Breakpoint, an earnersforum member, calculated the AOL data from August and showed the difference in clickthrough rates for the top 10 search results. How important is the #1 spot? Pretty darn important. Here are the figures:

Total Searches:9,038,794
Total Clicks: 4,926,623

Click Rank1: 2,075,765
Click Rank2: 586,100 = 3.5x less
Click Rank3: 418,643 = 4.9x less
Click Rank4: 298,532 = 6.9x less
Click Rank5: 242,169 = 8.5x less
Click Rank6: 199,541 = 10.4x less
Click Rank7: 168,080 = 12.3x less
Click Rank8: 148,489 = 14.0x less
Click Rank9: 140,356 = 14.8x less
Click Rank10: 147,551 = 14.1x less

Interestingly, position 10 does slightly better than position 9, which is what I would have assumed, since it will be the last place for the eye to land if not satisfied with the previous results.

About the Author: Donna Fontenot

Donna Fontenot, aka DazzlinDonna, is an Internet Entrepreneur and SEO, who has long utilized search engine optimization and affiliate marketing to create a successful online business. Her goal as an ebusiness coach is to help others make a living online from the comfort of their homes (and in their pajamas). Her motto is "You'll never shine if you don't glow."

17 Comments

  1. SEO Portal August 9, 2006 at 8:34 am

    I got the same numbers from my sample; 42% from all the clicks are on the #1 spot. nearly 90% of the clicks are on the first 10 results..

    for more numbers see here:
    http://www.seo-portal.com/aol-data-analysis-i-clicks-on-search-engine-results/2006/08/09/

  2. DazzlinDonna August 9, 2006 at 8:39 am

    Good to know. I like the graphs on your site. Helps to visualize it nicely.

  3. earlpearl August 12, 2006 at 2:34 pm

    Really powerful evidence of the importance of a number 1 ranking versus overall 1st page rankings. In that example #1 had more clicks than the next 6 rankings. Hmmmm. gotta look hard at where I can get #1’s and where I need ppc, and where I need to get the long tail.

    Dave

  4. Luis October 22, 2007 at 3:19 am

    I can confirm these numbers, I had a site ranked on position 1 and then on position 7, the traffic was ten times less.

  5. Pete loves Sprachen Lernen February 15, 2012 at 11:56 am

    what I really, really wonder about is…

    the clicks are only 54 % of the searches…what does that mean??

    that many searches never complete their search?

    if a keyword has 1000 searches a month, only 540 clicks go to the search results??

    any info an that??

    Thx

    dan

Comments are closed.