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Re: Paid Search v. Organic Search Traffic Analysis
Asked by LocalSEOGuide

Question:
Anyone know how t o determine how much of a competitor's traffic comes from paid search/ads v. organic search?

(This answer wad edited on 2-6-09 to be more clear and responsible as to my personal views and ethical boundaries. The original post was intended as a summary of things learned at a conference at the Boston Pub Con in 06 titled: Competitive Intelligence and Search Marketing: Keep it Smart, Keep it Legal!as linked to in the bottom of the post. Major edits are marked as such.)

My Lengthy Response:

Personally, I like to take a more blue ocean strategy and come up with cool ideas and concepts that are value based rather than running marketing campaigns as reactions to competitors. Most of what needs to be done to make an online marketing campaign successful is fairly straight forward and can be developed without this level of intimate competitive knowledge.

That being said, here are 3 methods:
(I do not condone nor vilify any of these tactics and simply present them)

1. Competitive Keyword Analysis tools
In the bottom of this postthere are some options. Basically, use this to figure out what they are bidding on. Based on their estimates, you should be able to estimate the PPC traffic they pull in.

2. Bribery and Subterfuge
(Edited on 2-6-09: ) The only other way to get this specific information would be to trick, bribe or blackmail. While I would never and have never attempted to do this for any reason, it is important to understand that this can and does happen. Make sure you trust the people who have access to your sites and that you trust the professionalism and security procedures of your ISP.

3. Market Research Companies
Companies like Hit-wise and Jupiter Media essentially bribe ISPS for access to their data and can more legitimately do this kind of research for you. They are not cheap.

Not Satisfied? Check out this post a wrote almost 2 years ago blogging from PubCon Boston.