Couldn't figure out the massive traffic I was getting today. I already had as much traffic mid-day as I usually get for the entire day. Was also getting more article comments. Did a news search, nothing. Then i just decided to check google and I finally toppled the leader! My celebrity fan site went from #4 site on Google to #3. Of course we're both still behind imdb.com and wikipedia.com which are locked into the #1 and #2 seeds but I didn't know a move of one position on the first page could make such a dramatic increase in traffic. I'm not going to get too excited though. My site is a few years older but the other webmaster puts so much more passion into her work.
I've read an article that said the difference between position #1 and position #2 on a Google listing is about 50%. Each step down takes a big chunk out of traffic.
I can only dream. I have a number 37 spot though that fetchs around $5 a day so I'd love to get in the top ten.
That same thing just recently happened to me "Michael Phelps body measurements" as I wrote a silly article on Michael Phelps. Traffic doubled and I was "awestruck" to say the least - not bad for a little peon.