Reading an article yesterday, it struck me that while most people understand that higher search engine rankings are better, perhaps they don't realise just how much better!
Back when Google didn't include any paid adverts or maps at the top of their search results, Laura Graka's well referenced study at Cornell University, New York, found that the website listed top received over 56% of all traffic. This fell to just over 13% for 2nd position, with the total number of clicks for all websites not listed on the first page being minimal.
It's worth acknowledging that there's a difference between people searching for an definitive answer and people who are gathering information where clicks are typically distributed more evently. But the lesson is the same, the higher the ranking, the larger the share of visitors.
Interestingly, further research on eye movement conducted by Laura after the introduction of sponsored links showed that eye movement - and clicks - stayed at the top of the page - searchers were not deliberately ignoring the adverts, as they do with banner adverts.
Martin
Martin