Definition

Organic search refers to the unpaid results returned by a search engine, where ranking is determined by the engine's algorithm based on relevance, quality, and other signals — not by advertiser bids.

Organic results sit alongside paid (sponsored) results on a search engine results page; the two are typically labelled differently to keep them distinguishable. Organic search traffic is the visits a site receives by being clicked from these unpaid results. In Google Analytics, organic visits are bucketed into the "Organic Search" channel, separate from "Paid Search".

Examples

• Organic vs paid traffic split

  A retailer's Search Console reports 50,000 clicks per month from Google's unpaid results. Those are organic search visits, separate from any clicks on the same retailer's Google Ads campaigns shown in the Ads dashboard.

Sources

• Google Ads Help — Organic search results
• Google Search Central — How Search works

Related terms

• SERP
  The page a search engine returns in response to a query, including the list of results and any features such as ads, knowledge panels and rich snippets.
• Search Intent
  The underlying goal a person has when entering a query into a search engine — what they actually want to find, do, or know.
• Click-Through Rate
  The percentage of search impressions that resulted in a click. CTR = clicks ÷ impressions × 100.

Where QueryCatch uses this

• Google Search Performance
• SEO Audit