Is A Number One Position The Seo Holy Grail!

Many-an-argument has taken place within on-line forums and community sites over the importance of having a top ranking position for a sought-after keyword phrase. Some contributors have readily stated that they are more-than-happy if their site comes within the top ten to twenty positions stating that their customer/client's on-line ROI (Return On Investment) targets have been met and traffic to the site has doubled, tripled or peaked greater than their initial expectations.

So, is it really all that important to have your site sitting top-of-the-stack? Are SEO's or Internet Marketing Agencies more than happy for a clients site to settle for a Page Two listing? Before I can honestly answer that question, lets delve into some facts and figures to get the general consensus of what page ranking means to your on-line business success.


It's no secret that there are figures available on the Internet as to how many searches are performed on a keyword phrase. Some major Search Engines (Yahoo for example) release their figures to on-line sites or third-party desktop applications every month. One of the best examples that I have come across of determining the search criteria of a keyword phrase is SEO Book's Keyword Suggestion Tool: (www.tools.seobook.com/general/keyword/suggestions/) ;

This tool collates the information released from Overture (Yahoo) and determines the estimated monthly searches by Google users simply by doubling the number. In the USA, Google has around roughly 60% of the market share and Yahoo 20% - that's three times as much, not twice as many, I hear you cry but remember to take into account vanity searches, click bots, rank checkers, and other forms of automated traffic. Google in the UK has around 78% of the market (source: www.999today.com/technology/news/story/3285.html) and an educated estimate would be to times Overture's figures by eight to find the Google audience for your keyword search.

The only Search Engine to release relevant figures to help figure out Click-Through-Rates (CTR) for Top Twenty Positions were AOL (source: www.jimboykin.com/click-rate-for-top-10-search-results/) and the figures were surprisingly astounding:

• Number 1 Position would get 3.5 times more Clicks than Number 2 Position


• Number 1 Position would get 4.9 times more Clicks than Number 3 Position


• Number 1 Position would get 8.5 times more Clicks than Number 5 Position


• Number 1 Position would get 14.1 times more Clicks than Number 10 Position

By: Paul Steven

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Paul Steven is an SEO Consultant with a leading Scottish SEO Company. Affordable Ayrshire Web Design Company.

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