Why you should constantly work to improve search engine ranking

The Importance of being on page 1 of the search engine results page

This article demonstrates the importance of improving search engine ranking. In our opinion, the best way to a higher search engine ranking is through professional search engine optimisation.

Research proves the importance of gaining a presence on the first three pages returned by the search engines. Being on the first page of the search engine results page (SERPS) should always be the target. As the graph below demonstrates, all the positions on the first page of search engine results are not of equal importance.

This graph demonstrates the percentage of clicks users give to each top ten position, demonstrating the enormous advantage of being in the top 6 results

It is not surprising to see that the top 10 positions get the most clicks, with the link at position 1 being clicked the most. Reading English it is usual to start at the top of the page, and from left to right. The top six positions are the most important, as for a lot of users this is all that is visible without scrolling.

If you want your product or service to be visible to potential customers being in the top 10 positions has never been more important, the first 6 positions receive 92% of the clicks, and the first 3 positions receive 80%.

Time spent on each page 1 result

Research carried out by Cornell University tracked the percentage of time (eye-time) users spend on each of the ten results on a typical results pages returned by the Google search engine. The people being used for testing were undergraduate students, and all of them were familiar with the format of the Google search engine results page [1].

This graph shows the proportion of eye-time spent on the individual positions of the results (from the first page) returned by Google.

The data was gathered by eye tracking software that measured the amount of time users spent on various sections of the page, the amount of clicks the top links received was also measured [1].

The bottom four results receive roughly the same amount of eye time. Position seven receives a lower percentage of clicks that the others, this could be because it is lost in the page 'fold'. Once the user has scrolled to the bottom of the page, the actual position becomes much less important than the positions in the top half of the page.

It appears that when attempting to improve search engine ranking for a web-site, a position in the top six of the search engine results page has never been more important. Even web pages that currently have a top search engine ranking cannot afford to be complacent.

If the searcher is not satisfied with the results returned in the first three pages, over 80% will remain with their chosen search engine, but change the search term, sometimes adding words, hoping to refine their search. A conclusion can be drawn that as well as targeting shorter keyword phrases; longer keyword phrases should be planned and implemented throughout a web-site.

Effective Search Engine Optimisation is a time consuming task which requires experience and specialist skills. Many web site providers claim to provide a search engine optimisation service however extremely few UK websites are currently well optimised if their aim is to achieve page 1 SERPS. Read more on how to improve search engine ranking.