25 Oct Second Place Search Results Don’t Win

Have you ever clicked over to Google to search for something? Who are we kidding? Of course you have. When you spelled out your query, hit enter, and saw search results fill the screen, what did you do next? We can almost guarantee that you didn’t go to the second page to find what you were looking for, and can without a doubt say you didn’t go to the third page. Second place search results just don’t win. How can we make such a claim? Well, in the age of digital marketing, if you’re not first, you’re last. Here’s why.

We live in a technologically dependent world where most searchers are accustomed to instant results; they’re not willing to go far for the information they’re seeking. If your business isn’t on the first page of Google results for relevant search terms, you probably won’t be discovered by searchers. This is bad for your business – you’re losing out on exposure and missing opportunities to increase revenue. If you still don’t believe us, we’ve pulled together some statistics to prove the importance of being on page one of Google search results.

The software magicians over Moz at caught our eye with some stunning stats. Here are some of the statistics we think are worth noting to convert the Google Page One disbelievers:

• Organic listings receive 90% of clicks while paid ads receive 10% of clicks
• 71% of searches end with a page one click.
• Less than 10% of people continue to page 2

It’s not enough to consider the first page of Google as a whole – we need to break it down and inspect its elements. Consider the first statistic about organic listings. Businesses paying Google to be placed at the top of search results are returning only 10% of clicks. It seems that money should be spent optimizing website contents rather than giving valuable marketing dollars to Google. Searchers easily distinguish Google AdWords from organic links because they’re displayed with a green box labeled “Ad”. Not all searchers are interested in clicking on one of these sites when they know the business is paying to be put in front of them. Many users automatically scan past ads each time they search, not even consciously aware of their immediate dismal. (We call this “ad blindness.”)

Being on the first page of Google search results for your relevant search terms can make or break your business. Not many people think in depth about their search behaviors and habits until it is brought to their attention. Now that you’re aware of it, how often have you found yourself clicking to page two of search results? Not often, huh? If you are listed on the second page, you’re missing 91.5% of Google traffic. It is not an effective business practice to rely on the 10% that stumbles upon your site in the lower search result listings. You’ll need to invest more time and money in improving your website and SEO.

We hope you believe us now when we say being on the second page of Google isn’t helping you. If you’re looking to improve your SEO and get on the first page of Google for your relevant search terms, get in touch with us. We’ll help you engineer influence online and build authority as a brand.