Is Page 1 on Google Worth The Effort?
Every online marketer and business owner knows that reaching the top spot in the SERPs (Search Engine Results Pages) is the ultimate goal of organic SEO. Obviously, being #1 has its advantages, meaning its pretty intuitive that people are more likely to click and convert the higher up on the SERP you are. But, while being first is clearly ideal, how much is it actually worth in terms of traffic and conversions? And how do the other positions stack up? Here’s what the research says:
Traffic – A recent study by the internet marketing firm Search Engine Watch suggests that the top spot in a SERP can expect to see an average of 36.4% of the clicks for that keyword. That means more than a third of all visitors choose the first result, and they’re taking their money with them as well. Even with low on-page conversion rates, capturing a third of the initial market for a keyword is a significant advantage. Imagine if you were capturing all that traffic and high a highly converting optimized page? Money in the bank. When performing a competitor analysis, be sure to estimate their probability of ranking #1 or you might be setting yourself up for a costly failure.
If #1 gets a third of all traffic, where does that leave the rest? Well, it turns out that each spot down in rankings cuts visitors drastically. At the #2 spot, your traffic will likely drop to only a third of the top ranking at 12.5% of the overall traffic. #3 gets even less with 9.5%, #4 gets 7.9%, and #5 rolls in with a measly 6.1%. Coming in at number 5 will bring you a mere 20% of the first result.
However, being on the front page, even if not number one, is still a significant gain over page 2, 3, and beyond. The top 10 search engine results receive a shocking 89% of all traffic, meaning that if your site isn’t there, you may want to find a new keyword or dig your heels in and spend some time and money on SEO. And depending on your business, being on the first page could be enough to turn a profit. Whereas a lawn mowing business may rely on being #1 or #2 in rankings to be found, other business models can profit just by being in the top 5:
Caste Study 1 – Glasses.com, is ranking number 1 for a ton of KW’s like “glasses, buy glasses, online glasses etc” and they get a ton of traffic from these keywords. Most of the time the homepage is ranking for these keywords. However, they actually make less than 50% of their monthly revenue from people landing on their homepage organically. Then where does most of their income come from? Its actually their Oakley prescription sunglasses page that nets them 30% of all monthly revenue. Crazy. The other 20% mostly from other branded landing pages like Ray ban. What are these branded landing pages ranked? 6 and 7 on average.
Case Study 2 – Thefront.com.au is an Australian camera rental site. The search volume for “camera rental” is very high, the problem is that in Australia most people say “camera hire” instead of “rental.” Originally the site was optimized for “rental” because that had the highest search volume, and was ranking in the top 5. The site was getting allot of traffic but almost no conversions. Because the people searching with “rental” were in different countries! Needless to say when they switched everything around the word “hire” even though they are not ranking nearly as well and for a KW with a fraction of traffic, conversions and revenue went way up.
Moral of the story, being number 1 doesn’t always equal more money. Even if a KW has high traffic volume and you rank no.1 for it, you need to take into account user intent i.e. what is the users purpose and mindset when typing in a kw?
Conversions - Of course visitors are important, but what about actual conversions? Traffic without sales is a costly game to play. In fact, MOZ.com conducted research on a seasonal retail store and found that spots from 1 to 3 don’t have as much conversion per click through as the spots from 4 to 7. So not only does the above example of glasses most likely attribute to user intent, but also across the board the top 3 spots generally don’t covert as well. Interesting. This means that if you’re company is paying a significant sum to be ranked in the top 3, you may want to reconsider investing funds elsewhere, while hanging around the 5 or 6 spot. Becoming #1 in the search engines for a given keyword has become the obsession of many marketers and their clients. But before you spend all your time gunning for a no.1 spot take into consideration the cost to get to the spot, the time, conversion rates, user intent for the kw and other kw’s.
The no.1 spot isn’t always the “no.1 spot”.
Research material sources from smallbusinesscan.com and Search Engine Watch.
www.avidpartners.ie 0818 303087 advice@avidpartners.ie
Scenarios:
-
"A breath of fresh air. Your firm demonstrated enormous commercial understanding in turning around negotiations with a potential target vendor. I admire your style and ability to drive the deal forward. Many thanks." -
"I would like to say I'm very happy with your service, especially the audit team, your staff are always friendly, helpful and a pleasure to deal with." -
"Your business approach to clients is very impressive. I have always found that when explaining the types of service on offer, it is always concise and straight forward. The level of trust that clients place in your company and its staff speaks volumes." -
"I would like to take this opportunity to say how much we are impressed with your company's professionalism, it has been a pleasure working with you all and we look forward to working with you in the future." -
"Avid Partners - Accountants & Business Advisors are an excellent firm of accountants, their quality ethos is outstanding." -
"I have dealt with Jamie O' Hanlon, of Avid Partners - Accountants & Business Advisors Chartered Certified Accountants, for a number of years as he is auditor to one of my clients. I have always found him to be professional and responsive in his approach." -
"Service is second to none; there is always someone at the end of the phone for any business advice. The staff are very easy to get along with, very approachable and know exactly what they are talking about" -
We at Fitzies Bar have worked with Avid Partners - Business & Financial Advisers for over five years. We find that the advice and support offered to us in addition to all of our book-keeping requirements to include payroll, VAT, etc. is invaluable and has helped to contribute to our continued growth especially in these challenging times. I would have no hesitation in recommending Avid Partners. -
Jamie and his staff are a pleasure to work with. They respond promptly to any queries we have and are critical to our financial planning and the future needs of our business. I would highly recommend them to anyone interested in accounting services. -
We at Stillorgan Cycles have used Jamie and his Team at Avid Partners – Accountants and Business Advisers for over five years. We have found that the retail advice and support offered to us is second to none and has helped to contribute to our continued growth especially in these challenging times. I would have no hesitation in recommending Avid Partners. -
I met Avid Partners through a local business networking group. We had been using the same accountants for years and found that in these harsh economic times that we were not getting good enough value or service. We were very impressed by the company's professionalism and enthusiasm and genuine interest in helping us get the most out of our business. As a result we are now clients of Avid Partners and are thrilled with our decision. -
After meeting Avid Partners with a view to changing our accountants, we came away with a better deal financially and a feeling that we were in capable hands. We feel that Avid Partners has a personal interest in the welfare of our business. Avid Partners have given us great advice, help and support and respond to our day to day queries with speed and efficiency. We feel it was a great move for us to change to Avid Partners.
