• by Laurie Sullivan , Staff Writer @lauriesullivan, September 3, 2014

BrightEdge believes organic search drives the most traffic. A recent study conducted by the company found that organic search drives 51% of all visitors to business-to-business and business-to-consumer Web sites, whereas paid-search drives 10% and social 5%. The study suggests all non-organic search channels combined -- paid search, social, display, email and referred -- fail to keep up with the impact from organic search.

The "Cracking The Content Code" analyzes how brands can make the most of content. It shows how traffic gets distributed among different industries. BrightEdge data reveals that the distribution of where traffic comes from varies widely. Organic search for Business Services performs the best at 73%; followed by Media and Entertainment at No. 2 with 41%; retail at 40%; technology/Internet at 43%; and Hospitality at 49%.

Organic search may drive the majority of traffic for most industries, but paid search is not far behind. "When examining the ratio of traffic to revenue, it is clear that the paid channel more than carries its weight in delivering business results, especially for the Media and Entertainment Industry," per the report.

The study aims to show the value of content and how consumers consume it. Images and videos have become increasingly popular content for brands; digital imagery has become dominant; and displays have become higher resolution in the last decade. Brands may not all have the same resources, per the study. Marketers looking to drive more traffic to their Web content without an overhaul of programs should rethink visual images. It turns out that video and images drive 13% more traffic than traditional content.

"Hand holding magnifying glass with Content sign" photo from Shutterstock.