Leading Website Traffic Referral Sources, June-July 2014 [CHART]

Organic search is the primary driver of website traffic, says BrightEdge, on the basis of a foray into its Data Cube repository, “which analyzes billions of pieces of content from across the web.” Across all industries analyzed during June and July of this year, organic search drove 51% of all visitors, far ahead of paid search (10%), social (5%) and the combination of all other (such as display, email, and referred). In fact, organic search’s influence is greatest in the business services sector.

The study shows that almost three-quarters – 73% – of global traffic to business services companies came from organic search, with media and entertainment next at 51%, right on average. Of the 5 industries spotlighted out in the report – retail, media and entertainment, business services, technology / internet and hospitality – retail showed the lowest incidence of organic search-referred traffic but the highest of paid search-referred visitors. That tracks with recent MarketLive research, which has found paid search to be a growing source of visitors and revenues for online merchants. Read the rest at MarketingCharts.