What is Organic Traffic?

As a marketing leader or business owner, you likely hear excessive use of the term "organic traffic," or something similar, whenever speaking with somebody interested in helping you get more out of your website.

But, what is "organic traffic, and is there something about it that could impact your business?

The answer - Yes, it's only the most important thing your website can accomplish aside from actual sales conversions. And one DOES lead to the other...

What is Organic Traffic?

Simply put, it's the traffic coming to your website based on search queries through any of the major search engines. You will see anything from Google, Yahoo, and Bing here.

Sometimes, you'll see small-time search engines in this traffic as well, but that can also show up as "referral" traffic in my monitoring software (Hubspot).

How do I get more Organic Traffic?

Organic traffic can be influenced in many ways. Each of the search engines has its special requirements and their proprietary algorithm, so, technically speaking, they're going to differ. It's a slight difference, but it's there nonetheless.

Google is the number 1 most used search engine on the planet, ringing in at nearly 80% of ALL searches on a global scale according to netmarketshare.com:

(photo credit: netmarketshare.com)

According to Google (full descriptions found here), there are three things you can do to get more organic traffic to your website:

1. Give visitors the information they're looking for
2. Make sure other sites link to yours
3. Make your site easily accessible
4. Don't do any crazy stuff that side-steps the Google algorithm (what should I look out for?)

What steps can I take today to increase Organic Traffic?

1. Get your SEO game in check (What is SEO?). Start off by developing a keyword strategy - learn the language people use to search for answers to problems your company solves. Then, USE that language and really pay attention as to what they're asking. Find words using a keyword tracking tool (I like using MOZ pro or Hubspot) that get traffic, but aren't too difficult to rank for.
   
   
2. Blog - using your keyword strategy, you'll find some amazing topics, so write about them! Provide educational insights, and open doors to the rest of your website where deeper dives are warranted.
   
   
3. Social media - Being active and successful on social media actually DOES impact your organic traffic. Google tries to understand your brand on a global scale, and if these components are properly aligned, you'll see some pretty amazing results.

Interested in learning how to turn organic traffic into sales for your b2b company? Check out this guide to getting started with inbound marketing. Organic traffic is just one stop on the road to revenue, and this guide will show you the rest: