Various studies have shown that the use of search engine optimization (SEO) is increasing at a more rapid pace than paid search, and one haircare company says its use of organic search is turning into sales.

Profound Beauty told Internet Retailer that its conversion rate has increased 1.5 percentage points since it began using search engine optimization (SEO). That increase in sales has also resulted in bigger purchases as the company says the average order has also increased from $6 to $7.

The company, which until recently only sold its products in salons, says it has seen a traffic increase across the board with even direct traffic rising by almost 30 percent after implementing search engine optimization (SEO) methods, according to the website.

Danielle Leitch, executive vice president of MoreVisibility, the company that helped Profound Beauty with their campaign, says part of the site’s problem prior to the changes was that it was too image-heavy.

"We helped them remove all of that text from images and made it text that the search engines could find," she told the news provider.

Recent figures from Hitwise suggest that paid search is falling at the expense of more organic traffic. For the four week period ending May 9, 2009, paid search traffic fell 26 percent over the same period last year.

Katherine Griwert is Brafton's Marketing Director. She's practiced content marketing, SEO and social marketing for over five years, and her enthusiasm for new media has even deeper roots. Katherine holds a degree in American Studies from Boston College, and her writing is featured in a number of web publications.