, etc., you're right. </p> <p>However, I would think twice about whether I want to deal with an SEO company that has zero presence on Google. :) In regards to big companies, I'm certain that they are able to prove the quality of their services by putting clients' logos, participating in industry events, and having awards. Otherwise, their rates should be close to Indian companies to show their competitive advantage to a client. </p>

<p>Bryan,</p> <p>Thank you for your excellent question; I apologize for the delay in responding to it. </p> <p>I would say that the referral traffic for SEO blogs works that way, because they were launched earlier than the SMM blogs, and people tend to link to them to SEO blogs more frequently. However, you should remember that referral and organic traffic are separate channels. I know a lot of examples examples where sites have no referral traffic and are performing at top positions in Google. Also, in order to say what's going on in other niches, you need to deliver additional research. In general, though, I would assume that in the e-commerce niche, you should see a solid amount of referral traffic since they have normally have a good range of partners. </p>

<p>Hi, Cornel! Thank you for sharing your experience with us! That's an interesting case, indeed. Though I'm afraid I cannot give you any feedback, since there could be a lot of other reasons that lead to your situation. You always need to do a detailed analysis of the effectiveness of your marketing campaigns, because there are a lot of small things that are needed to be taken into account. Best of luck with your efforts! And thank you for your comment!</p>

<p>Hi, SolaireAltea! Thank you for your question! The thing is that i can't really tell you whether there is a correlation between promoting yourself on Google+ and your SEO rankings, since I've never researched this question. But thank you so much for bringing my attention to this matter!</p>

<p>Hi , Enrique! Thanks a lot for sharing your experience! It's always good to hear a different point of view</p>

<p>Hi, Joseph! Thanks a lot for your suggestion and you're right, - there are limitations. But for the kind of analysis you proposed I would need to have access to those companies private info (e.g. the size of their mailing lists and etc.). In my case, I just used public data that is available to everyone. Also, as it was already mentioned by someone in the comments, there are a lot of bots. And if a social media profile of a company is popular, it doesn't necessarily mean it influences a number of organic traffic. In this case, I tried to choose profiles where engagement correlates with the number of followers. </p> <p>As for Moz, I just didn't include it in the analysis. The thing is that to trace an average number you need to choose stable and neutral cases that are relatively the same. The popularity of Moz may have lead to skewed analysis, as it, probably, would show higher numbers and cause spikes in stats.</p> <p>But I totally agree with you that newsletters play a vital role in the numbers behind clicks and shares.</p>

<p>Hey, Betty! Thank you so much for your interesting question that provoked such a discussion! As I already mentioned, I cannot give you an expert opinion on that at this moment, since I've never done any research on this matter. But, judging by the comments, Google+ could be effective. Just try different social channels and check what works best for you. The thing is that it is also strongly depends on the industry you are in.</p>

<p>Hi, SolaireAltea! I'm not sure I can give you an expert opinion on that. I've never focused my analysis on Google+. First of all, it's because I don't really use it in my campaigns. Maybe, I should give it a try, but right now I can't tell you anything that can be supported by numbers or by my experience. But since it's so topical, I guess I should take a look at how Google+ can influence SEO. Thank you!</p>

<p>Thank you, Premnath321!</p>

<p>Thank you, UKBB! You're right, but consider this as a flaw in my analysis. Honestly, I didn't exclude bot activity and I'm not sure you can do that. </p>

<p>Thank you!</p>

<p>Hi, 18k! There used to be a tool called Topsy, but it was closed in 2015. And it was helpful. I would suggest to look at stats in SimilarWeb or in your Google Analytics. If you receive a substantial amount of traffic from Google+, - you'll see it among your main traffic sources. If you want to check social signals, you can try SharedCount or linkilike, though their data sometimes seems odd to me. I personally don't know a tool that can trace how Google+ on its own influences your ranking. Hope it helps</p>

<p>Hi, Scott! Very interesting suff you wrote and I think you are right! Indeed, digital marketers have been proclaiming Google's demise for quite a long time. And I believe that social media and Facebook, in particular, can replace Google some day in terms of search. However, regarding your question, whether Google has added some kind of social media metric to complement its algorithm, - I'm afraid I don't know the answer to it. My guess is that if they did, they would definitely say so. But I believe that indirectly social media plays an important role in ranking.</p>

<p>Thank you, Tim!</p>

<p>jhines, thank you so much for your opinion and for sharing your experience! From one project to another, I have the same results: if you combine SEO and SMM, then you can expect awesome results. And your story is yet another proof</p>

<p>Hi, jhines! That's interesting, indeed</p>

<p>Thank you, Pranav! Glad it was helpful!</p>

<p>After having delivered this research, I wondered whether someone has ever faced a situation in which a site that is performing pretty well in Google and receiving a solid amount of organic traffic also has about the same number of visitors from SMM profiles. In order to get this traffic, does this site have a huge number of followers and a solid engagement rate?<br /></p> <p>I'm curious about that because my gut feeling tells me that there's should be no correlation in SMM between the number of followers vs, engagement, as well as the amount of traffic received. I have no data on hand to confirm that, but my expertise keeps telling me that clicks, engagement, and followers have nothing to do with each other.</p> <p>Best,</p> <p>Alex</p>

<p><br />Hi Luis,</p> <p>I absolutely agree with you that people expect to see in local company search results both who we are and what's happening in this area. It's quite logical, however, that if a large company has an office on the same street as local ones, it deserves to be featured in Local Packs as well. It's hard to understand why Google would rank a local company higher than a huge corporation.</p>

<p>Hi Antonio,</p> <p>I think the answer is yes, but the devil is in the details. Without proper research and understanding a niche inside-out, it's hard to be 100% sure.</p> <p>With regard to other countries - definitely not. For instance, lawyers aren't popular in Russia, and roughly 95% of the people don't seek legal help when they're going through the divorce process. Basically, the market of each country is unique due to various factors involving historical and political development.</p>

<p>Hi Kurt,</p> <p>Thank you for your comment.</p> <p>To be honest, it's hard to say how much has been changed in the local pack situation with regard to the ads that appear there. However, I still tend to believe that there are plenty of users who still prefer to click on organic results in local packs. Still, from my point of view, there aren't many options. At the moment, local packs are the less-competitive environments compared to organic results.<br /></p>

<p>Hey, KeithFern!</p> <p>Thanks so much for sharing such a detailed feedback! I've learned several interesting things after reading your comment.</p> <p>Yes, indeed, quality content can be very helpful and you're very resourceful to implement such a nice strategy! I hear you, SMM can be especially challenging for the legal niche and leveraging audiences from complementary niches can give you a vital boost in your promotional efforts </p> <p>I am sure that your story will come in handy for many who are out there searching for the right tactic. Maybe, you can turn your experience into a post as well</p>

<p>Willie,</p> <p>Thank you for your comment, and for sharing your expertise! I've noticed that the issue with backlinks is a common one for a lot of niches, especially offline. I suppose PPC might be a relatively good way to acquire new clients; meanwhile, you're waiting for SEO that takes no less than 6 months to start sending the traffic to a site. In other ways, it's risky to use only one channel, like putting all of your eggs in one basket. I agree that <a href="http://shouselaw.com/" rel="nofollow">shouselaw.com</a> is an excellent example: They have over 1,900 referring domains in accordance with Ahrefs.</p> <p>Since I don't often deal with the legal niche, I'm certain that you're more knowledgable than I am on this. It seems that the legal niche is too lazy to build their SEO presence the right way, so that's why online businesses are dominating the SERPs.</p>

<p>Hiren,</p> <p>Thank you for sharing your tips and thoughts about social media traffic. I've tried several times to run ad campaigns on social media for small businesses, and we've found that that in most cases, it's too expensive for them (especially if we select laser-targeted campaigns).</p>

<p>Thanks, guys! Glad to hear you liked it!</p>

<p>Sachin, thank you for your comment, and for sharing useful information about how to get a link from those authoritative online websites. Actually, I thought about Barnacle SEO when I was working with a couple of sites from SEO/digital marketing niches, because for some keywords, there's no way to rank on the first page of Google even in a long-term perspective. I was thinking of finding the ways to update the old content with a link to a particular site, in order to remain present in Google. </p>

<p>Nate, thank you very much for your comment!</p> <p>I agree with you, and I'm certain that for individual lawyers, this seems to be the best way (or at least, it might help them boost their visibility during the early stages). However, those websites still won't help you build your personal brand in Google. They'll help you acquiring clients, but that's only the half of the battle. I believe in the extreme importance of investing in a brand, because that allows you to reach a broader audience.</p>

<p>Hi Ivan, thanks for your kind words, it's greatly appreciated :)</p>

<p>thanks! Glad you liked it!</p>

<p>I've been analyzing the numbers, and I'm wondering about other sources for traffic for a legal website, besides Google. </p> <p>I conducted some research, and noted that there were numerous articles promoting social media channels. However, it's obvious that SMM traffic is extremely difficult to convert; therefore, my question is, has someone been successful enough to effectively generate and convert organic traffic from SMM channels in a legal niche?</p>

<p>Ushman, I don't believe Google will become a Social Media channel. In reality we spend much more time on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Instagram compared to searching Google.<br /></p>

<p>Carlos, huge thanks! And you're totally right :)</p>

<p>Vishal, thanks for your positive feedback about my research; it's greatly appreciated. I'm confident that a successful digital marketing strategy should consist of both short- and long-term wins in order to satisfy business needs. Ideally both PPC and SEO should be involved!</p>

<p>Mike, thanks :)</p> <p>PPC channel requires stable investment. However, SEO also requires constant improvement. And time is also money :)</p>

<p>Matt, SEO is a long-term investment, which I think creates issues at times. People often aren't willing to be patience, so I don't recommend, for instance, that startups only rely on SEO. Referral traffic and brand mentions are easier and more effective ways of reaching potential clients. However, with PPC an exceedingly trustworthy agency or expert is needed, because a client's fears are greater.</p> <p>I feel Social Media and Content Marketing is practically inseparable from SEO. They're just additional sources of organic traffic and, especially for SMM, the conversions are really related to the strength of the brand. The more powerful the brand, the more likely visitors from SMM channels will become customers.</p>

<p>Ricky, yes I confirm that I hear the same from other experts in our industry!</p>

<p>Sebastian, really appreciate your feedback! I think a lack of understanding is a common issue in the search marketing industry, prompting people say "no" to the relevant channels just because they don't understand how it works.</p> <p>But I'm confident that we are able to communicate with customers using language they can understand.</p>

<p>Rachel, what tool do you use? I've just checked Google Keyword Planner and it seems that you're right, but I noticed that it's changing constantly. Since this data sample was collected in January, it's likely it's already updated.</p>

<p>Katy, while I think SEO requires greater understanding, it's part of our job to educate our customers.</p>

<p>Vikas, great to hear that!</p> <p>Many thanks!</p>

<p>Joseph, I agree PPC and SEO ideally should be used simultaneously. This will produce a higher likelihood of conversion as well as making the site more visible forthe searchers that you're not ranking in organic results.</p>

<p>Gyorgy, I would certainly encourage brands to run ads on their brands just because it's part of their brand awareness and on top of that, it's cheap. </p> <p>Sitelinks and other elements of ads look great. If you see non-optimized organic snippets on SERP that aren't really relevant to your search query then it's not surprising that paid search will be working awesomely!</p>

<p><br />Benjamin, I've never thought about it from the perspective of trial and error. But I have noticed that there are plenty of companies that are trying to do PR campaigns on their own and then converted to being my clients, so I think it can be scalable for a lot of "free" channels.</p>

<p>Moroncito, yes I agree. SMM is another channel of organic traffic and the way to get visitors on board in order to rank better.</p> <p>Actually, I've found that there's a lot of businesses that are starting with acquiring solely Social Media traffic and then slowly pushing their SEO. I think it's a good strategy right now.<br /></p>

<p>John-Paul, honestly, I relied on the <a href="https://www.semrush.com/info/SEO%20strategy%20temp...(adwords_historical" rel="nofollow">SEMrush data</a>, which is quite reliable in my opinion; so they probably discontinued that. However, this <a href="https://www.dropbox.com/s/6z7saz0nfk9hz5z/Screen%20Shot%202016-03-10%20at%2019.38.08.png?dl=0" rel="nofollow">screenshot</a> tells a more solid story about how Google is using AdWords (i.e., broad searches, irrelevant landings, etc.)</p> <p><br /></p>

<p>Thanks, Alice! Greatly appreciated ;)</p>

<p>Joe, yes, that's something we don't cover that much; or it might be discussed more often in real life, rather than here on the web. It's true that people are much slower in accepting new trends and ideas. For instance, we recently had a discussion with an agency from Slovenia, and they're struggling with persuading their clients to try ads on Twitter. Before that, they faced the same issue with Facebook. People are suspicious of jumping into something new, which is fairly understandable.</p> <p>Oh, yeah! I love your idea about comparing digital marketing trends with the fashion industry. However, the same was true of smartphones before Steve Jobs gave an excellent speech; so we're going in rounds, and that's fine!</p>

<p>Thanks for sharing your thoughts about this topic. I agree that PPC involves more knowledge and requires an additional budget, as well as paying for someone to run it. In future research, I hope I'll be able to add CTR's for each service, which might add another interesting dimension.<br /></p>

<p>Kula, I agree that quick wins can be achieved only with PPC. On the other hand, with SEO you need to pay only an agency -- that's it. This is why SEO is so popular. </p> <p>I don't agree that PPC helps website rankings to grow. It might help, but not directly.</p>

<p>Thanks, John! Appreciate this, analytical pieces are really close to my heart :)</p>

<p>Thanks for your comment. Each of those services has pluses and minuses. The one you select will depend on your final goals. So, I can't say that SEO is winning against PPC: they're both help make progress generating revenue, but they do in so different ways.</p>

<p>Igor, many thanks for your kind words.Yes, it's funny how Google doesn't care about it's own rules. This proves that the rules of the game aren't the same for everyone, and that's probably why there are a lot of people who become frustrated and choose to use gray and black SEO techniques.</p>