Intuitively, online retailers know that having their natural listings appear farther down in results significantly reduces click-through and sales. Now, a study from search engine marketing company OneUpWeb demonstrates that. Analyzing data from 2004 that tracked resulting traffic and sales for sites appearing for the first time within the first few pages of Google natural search listings, as well as for the month before a site achieved that position, the study found that not a single sale was recorded for a site whose listing appeared after page three in the search results.
“We performed this study hypothesizing that being in the top 10 results is better than being in the top 30, and that being below the top 30 is invisible. Clearly, the study establishes that trend,” says Lisa Wehr, president of OneUpWeb.
OneUpWeb found that the first month a site appeared on the second or third page of Google natural search results for a targeted query, traffic increased an average of five times the previous monthly rate of traffic. In the second month of appearing on page two or three, traffic averaged nine times greater. From having no sales from the listing previously, sales increased slightly in the second month of having a position on page two or three of Google results.
Appearing in the first page of Google natural search listings—within the first 10, as Goggle’s usual format shows 10 listings per results page—increased both traffic and sales significantly in the first month. In the first month, traffic on average tripled, and sales rose on average 42% from before the site’s listing appeared on page one. In the second month, traffic doubled again to more six times the volume the listing had before getting a position on the first page of natural search results, and sales nearly doubled.
The study also found that in the month prior to achieving a second- or third-page listing in Google’s natural search results, sites averaged seven unique visitors per search term. But in the first month after appearing on page two or three, the average umber of unique visitors increased to 36 per search term. In the second month, average visitors per keyword increased to about 65.
In the month prior to reaching a first-page position, sites averaged 14 unique visitors per search term, which increased to an average of nearly 46 per search term in the first month after appearing on page one and to 86 in the second month, the study found. While those figures represent averages, some keywords had monthly traffic as high as 780 unique visitors per term, while others didn’t get a single visitor. Conversion rates ranged from 50% to zero.
While conversion rates tripled from the first month to the second month, conversion rates for listings appearing on page two or three are still very low, according to OneUpWeb’s data. “300% of nothing is still nothing,” says Wehr. “In order to sell online, set your optimization goals on getting in the top 10.”
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