What is Share of Paid Traffic?

Share of Paid Traffic is an important Paid Ads metric that measures the percentage of total website traffic that originates from paid channels. This metric is computed by dividing traffic from paid channels by total traffic. This helps you understand how many visits paid marketing programs bring when compared to other traffic sources like search engines, social media, links from other websites, and more.

Formula

Share of Paid Traffic = Traffic from Paid Channels / Total Traffic

Example

• If a website receives 1,000 visits from search engine sources, 400 visits from social media, and 200 visits from paid channels, its Share of Paid Traffic will be 20%:
• 200 (Traffic from Paid Channels) / 1000 (Total Traffic) = 0.2 = 20%

Why is Share of Paid Traffic important?

Share of Paid Traffic is an important metric for evaluating the website’s performance and return on investment from paid campaigns. This metric helps you understand how many visits paid marketing programs bring when compared to other sources. This helps you optimise your marketing mix and track the effectiveness of each program.

Which factors impact Share of Paid Traffic?

In order to improve share of paid traffic, you need to revamp your existing paid campaigns and implement creative ones to increase overall website traffic from paid channels. Some strategies include better targeting, improved ad copy, campaign testing, and leveraging social proof elements. Additionally, you can look for new channels to advertise on in order to reach more users.

How can Share of Paid Traffic be improved?

The factors that impact Share of Paid Traffic include the budget allocated to different ad campaigns, the type of advertisement chosen (i.e PPC vs. Display Ads), the ability to track the sources of traffic, and the audience you are targeting.

What is Share of Paid Traffic’s relationship with other metrics?

Share of Paid Traffic is generally an independent metric, but it does correlate positively with other ecommerce metrics. Increased traffic from paid channels typically leads to an increase in impressions, revenue, and conversions as well. Higher numbers of clicks and users along with a higher return on ad spend can be seen when tracking this metric.