Organic traffic includes all visitors who land on your website through unpaid search results in search engines like Google. Unlike ads, you don’t pay per click. In this article, you’ll learn what organic traffic is, how to increase it with SEO, what the main benefits are, and how it compares to paid traffic.
What is organic traffic?
Organic traffic refers to visitors who land on your website through unpaid search results in search engines. They click on your link without you having to pay per click, unlike with ads. This type of traffic is often called “free traffic,” although it does require consistent effort in search engine optimization (SEO).
How do you get organic traffic?
You get organic traffic by optimizing your website for search engines (SEO), focusing on three key elements: technical performance, content, and authority. These are the main factors search engines use to determine which pages rank highest in the results.
Put simply: your site needs to be technically sound and provide content that matches your audience’s search intent.
High rankings in organic results don’t happen overnight. They are the result of time, strategy, and ongoing SEO investment that improves visibility and drives sustainable traffic to your site.
What are the benefits of organic traffic?
The benefits of organic traffic include lower investment, sustainable and relevant visitors, increased trust among users, better visibility, and no cost per click.
- Low investment, high return: A well-executed SEO campaign can more than pay for itself. An increase in organic traffic often results in dozens or even hundreds of percent more leads within a year.
- Highly relevant visitors: Users who find your website through search queries are actively looking for your product or service. They use relevant keywords and are often already in ‘shopper mode’, which significantly increases the chances of conversion.
- Sustainable traffic: Unlike paid campaigns, organic traffic continues to flow even when you’re not actively investing. That makes it ideal for businesses aiming to build long-term visibility and brand awareness online.
- Free visitors: You don’t pay per click like with ads. While SEO requires time and resources, each visit from organic traffic comes at no additional cost. Plus, SEO improves the overall quality of your website.
- Improved online visibility: SEO strengthens your online presence and helps you consistently outrank competitors—without increasing your ad spend.
- Increased trust among users: A top ranking in Google or another search engine builds trust. Users tend to believe that a website ranking high must be relevant, reliable, and professional.
What is the difference between organic and paid traffic?
The difference between organic and paid traffic is that with paid traffic, you pay per click for an ad in the search results, while organic traffic consists of visitors who reach your website for free via an unpaid link. That unpaid position is earned by optimizing your website through SEO.
What are other traffic sources?
In addition to organic and paid traffic, there are several other ways visitors can reach your website:
- Direct traffic – when someone types your URL directly into their browser
- Referral traffic – when visitors come from another website via a link
- Social media traffic – through platforms like Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn or X
- Email marketing traffic – from links in newsletters or email campaigns
In tools like Google Analytics, you can see what percentage of your traffic comes from organic search and how much comes from these alternative sources.
The more organic traffic you generate, the less dependent you’ll be on paid advertising and SEA campaigns.rdt vaak gezegd. Omdat je, als je website het al goed doet in de zoekresultaten je minder hoeft te investeren in betaald verkeer en SEA campagnes.
