New data shows the click value of high-ranking keywords
Do you rank high in search results for specific keywords?
If so, your SEO strategy must be working well.
However, do you know the actual value of those high-ranking search positions? A recent study from Slingshot SEO provides marketers with a click value for high-ranking keywords.
According to Slingshot SEO, the first search position in their research received an 18.2% clickthrough rate, which dropped to 10.05% in second position. Third position received a 7.22% clickthrough rate and the rates continued to decrease going down the page.
A study conducted by Optify in December 2010 found some different results. According to their data, the first search position experienced a clickthrough rate of 36.4%. Between the first and second result on the page, there was a steeper drop, with the second search result experiencing a 12.5% clickthrough rate.
An additional study from 2007 conducted by Enquiro Search Solutions, had results that ended up in the middle of both Optify and Slingshot SEO.
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Why the difference in these stats?
Many are left wondering why there is such a difference between these sets of data. A recent eMarketer article gives an opinion on it: “While the age of those studies could mean that user behavior on the search results page has changed, methodological differences make that difficult to determine.”
Slingshot’s research also found that the first search result received a higher clickthough rate on long-tail keyword phrases as well.
Conclusions from this information
As you can tell, there hasn’t been completely consistent data on the correlation between search results and the associated clickthrough rate. Optify’s findings from 2010 showed double clickthrough rates than Slingshot’s data from this year (36. 4% to 18.2%).
As the eMarketer article specified, the reason could be from a change in search behavior from users, or a difference in the testing methods used.
Regardless, the important take away here is that the higher your organic search rankings are, the higher clickthrough rate you will yield.
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