Importance of Top Search Engine Rankings
AOL released the search data of 500,000 users over a 3 month period; however, this information was promptly removed from their website probably due to privacy concerns. None the less, the data still got out and from that data the below graph can be constructed:
This graph displays the CTR of users for the top 10 search engine rankings. At a glance, a webmaster can clearly see the importance of obtaining a search engine ranking of #1 for their website instead of #2 or #3. A #1 ranking brings ~4 time more traffic than #2, ~5 times more traffic than #3, and ~7-15 times more traffic than #4-10. As webmasters this tells us something very essential to taking advantage of organic search, it is vital to focus your efforts to attain #1-3 ranking for your targeted keywords. Instead of targeting a multitude of keywords and aiming to get them on the front page of the serps, you would be better off targeting a single keyword phrase and attaining a #1 ranking for it. Additionally, the next graph shows the differences in the serps pages 1-4:
Even if you are unable to rank in the top 3 rankings for your keyword terms, attaining a rank on the front page can produce noticeable improvements. A change in your serps from #11 to #10 will give you ~4.5 times more search engine traffic for that keyword phase. It is necessary that you account for search engine ranking CTR with seo. A single bump up in rankings can have a drastic effect on CTR. Be aware with seo on your website, so that you benefit the most from organic search.
[…] competitive search term, you can drive a lot of targeted traffic to your website. Winning the battle for the #1 ranking can exponentially increase your traffic. Too many people are targeting a range of search terms […]
Effective Resource Management in SERPs | SEO Blog said this on February 6, 2010 at 12:41 pm |