CTR 4 times higher on 1st results vs. 2nd.

Here's an interesting observation. One one of my affiliate sites that perform well the CTR is 15% when it appears 1st in G's SERPs. When my site appears 2nd, the CTR is 4-5%. This is consistent with the top 5 keyword phrases.

Conclusion: If you could spend twice as much to get to the first position when your at the second then do it. You'll still get 4 times the traffic for only twice the cost. This may apply to AdWords as well (not sure).

This is probably not true for other positions (>3rd), but I suspect the traffic CTR vs. position in Googles SERPS are not linear.

Hi Adrian!

Great post, I agree with you entirely. People sometimes underestimate the CTR between the positions and adopt the 'well I am second so I will leave it for now' approach.

It is always worth going back to the AOL data that was releases a number of years back on CTR, although not the 'be all and end all' in terms of accuracy it is as good as research comes and correlates pretty accurately with my own research. Everyone can view a pie chart made up on this below, courtesy of SEO Book:

https://www.gpwa.org/forum/images/im...cbygrank-1.png


Naturally this varies in different industries however the above is an average.

Thanks for the tip guys.

This is useful information and one that can benefit many parties.

Now, imagine how well you'd do with double / triple listings.

I think there are ways to outwit the first position when yours is at the second. I mean, getting the most conversion even if your positioning 2nd, 3rd and 4th is possible. Search Engines like google make use of page title and description on your site as the details to represent its listing in ranking results. Optimizing them so it allures more of the passers by is up to you. I not am sure if you've come to think of it, but I usually position myself as the surfer when optimizing these areas versus the keywords where I want to rank my site. And, most often than not, I read the highlighted blue link and its description when I am searching and I usually end up enjoying the 2nd to 4th position in the rank (on average). So to speak, achieving the first position does not alone guarantee higher CTR, those snippets in the ranks also come into play.

By the way, the pie chart presented by DaveMerry is very interesting. Thanks man! :rockon:

Thanks best.hands, couldn't agree with you more!

I used to work for a SEO company in London and one of the directors used to say 'High positioning isn't the finishing line, it's the last 100 metres of the marathon' - something that has stuck in my mind ever since.

Creating a aesthetically appealing title and meta attribute shouldn't be underated by any means.