Offline clients asking for facts on page 1 positions

[RobFountain]

Hey guys

I'm looking for facts and figures (if any) related to click throughs and positioning on page 1 of Google to present to an offline client. I've been looking on here and other sites but can't find anything useful.

They are currently ranking on page one for a number of long tail terms. For some they are are position 1-3, others they are at the bottom of page 1.

They obviously know that being page 1 position 1 is better than being at the bottom of page 1, but want to know if it's worth investing in more offline work to get higher on page 1.

Are there any studies on this sort of thing? I know there are plenty of facts knocking around about how many people view results on page 2 or beyond but wondered if there is anything similar for page 1 results.

Thanks

Bob

[Kev Stevenson]

Hi Bob,
There is a thread somewhere on WF that breaks down into percentages the traffic from (page 1) position 1 - 10... (I can't remember the title of the thread!)

From memory...
Pos 1 gets around 50% of the available traffic.
Pos 2-10 share the remaining traffic in decreasing increments.

i.e. #1 is worth aiming for!

Someone else may come along with a more accurate breakdown of the % increments...

Regards,
K
---------------------
EDIT
Found this... (posted 1 yr ago by WF User webdango)

Percent of Clicks by Position (from SEOBook.com):

1. 42.13%
2. 11.90%
3. 8.50%
4. 6.06%
5. 4.92%
6. 4.05%
7. 3.41%
8. 3.01%
9. 2.85%
10. 2.99%

[Fernando Veloso]

Old article, but should give hints on what to search: http://www.marketinghub.info/serp-click-distribution/

[theseoguys]

The was also a study done at Cornell. Search for Cornell search results study or something. It shows the click distributon.

[Capitalist_Pig]

Originally Posted by Kev Stevenson

Hi Bob,
There is a thread somewhere on WF that breaks down into percentages the traffic from (page 1) position 1 - 10... (I can't remember the title of the thread!)

From memory...
Pos 1 gets around 50% of the available traffic.
Pos 2-10 share the remaining traffic in decreasing increments.

i.e. #1 is worth aiming for!

Someone else may come along with a more accurate breakdown of the % increments...

Regards,
K
---------------------
EDIT
Found this... (posted 1 yr ago by WF User webdango)

Percent of Clicks by Position (from SEOBook.com):

1. 42.13%
2. 11.90%
3. 8.50%
4. 6.06%
5. 4.92%
6. 4.05%
7. 3.41%
8. 3.01%
9. 2.85%
10. 2.99%

In my experience, the % for #1 is just about right, but the distribution below that is variable.

If your keyword has poor quality links, or links that people don't inherently trust in the top 10, you can get a large portion of the search results from positions 2-5. For a recent keyword I've targeted, I only doubled traffic going from pos 5 to pos 1 - I was getting about 20% CTR on position 5.

Getting "above the fold" on page 1 is your first priority. From there, I focus on having a quality title and description. Then, I focus on getting #1.

Others will see it differently, but I like to take the time that I'm on page 1, but not yet position 1, to hone the display of my page in Google and optimize CTR.

[Headfirst]

Originally Posted by RobFountain

Hey guys

I'm looking for facts and figures (if any) related to click throughs and positioning on page 1 of Google to present to an offline client. I've been looking on here and other sites but can't find anything useful.

They are currently ranking on page one for a number of long tail terms. For some they are are position 1-3, others they are at the bottom of page 1.

They obviously know that being page 1 position 1 is better than being at the bottom of page 1, but want to know if it's worth investing in more offline work to get higher on page 1.

Are there any studies on this sort of thing? I know there are plenty of facts knocking around about how many people view results on page 2 or beyond but wondered if there is anything similar for page 1 results.

Thanks

Bob

I don't have any formal studies, but I have one client who owns a hair salon who tells me that she gets 3-5 new clients per week being on the first page of Google in the city she is located in.

[Morgan Westerman]

There was a lot of buzz a few years ago with the release of the
Enquiro Eye Tracking Reports in '05 and '06 showing the famous
"Google Golden Triangle."

The data is a little dated but it makes a good visual for clients
unfamiliar with the concepts. The above reports are free on
enquiro.com.

I also found this study from mid '09 confirming similar data comparing
Google and Bing. Eye Tracking: Bing vs. Google

Using these images with the "Traffic By Google" pie chart from
SEO Book noted above (SEO Book) in a presentation for clients
makes a nice visual of the importance of high search engine positioning.

[RobFountain]

This all ties in with the data in their analytics account. I now have a convincing case to present as competitor research shows position 2 or 3 is very doable and the extra traffic is worth the investment. At least getting them 'above the fold' should be the first goal.

There's a new term!

Thanks guys!