If you aren’t on page one of a search result, pretty much you are nowhere. Only a tiny percentage of searches ever go onto page two.
It takes a very important, high-volume search term to make being on page two do much. There are situations (with tremendously high-volume search terms) where even being lower than page two can keep a small business afloat.
But mostly, page one is the Holy Grail you are seeking.
How much difference does your position on page one make?
Generally, the higher the position the better. Except organic listings are more clicked on than paid listings – by a wide margin, in most cases usually 3 or 4 to 1.
Beyond that, it gets controversial. I’ve seen a lot of studies I don’t believe.
Here’s one that could be true. In a new study, the number 2 paid position got more attention than the #1 position, and the #3 got as much as the #1 spot.
Amazing. But still – does that translate into more clicks? The study doesn’t say.
On the other hand I’ve seen multiple studies claiming that the #1 spot in organic listings gets around 1/3 of ALL clicks.
I don’t believe it. We’ve seen too many results that indicate the drop-off as you go down the page is way more gradual than that.
Absolutely this kind of number is going to be true IN CERTAIN SEARCHES.
But let’s take the situation that most people are in. A small or medium-sized business, selling something locally or in a niche market, where the competition is other small and medium-sized businesses.
That’s WAY different than someone searching for a certain brand name or company. Or who is looking for information, not looking to buy something.
With nearly all of our clientele, we see a gradual rise of traffic to the site as they move up the rankings from bottom of page one, to top half, to a #2 or #1 position.
Of course it is better to be #1. Keep working at it until you get there.
All I’m saying is if you are #6 on an important high-volume search term, take a win. It is probably generating you a lot of valuable visitors to your site.