EQUTE — Researchers say the benefit of good organic SEO rankings may also contribute to people clicking on paid ads.

Researchers Sha Yang and Anindya Ghose at the New York University — Leonard N. Stern School of Business wrote up their findings in a really long paper, luckily WebProNews distilled the juicy bits for everyone.

Basically, the research shows that when both organic results and paid ad results appear on a search results page, the paid ads perform better.

It’s almost surprising how synergy the study suggests.

Positive interdependence leads to an increase in expected profits for the firm ranging from 4.2 % to 6.15 % when compared to profits in the absence of this interdependence.

The study showed that the he positive association is strongest when advertiser-specific keywords are used and weakest when brand-specific and generic keywords are used. When the two combine, click-through rates are 5.1 percent higher than when only organic listings are present and 11.7 percent higher when both are shown together.

Overall, the researchers said that profit from the paid search can shoot up by as much as 54 percent.

So those SEM marketers that completely ignore organic search should take note to spread their efforts around. Whether the search listing adds credibility to the ads or vice versa, it’s an interesting synchronicity

So all you SEM marketers should work on those organic rankings, and those SEO experts should work to get their ads displayed alongside their high-ranking search results.