How much is the traffic different between #1 and #10 on Google?

15 years ago

I don´t have any hard facts. It depends. If people find immediately what they are looking for at the top spots, you will get significant less traffic on lower positions. But that´s not always the case. Sometimes you get still a good amount of traffic even on the third page.

Thanks
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mclintst 15 years ago

For most of the sites that I've been building lately the difference between 10th and 1st was huge. I spent about 2 weeks at #10 and for my main keyword I was getting about 7-10 hits a day.

I made it to #3 and the traffic increase was huge moved to about 60 hits a day. Finally hit #1 and topped out at about 85.

It really all depends on the keywords you're targeting though. According to the seobook keyword tool the total searches per day was 215.

That's just my expereince. There are so many variables involved, just aim for top 3 and be happy with that. Many times getting to #1 isn't worth the effort.
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Lucid

15 years ago

Interesting question.

Here's some data from all the PPC campaigns I've run for the last year. Data may be a bit skewed because some campaigns were created by the clients before I came aboard. However, there are 24 million ad servings, so maybe it wouldn't make that much difference.

Position/relative click rate (compared to first position)

1/100
2/88.3
3/75.0
4/62.5
5/51.0
6/42.3
7/33.4
8/28.1
9/29.5
10/27.0

So, with Adwords at least, click rates are about half in the fifth position. Do organic listings follow a similar pattern? I think there may be differences in user behavior between the two, mainly to do with how relevant each listing is to the search term. But I assume that if all ten listings were somewhat relevant, the figures may be similar.

Of course, all this data will differ wildly by industry. So do conversion rates. It's not always best to be in first. One client's best ROI is when ads are in third to fourth position and another in eighth.

Thanks
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4morereferrals

15 years ago

According to the Google Cash Detective [ so take that into context ] pre launch materials we saw - noted PPC guru chris carpenter and his team indicated that they sought position 3-5 as I recall. Sales converted better from those spots.

Now - based upon my own personal usage of google - Id have think that user behavior for organic search is really different than PPC. Dont you guys thinks so to?

One of the things that has worked for me - is once I get close - to work on the on page content that google displays - after the Pages Title. A lot of my competitors dont put very interesting text that leads prospects to click even though they rank higher. Try and get some copy that pulls in that spot but is still SEO optimized.

Then - beat them senseless in thebacklink game if you can

Originally Posted by Lucid

Interesting question.

Here's some data from all the PPC campaigns I've run for the last year. Data may be a bit skewed because some campaigns were created by the clients before I came aboard. However, there are 24 million ad servings, so maybe it wouldn't make that much difference.

Position/relative click rate (compared to first position)

1/100
2/88.3
3/75.0
4/62.5
5/51.0
6/42.3
7/33.4
8/28.1
9/29.5
10/27.0

So, with Adwords at least, click rates are about half in the fifth position. Do organic listings follow a similar pattern? I think there may be differences in user behavior between the two, mainly to do with how relevant each listing is to the search term. But I assume that if all ten listings were somewhat relevant, the figures may be similar.

Of course, all this data will differ wildly by industry. So do conversion rates. It's not always best to be in first. One client's best ROI is when ads are in third to fourth position and another in eighth.

Thanks

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WarriorNY 15 years ago

Originally Posted by Lucid

Interesting question.

Position/relative click rate (compared to first position)

1/100
2/88.3
3/75.0
4/62.5
5/51.0
6/42.3
7/33.4
8/28.1
9/29.5
10/27.0

Good info! Much appreciated
- Thanks
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Brad Callen

15 years ago

To break it down as simple as possible...
#10 = no traffic
#1 = alot of traffic

You can be excited about being ranked #10 because it means there IS a possibility that if you continue doing what you're doing, you'll move up in rank.

Brad

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ikuret75

15 years ago

Hi guys, thanks for your replies!
My keyword gets 50.000/month search per month. And I still get a good number of hits through Google now, so I'm excited to hear that it would be even better once I rank even #5.

But the keyword is SO competitive....

Thanks

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ikuret75

15 years ago

-This is to 4 morereferrals-

I went to your backlinkgoldmine page through your signature and got very interested.
I have some questions but I can't e-mail you, PM you, or reply to the post there because I haven't posted enough.

Is there any other ways I can contact you?
Or is it possible for you to PM me with your e-mail address?
(I suppose you could PM me even though I can't PM you...)

Thanks!!

Thanks

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Dan Grossman

15 years ago

The difference is much more pronounced for most search terms in organic listings than for AdWords ads.

A Cornell University study of user behavior on search result pages showed that 80% of the clicks went to the first three results, and only 2.2% to the 10th.

http://www.webprofits.com.au/blog/20...bsite-traffic/

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ikuret75

15 years ago

Hi Dan,

Yeah, I think this is the article I read or heard of before somewhere and made me think about the question! Thanks very much for posting it here.

I think now I get a lot of trafic already from Google, I'm so excited about working on SEO now!

Thanks

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Lucid

15 years ago

4morereferrals said:
> A lot of my competitors dont put very interesting text that leads prospects to click even though they rank higher.

To me, that's the key! Your organic listing is your ad and prospects have to see something in there (title and description) they like. Otherwise, I don't care if you are in first, they won't click. That's why I'm a big fan on testing your title and description tags with PPC and get as much data that way.

Brad said:
> To break it down as simple as possible...
> #10 = no traffic
> #1 = alot of traffic

I say, #1 could get a lot of traffic, #10 will get some traffic (as opposed to none as you state). Being #1 is nice but as 4morereferrals says, you still have to convince them to click.

> A Cornell University study of user behavior on search

I think I heard about this too, but many years ago. I had wondered if it was still true until I read the article and saw the published date. I also wonder if the 80% of the clicks going to the first three results include sponsored searches above the organics or only the organics.

Anyway, the numbers surprise me. More than half click on the first listing? I'm thinking if that is not what I call "impulse clicking" which is clicking without fully reading the listing they may not have clicked had they read more carefully. The sharp drop-off in click rate for the next listing would suggest that to me.

Comparing the click rates to my PPC click rates also refute the thinking many have that more people will click on organics than on PPC and therefore they are more valuable. Again I'm sure that the numbers would differ greatly among industries but this chart to me says they are equally valuable.

Interesting stuff on that page so thanks for the link, Dan.

Thanks
1 reply

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Dan Grossman

15 years ago

Originally Posted by Lucid

More than half click on the first listing? I'm thinking if that is not what I call "impulse clicking" which is clicking without fully reading the listing they may not have clicked had they read more carefully.

It implies that Google gets its search results right most of the time, so the first result is usually what the searcher was looking for.

Originally Posted by Lucid

The sharp drop-off in click rate for the next listing would suggest that to me.

It suggests the opposite. If the clicks on the first listing did not lead to what the person was searching for, then the second listing would have a larger percentage of clicks. The fact that the drop-off is steep implies that the searchers find what they want in the first listing and don't need to click the others.

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AndrewL

15 years ago

#1 Gets 40% of the search traffic and every position after gets 10% less.

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Dan Grossman 15 years ago

Originally Posted by AndrewL

#1 Gets 40% of the search traffic and every position after gets 10% less.

That progression adds up to 259% after 9 steps. Don't make up statistics, it's not helpful.
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pj413

15 years ago

Originally Posted by ikuret75

Hi,
My site is sitting around rank #8-#10 on Google.
The #1-#5 sites are quite strong (there is even the Yahoo!'s official site on my keyword) and I am wondering if I should bother trying to do more on SEO.

But, I hear that traffic you get is SO different between rank #1 and #10, on Google.

So, I am wondering if you guys know any statistics on the average Click through rate on the search result (by the ranking...Like #1 is 70% and #10 is 20% or something like that).

Also, it would be great if you could share any personal experience about that. (for example "my site's traffic doubled when it got #3 from #7) or something like that.

Thanks!!

Hey ikuret75,

Here is what you are looking for:

Google Click through Rate Stats

# 1 SPOT in Google gets 42.3 % of all clickthroughs

# 2 SPOT in Google gets 11.92 % of all clickthroughs

# 3 SPOT in Google gets 8.44 % of all clickthroughs

# 4 SPOT in Google gets 6.03 % of all clickthoughs

# 5 SPOT in Google gets 4.86 % of all clickthoughs

# 6 SPOT in Google gets 3.99 % of all clickthoughs

# 7 SPOT in Google gets 3.37 % of all clickthroughs

# 8 SPOT in Google gets 2.98 % of all clickthroughs

# 9 SPOT in Google gets 2.83 % of all clickthoughs

# 10 SPOT in Google gets 2.97 % of all clickthoughs

# 11 SPOT in Google gets 0.66 % of all clickthroughs

# 12 SPOT in Google gets 0.56 % of all clickthroughs

# 13 SPOT in Google gets 0.52 % of all clickthroughs

# 14 SPOT in Google gets 0.48 % of all clickthoughs

# 15 SPOT in Google gets 0.47 % of all clickthoughs

# 16 SPOT in Google gets 0.39 % of all clickthoughs

# 17 SPOT in Google gets 0.36 % of all clickthroughs

# 18 SPOT in Google gets 0.34 % of all clickthroughs

# 19 SPOT in Google gets 0.32 % of all clickthoughs

# 20 SPOT in Google gets 0.30 % of all clickthoughs

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submit_articles

15 years ago

This is a very interesting report. I have experienced similar results for most keywords. Sometimes, visitors are searching for services. If so, they tend to visit the top 2 or 3 service providers. The top 3 spots command the majority of the traffic. If you have a spot 10 position, spot 1 will bring you way over 10 times more traffic.

Originally Posted by pj413

Hey ikuret75,

Here is what you are looking for:

Google Click through Rate Stats

# 1 SPOT in Google gets 42.3 % of all clickthroughs

# 2 SPOT in Google gets 11.92 % of all clickthroughs

# 3 SPOT in Google gets 8.44 % of all clickthroughs

# 4 SPOT in Google gets 6.03 % of all clickthoughs

# 5 SPOT in Google gets 4.86 % of all clickthoughs

# 6 SPOT in Google gets 3.99 % of all clickthoughs

# 7 SPOT in Google gets 3.37 % of all clickthroughs

# 8 SPOT in Google gets 2.98 % of all clickthroughs

# 9 SPOT in Google gets 2.83 % of all clickthoughs

# 10 SPOT in Google gets 2.97 % of all clickthoughs

# 11 SPOT in Google gets 0.66 % of all clickthroughs

# 12 SPOT in Google gets 0.56 % of all clickthroughs

# 13 SPOT in Google gets 0.52 % of all clickthroughs

# 14 SPOT in Google gets 0.48 % of all clickthoughs

# 15 SPOT in Google gets 0.47 % of all clickthoughs

# 16 SPOT in Google gets 0.39 % of all clickthoughs

# 17 SPOT in Google gets 0.36 % of all clickthroughs

# 18 SPOT in Google gets 0.34 % of all clickthroughs

# 19 SPOT in Google gets 0.32 % of all clickthoughs

# 20 SPOT in Google gets 0.30 % of all clickthoughs

Thanks
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youtring 15 years ago

Hello everybody , i Think it is 90 - 10% 90% goes to the first position and the rest is distributed between the others.
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Hafsoh

15 years ago

Its depends, I've dropped from #4 to #8 and fortunately traffic has improved by 10%. many of the sites now above me aren't relevant, so they keep looking until they find what they want especially if you have a really catchy page title

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Lucid

15 years ago

> It implies that Google gets its search results right most of the time

You may be right, Dan. But it seems to me that I don't click on the first that much and that I click on other listings as well, I'm guessing more than 15% on the second and third. Would depend on the search I guess.

Then again, that is just my perception. I may be wrong. Maybe we should all track our search engine response over a week and compare.

pj413's data jive very well with the Cornell study. Where did you get those?

Thanks
2 replies

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Max Ramocsai 15 years ago

Just know that you'll be getting a hell of a lot more traffic.
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pj413

15 years ago

Originally Posted by Lucid

> It implies that Google gets its search results right most of the time

You may be right, Dan. But it seems to me that I don't click on the first that much and that I click on other listings as well, I'm guessing more than 15% on the second and third. Would depend on the search I guess.

Then again, that is just my perception. I may be wrong. Maybe we should all track our search engine response over a week and compare.

pj413's data jive very well with the Cornell study. Where did you get those?

Good old Google search, here's the link Click Through Rate of Google Search Results - AOL-data.tgz - Want to Know How Many Clicks The #1 Google Position Gets? - Red Cardinal [.] ie it's not from the orginal source that I found a while ago, but its the same information.

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intelinside

15 years ago

As previously stated, #1 does get more clicks than #10 but the snippet which is being shown in the SERPs still needs to be convincing to the user to click it.

I have seen quite a few clicks for a particular keyword in which I am competing against a .gov site and wikipedia but I am still getting good number of clicks. The reason is the description shown in the SERPs which relates well to the keyword searched.

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mitch123

Banned 15 years ago

[DELETED]

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Jenie0109 15 years ago

Originally Posted by mitch123

I read somewhere that rank 10 is better than rank 9....
What do you all feel???

you just heard it...it doesn't mean that it's true...When it comes to traffic, of course 9 is better than 10
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ikuret75 15 years ago

Originally Posted by mitch123

I read somewhere that rank 10 is better than rank 9....
What do you all feel???

I don't know statistically, but it's difinitely possible. Psychologically speaking, people tend to pay more attention toward the first part of something and the last part of something.

Also, If he/she is going to move on to the second page, right before clicking the link to the second page, they see #10. Not surprising if they click it.
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GeorgR.

15 years ago

yes #1 and #2 is already a HUGE difference. Although people say using forced lower positions (eg #2 - #10) COULD yield higher conversions. (You would use "position preference" doing this). I see WAY more clicks on #1 tho.

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Bob Monie

15 years ago

Getting a top ranking is only half the issue. Enticing the searcher to actually click through your link is the other half. This is often ignored by many webmasters who choose to stuff their titles and descriptions with keywords. Obviously these listings look like spammy junk and have poor CTR. An attractive title and well written description could double your CTR.

You should really focus on ranking in the top 3 or 4 positions to achieve the highest possible CTR. These listings appear above the fold of the page and dont require you to scroll down the page. This area above the fold is known as the golden triangle in the Google SERPS. Here is a screen shot of an eye tracking test in the Google SERPS http://ww1.prweb.com/prfiles/2005/02...16/cropped.jpg

50 people took the eye tracking test and here are the results. They show the amount of times the serps where viewed (not Click Through Rate)

Organic Search Results Viewed:

* Rank 1 - 100%
* Rank 2 - 100%
* Rank 3 - 100%
* Rank 4 - 85%
* Rank 5 - 60%
* Rank 6 - 50%
* Rank 7 - 50%
* Rank 8 - 30%
* Rank 9 - 30%
* Rank 10 - 20%

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Lucid

15 years ago

> Getting a top ranking is only half the issue. Enticing the searcher....

Bob is right as are others with similar comments in other threads. The fact is not that you are in first, second or third position, which is a nice place to be in, don't get me wrong. It's whether you can make people click. In other words, does your listing appear relevant to the search term they typed in? Is your listing inviting to them by appearing to solve a problem?

Thanks
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seolake

15 years ago

Originally Posted by Lucid

> Getting a top ranking is only half the issue. Enticing the searcher....

Bob is right as are others with similar comments in other threads. The fact is not that you are in first, second or third position, which is a nice place to be in, don't get me wrong. It's whether you can make people click. In other words, does your listing appear relevant to the search term they typed in? Is your listing inviting to them by appearing to solve a problem?

That is so true. You may reach the first rank, but if your page sucks then you will fail to grab any attention.

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femkeshe

15 years ago

Even if I drop down from #1 to #2 my traffic is going noticably down!!
So it is that important....!

f.

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Scripteen

15 years ago

You can get from 40% - 75% on the first spot depending on your page meta description and title. attractive titles and descriptions attract clicks. think of them as a minor sales pitch.

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How much is the traffic different between #1 and #10 on Google?

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