Online Merchants' Search Traffic & Revenues, H1 2012 vs H1 2013 [CHART]

The online merchants who comprise the MarketLive Performance Index are enjoying the rewards of their greater investments in paid search, according to a new MarketLive report. During the first half of this year (H1), paid search accounted for 32% of all their search visits, up from 26% during the first half of 2012. Paid search traffic continued to be more valuable than organic search traffic, with the former accounting for an outsized 44% of revenues from search.

That’s because paid search traffic converted at a higher rate than organic search traffic (2.57% and 1.9%, respectively), with a higher overall average order value ($113.00 and $109.66, respectively.) Those gaps have narrowed somewhat from last year, though: conversion rates and average order value have improved for organic traffic while dipping slightly for paid search.

Overall, search accounted for 48% of all traffic and an equal portion of all revenue for the merchants. Read the rest at MarketingCharts.