I have a site that is jumping up and down the Yahoo serps. for a few days It is #1 for my keyword, then it goes down to #2, then #1 again. I have noticed that the difference in traffic is huge. I never thought that it would be so big, I always thought that people would visit at least the 3 first sites listed, but they seem to be only cliking on the first one.
Can you present some numbers fryman, percentage or unique hit differences from number 1 and 2, thanks.
also if you have a 'conversion metric' of some sort, is it effected at all with the #1 or #2 position ..? getting traffic is great - converting traffic to $$ or other resource it the ticket though
I don't sell anything, so I can't talk about conversions. It is just an informative site, and Adsence banners seem to get the same CTR from #1 and #2 ranks. Never bothered to notice exactly the amount or % of change between each ranking, but it is a good idea. I have a #1 ranking today, I will keep track and post more detailed stats when I get them. As a rough estimate, I can say that my traffic difference between #1 and #2 is about 40%
it may be that not just one keyword is hitting #1, if you have 1000 pages all hitting top spot, but not on your radar, then that could explain why.
I have noticed the same things. In Google it can even be a higher difference since some people choose the "I feel lucky" option. Also, it is not just the top 3 or 4 that get most of the traffic, it is the bottom one or two as well. The ones in the middle are losing out, believe it or not.
I've also noticed that a rank in #10 brings in loads of visitors, seems that people scroll around the results and look at the top and bottom, ignoring most of what is in the middle. Bad thing about #10 is that you are left worrying all the time that you will get bumped down to the second page
Really interesting Can you tell us what phrase you are talking about? What about your competitor? Is he relevant?
I can agree. Difference between #1 and #2 means the difference between $18K and $6K for a keyword I manage.
we are optimised for a few phrases but interestingly have a similar pattern, we are number 1 for adventure tours new zealand (usually) but about no. 4 for new zealand adventure tours, the latter is far mroe frequenty searched but we get about 6 times the traffic from the one we are top for. It makes me think theres validity in just choosing 2 or 3 main phrases and really trying to nail them
That is interesting it would never have occured to me that you might be better off in tenth than say sixth. It sounds like it only affects the number of visitors and that you do not have more credibility etc for being number one.