US Merchants, advertising online see 17% jump in revenues,, dominated by paid search

The online merchants who comprise the MarketLive Performance Index are enjoying the rewards of their greater investments in paid search, according to a new MarketLive report.

Web sales in US in Q3  grew 17.2% year over year for the more than 100 retailer clients included in e-commerce according to( MarketLive Inc.’s Performance Index.)

During the first half of this year (H1), paid search accounted for 32% of all their search visits, up from 26% during the first half of 2012. Paid search traffic continued to be more valuable than organic search traffic, with the former accounting for an outsized 44% of revenues from search.Traffic to retailer sites included in the Index increased 15.7%, and the average order size reached $141.68, up 1.5% from $139.53 during Q3 2012. E-retailers that operate on MarketLive’s e-commerce platform include A/X Armani Exchange, No. 308 in Internet Retailer’s Top 500 Guide; Party City Corp., No. 230; and Title Nine, No. 337.

 Organic search traffic dropped 5.04% year over year and now accounts for 62.4% of search traffic, down from 65.7% in Q3 2012. Paid search traffic increased 9.64% and now accounts for 37.6% of search traffic, up from 34.3% in Q3 2012.