Research Also Shows Value of Ranking on Less Popular Terms
SEATTLE—May 2, 2011 — Optify (http://www.optify.net), the leading online marketing software and services provider for the real time web, today announced key results of its SEO study. Optify reported that click-through-rates (CTRs) for the top three results on search engines account are highly concentrated and account for nearly 60 percent of clicks, with the top spot achieving nearly 37 percent.
Optify’s research revealed that lower cost-per-click (CPC) terms see more than 30 percent of clicks on the top results, while higher CPC terms receive fewer than 20 percent of clicks on the top result.
“Optify’s research was directed to understand whether changes in search results have influenced click through rates, and how business marketers can focus their efforts,” said Erez Barak, VP, Products and co-founder of Optify. “CTR curves are the cornerstone of the SEO industry. As a leading provider of online marketing software and services, Optify is in a position to provide up-to-date insights to enable marketers to promote and grow their businesses online.”
Key findings of the study include:
- CTRs on the top search results are high, despite additions to results and format changes. Ranking first on the second page has greater value than ranking at the bottom of page one.
- There is a negative correlation between CTR on organic results and the cost of sponsored results. As CPC value goes up, there are fewer clicks on organic results.
- Search volume effects CTR. Long tail terms show higher CTR on page one than higher traffic terms. This means that marketers can get significant impact even from lower traffic terms.
To download a free copy of the report, visit the Organic CTR Curve Study.
For the study, Optify analyzed organic keyword visits for a variety of websites for the month of December, comparing click-through-rates with rank on Google US.
