10 Facts Reveal The Importance of Ranking High In Google

Written by Jeff Bullas - View Comments
Categories: SEO, Search Engine Optimisation


There is a a saying in the offline world of real estate that there are three things that are critical when considering buying property and they are position, position, position!!

In the online digital universe there are also three things that are vital to your web presence or online store and that is ranking, ranking, ranking!!

In fact the online world is in essence no different to real estate in that the position of your website on a search ranking page (SERP)  can be the difference in 2010 between your business being a success or a failure.10 Facts Reveal The Importance of Ranking High in Google

Getting found online when people type in a phrase or keyword is now so important that companies can rise or fall due to their results in a Google search when customers are looking online for your products and services that you sell.

Search engine optimization (also known as SEO) is the art and science of  moving a website or blog up in search ranking results and needs to be factored into the building and ongoing optimizing of websites and blogs for your business.

  • How important is it to be on the first page or ideally ranking number one on the first page?
  • How important is ranking to get people to click through to your site when there are thousands of other companies competing to be on page one?

It is  now known to be absolutely critical as research shows that 93% of all buying decisions start with an online search.

To put this into some perspective here are some statistics regarding click through traffic based upon the position that a page receives when entered into a search  engine (this is from a study leaked from AOL’s search engine logs):

  1. The first ranking position in the search results receives 42.25% of all click-through traffic
  2. The second position receives 11.94%
  3. Third position on the first page obtains 8.47%
  4. The fourth placed position on page one receives 6.05%
  5. The others on the first page are under 5% of click through traffic
  6. The first ten results (page one ) received 89.71% of all click-through traffic,
  7. The next 10 results (normally listed on the second page of results) received 4.37%
  8. Third page receives a total  of 2.42 %
  9. The fifth page receives a total of only 1.07%
  10. All other pages of results received less than 1% of total search traffic clicks.

These figures were obtained are from an article titled “Beginners Guide to to  SEO” that is certainly worth a read and which you can download from one of the top blogs on search engine optimisation, “SEO moz.com“.

What I also found from this source was that being listed at the top of the results not only provides the greatest amount of traffic, but instills trust in consumers as to the worthiness and relative importance of the company/website.

Do you optimize your website or blog for search?




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  • http://twitter.com/websitemarketn/status/18509568414 Grace Rachel

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  • http://twitter.com/davidrhodesce/status/18514357278 David Rhodes

    If you thought it wasn't important to rank high in Google then take a look at these 10 facts! http://bit.ly/d901hC

  • http://twitter.com/kileylocascio/status/18520678898 Kiley LoCascio

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  • http://twitter.com/smlupdates/status/18523362902 Social Media Library

    How important is it to be on the 1st page of a #Google search? The stats are here – http://ow.ly/2bcdw #socialmedia #seo

  • http://twitter.com/krissabo/status/18529912503 Kris Sabo

    RT @DavidRhodesCE: If you thought it wasn't important to rank high in Google then take a look at these 10 facts! http://bit.ly/d901hC

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  • http://twitter.com/norflow/status/18541062614 Ron Wolf

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  • http://digitalrecruitmentdigest.wordpress.com/2010/07/16/how-important-is-it-to-be-on-page-1/ How important is it to be on Page 1? « DNA's Digital Recruitment Digest
  • http://tracysmithco.com/2010/07/19/10-facts-reveal-the-importance-of-ranking-high-in-google/ 10 Facts Reveal The Importance of Ranking High In Google « Tracy Smith Consulting Services, LLC

    [...] Source: jeffbullas: 10 Facts Reveal The Importance of Ranking High In Google http://www.jeffbullas.com/2010/07/14/10-facts-reveal-the-importance-of-ranking-high-in-google/ [...]

  • http://www.incitrio.com Angela Hill, Incitrio

    Respectfully, I have to disagree with your blog post. There is so much more to search engine optimisation than just “location.” While website ranking is important…quality of SEO leads is even more important. I wouldn’t want to rank first for just “any” keyword.

    How happy would you be if you got 500 instead of 10 of the wrong people calling you? More isn’t always better. Wouldn’t you rather have 20 of the right leads vs 10 of the wrong ones? Even if you were only on page one for one term? And, what if a gazillion people came to my site but couldn’t even find my phone # to call me?

    As far as I’m concerned, it’s not so much about ranking first on page one of Google as it is about ranking on page one of Google with the right keywords to appeal to the right people at the right time with the right user experience design. It’s a formula that ONLY works when you have the right balance of all of those elements, not just one.

  • Ian

    “Getting found online when people type in a phrase or keyword is now so important that companies can rise or fall due to their results in a Google search when customers are looking online for your products and services that you sell.”

    “It is now known to be absolutely critical as research shows that 93% of all buying decisions start with an online search.”

    Don’t be such a cock. Snake oil and statistics: the stock in trade of SEO and SM experts. And if you’re serious about earning a living at being a con man, learn to write.

  • http://www.francoiscote.net Francois C.

    From the title, I was hoping to read 10 facts about The Importance of Ranking High In Google.

    The article is no such thing, but hey, you got a click, so the SEO is happy.

    oh irony
    SEO helps the web suck more.

  • http://www.JackieUlmer.com Jackie Ulmer

    Yes, to answer your question, I DO optimize my blog and other websites. And, strive to write the right mix of content for the Search Engines, and my audience.

    And, with a strong Social Media presence, the SE’s matter less and less, in some circles.

    But, be sure you can be found when your customers go looking. I’ve had to clients this past week tell me they need to get ranked ASAP because they nearly lost a big account each for lack of visibility!

  • http://www.proqure.se Ryan Eriksson

    Thansk for the statistics. Worth reading.

    Ryan Eriksson
    Business Development, Marketing and Sales
    ProQure | Entremattor… för better matting service

    http://www.proqure.se
    http://www.twitter.com/proqure
    http://www.facebook.se/proqure

  • http://canearnonline.com André Kalis

    I, too, expected more of the article.It merely highlights the importance of ranking first on the search results pages and while this is debatable on the basis that better keyword matching will give you better ‘real interest’ results even if you rank 4, 5 or 6, the article fails to advise in any way how to achieve the very elusive no 1 ranking.

    Ranking 1st will give me more traffic, but not necessarily the traffic that I want, i.e. targeted traffic. Traffic for the sake of traffic is a futile exercise and even SEM can fall victim to that.

  • http://bayswater.ca Peter Roach

    But if everyone is trying to get first page rankings, does in not make sense that not everyone can do it. The bar will continuously be raised, therefore is it not a futile effort in the end?

  • http://cyberqueenvasolutions.wordpress.com/2011/01/12/jeff-bullaswhen-a-ceo-should-fire-the-marketing-manager/ Jeff Bullas:When A CEO Should Fire The Marketing Manager « Cyberqueen VA Solutions

    [...] ensure key words and phrases that are used for finding a company appear on page one of Google. (Nearly 90% of all clicks through to a website are a result of a website being on the first page of a search engine results [...]

  • http://www.projectxmedia.com/ Wolfy

    I kind feel SEO will become more intense~ we live with it or not? Why don’t put more effort on build up more unique staff and bring people great idea and share some thoughts.

  • http://OurDevelopingMind.com Marco Lee

    Yeap, ranking high is definitely a goal! Being in the middle of the results is average. Being on second page is frustrating. Being on top or second is definitely good!

  • http://twitter.com/greaterlight Alissa J

    You can also optimize for local search to increase your chances of success. Are the numbers in the blog based on global searching? I wonder how the numbers would differ if we examined local search?

    I like how you noted that SEO was both an ART and a science.

  • http://mill-im.com/?p=1373 Rise to the Top: Improving Your SEO Ranking : Millennium Integrated Marketing

    [...] on Internet search results as a primary source of information. In today’s web-based world, 93% of all buying decisions begin with an online search. Google alone receives 620 million visitors every day and performs 87.8 [...]

  • http://www.thecomplexmedia.com/blog theComplex

    I have to agree. I’m a little disappointed with this one Jeff. These stats can be useful but they do provide “Facts” revealing any “importance.” Also, as you mentioned, I don’t want traffic that results in high bounce rates, I want traffic that results from targets.

  • http://www.thecomplexmedia.com/blog theComplex

    I have to agree. I’m a little disappointed with this one Jeff. These stats can be useful but they do provide “Facts” revealing any “importance.” Also, as you mentioned, I don’t want traffic that results in high bounce rates, I want traffic that results from targets.

  • http://www.readwriteweb.es/tecnologias/10-razones-ser-numero-1-posicionamiento/ 10 razones para ser número 1 en posicionamiento | TICbeat

    [...] Jeff Bullas ha tomado de SEOmoz las filtraciones de AOL y ha extraído los siguientes datos: [...]

  • http://tecnomonkey.com/2011/06/10-razones-para-ser-numero-1-en-posicionamiento/ 10 razones para ser número 1 en posicionamiento |

    [...] Jeff Bullas ha tomado de SEOmoz las filtraciones de AOL y ha extraído los siguientes datos: [...]

  • http://ytumas.wordpress.com/2011/06/02/10-razones-para-ser-numero-1-en-posicionamiento/ 10 razones para ser número 1 en posicionamiento « AQUI hay TOMATE

    [...] Jeff Bullas ha tomado de SEOmoz las filtraciones de AOL y ha extraído los siguientes datos: [...]

  • http://www.quora.com/What-is-the-distribution-of-traffic-between-Google-organic-search-results-e-g-1-vs-2-in-rankings-first-page-vs-second-page#ans782813 Quora

    What is the distribution of traffic between Google organic search results? e.g. #1 vs. #2 in rankings, first page vs. second page…

    I was looking for similar information before coming to Quora… I found a few websites that give some very good information. Sources are below. Note that I would be very interested in tracking this myself on my website… I am trying to figure out the …

  • http://lerentech.com/93-buying-decisions-start-online-search/ SEO Syracuse | Search Engine Optimization Syracuse

    [...] Read the whole blog post here… top Lerentech Solutions LLC 315/876.9607 499 S. Warren St. Suite 615 Syracuse, NY 13202 [...]

  • http://socialmediaconsultantaz.com/2011/11/03/3-reasons-why-social-media-is-essential/ 3 Reasons Why Social Media is Essential « We Don't Have a Choice on Whether or Not we engage in Social Media

    [...] on the first page of a search engine is the holy grail for businesses (it is where 90% of all clicks to websites occur). Google along [...]

  • http://freelancecontentcreator.com/?p=319 E-LABZ » Blog Archive

    [...] on the first page of a search engine is the holy grail for businesses (it is where 90% of all clicks to websites occur). Google along [...]

  • http://splinternet.wordpress.com/2011/12/06/bell-pottinger-and-the-dark-art-of-seo/ Bell Pottinger and the ‘Dark Art’ of SEO « SplinterNet

    [...] is that the higher up a SERP a link is, the more likely it is to be visited by the searcher – a study found that 42% of searchers click on the first link on a page, and that 90% click somewhere on the first 10 [...]

  • http://splinternet.wordpress.com/2011/12/06/1027/ SplinterNet

    [...] is that the higher up a SERP a link is, the more likely it is to be visited by the searcher – a study found that 42% of searchers click on the first link on a page, and that 90% click somewhere on the first 10 [...]

  • http://twitter.com/iNETSEO iNET SEO

    The saying is location, location location…

    Article for articles sake here I think – nothing of any real use.

  • Gooogleexpert

    I have been doing able to dominate the whole first page of google with key words and doubled the sales of my client in the last six months.
    gooogleexpert@gmail.com

  • http://www.triunfaya.com/blog/2011/06/03/10-razones-para-ser-numero-uno-en-posicionamiento/ 10 razones para ser número uno en posicionamiento : Negocios en Internet, Noticias Online, Redes sociales, Herramientas en Internet

    [...] usuarios en esa página. Quizá por la mentalidad de que si están ahí algo habrán hecho bien. Jeff Bullas ha tomado de SEOmoz las filtraciones de AOL y ha extraído los siguientes [...]

  • http://goldpriceperounce247.com/ stacey gold

    From the title, I was hoping to read 10 facts about The Importance of Ranking High In Google.

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