Selections / Clicks for a typical Search Engine Query
Every day, millions of people use search engines like Google and Bing to find information. They type into the search query box ‘keywords/phrases’: what they are looking for and select “Search.” They then read down the page until they find a result that looks like it might contain the information they are looking for. Most people rarely go beyond the first page of their search results (usually 10 results). So for all companies, getting their offering on the first page of the search results for the selected search terms is critical.
The table below shows the percentage of selections/clicks for a typical search engine query way back in 2008 (source AOL, 2008: based on AOL-data.tgz):
| Rank Number | Selections/Clicks |
| 1 | 42.30% |
| 2 | 11.92% |
| 3 | 8.44% |
| 4 | 6.03% |
| 5 | 4.86% |
| 6 | 3.99% |
| 7 | 3.37% |
| 8 | 2.98% |
| 9 | 2.83% |
| 10 | 2.97% |
| 11 | 0.66% |
| 12 | 0.66% |
| 13 | 0.52% |
| 14 | 0.48% |
| 15 | 0.47% |
| 16 | 0.39% |
| 17 | 0.36% |
| 18 | 0.34% |
| 19 | 0.32% |
| 20 | 0.30% |
| Other | 5.81% |
Other 5.81%
Your SEO objective should be to rank number 1 on SERP, as this receives 42.3% of all click throughs. The number 2 ranking only receives 11.92% of all click (that is about one quaryter of ranking number 1). Attaining the number position on a particular seach phrase results in nearly 4 times more traffic thanranking number 2.
As you move down the rankings for any search, the percentage of click throughs also falls. There is a slight increase however for ranking number 10, this is most probably due to users looking at the last ranking aswell as the top rankings.
Remember your SEO objective is:
Click Through Rates
The aim of SEO and internet marketing is to make sure that particular companies/websites rank highly on a search for specific key words/phrases on search engines such as Google, Bing, Yahoo, Ask and so on. The better they rank, the more visitors/traffic they will have. The more traffic, the more sales they will have!
