Search Trends - Search Engine Marketing

Usability guru Jacob Nielsen reports on a recent Cornell University study that touched on which links users click on in a SERP. The study found that 42% of users clicked on the top result, while only 8% clicked on the second. The numbers are pretty powerful, but not too surprising based on other studies, etc. A very interesting finding, however, was that when they manipulated the search results to swap the order of the two first listings, the top entry (which was really the 2nd best) was still clicked on 34% of the time, and the second was clicked 12% of the time. This is a telling study, and for all of us search marketers, it should serve as some powerful evidence of the importance of getting that top spot.

Also important to note, although the top result was still clicked on a majority of the time compared to the second when swapped, there is a significant difference between 42% and 34%, so it tells me that at least some searchers are actually reading the titles and descriptions they're clicking on to determine which best meets their needs (as opposed to blindly trusting that the #1 result is the best). Aside from gunning for that top spot, we should remember to make the titles compelling and relevant so we can maximize the number of clicks on our listing regardless of which position the link shows up in.