Importance of ranking #1 in search engine results?

I am sure that it is important to be #1 if you want the most traffic, and for free listings, there is nothing to lose. With ppc, I have found that 2 and 3 positions bring in the best ROI. We track every piece of data you can imagine, and 90% of the time, this has been the case with our clients. When this is not the case, its usually due to the fact the client is in a niche market. Now this is just our experience, and we do not cover 90% of the markets out there, so everyone will see different results.

The biggest problem I see in competetive markets is that the 1st position company spometimes has an ego problem and may have to be number 1. Then you try to over take them, you start a bidding war which drives the cost alot higher than it originally was.

And one more thing I do worry about is this...drive by clicking. I was at a conference and the speaker asked how many people did this kind of thing, and 90% of the people raised their hand, and then the position that was most clicked, #1. Of course this is a small number compared to the amount of qualified traffic may click, but just another reason why I am not for 1st position.

just a thought...

do you think it is common for people to skim over the page title/description displayed in the results??? therefore wouldnt it be more effective to focus on that rather than being first??

i think if i were skimming the results i would probably click on the link that best described what i was after...

Def! You should not sacrifice a great title for search engine positioning because even though your #1, your title has to appeal to them for them to click.

Great point.

if im looking to buy something i generally look through the first 20-30 pages to assure im getting the best deal..

i dont even bother with sites such as froogle, because in my opinion the free search engines give the best results.. not very many people are aware with froogle yet, and obviously havent submitted their info.

sites that must willingly submit themselves (froogle) I believe have a very limited search base.
though i did read that if your site is in google you will most likely be crawled and added without having to submit yourself to froogle.

but a trend i have been noticing with it, is sites that everybody already knows of clog the results. its very difficult to find what im looking for on there.

i prefer google.com over anything.

Froogle can find your poducts without submitting them. They had 3 of my sites in the froogle index before I even knew they were there. Its just good to submit your entire product catalog to get the most up to date information and to guarantee you are in there. But, for searches, Google is still the best.

Also,

I use Froogle all the time, but only when searching for branded products. I always find the lowest prices and generally cheaper than even Ebay, especially electronics.

Well, the two goals are by no means mutually exclusive. I think that in most cases, one can easily focus on both.

true, true

Hi,

Its always good to be at the top, but its not everything.

Some sites get more traffic from referals and links than from Search Engines even if they are at the top.

Clare

Yup, that's true, but often the referrals are coming because THOSE sites are #1 for their respective searches

Personally, on my own site, Reptile Rooms, over 70% of my new traffic comes from Google. I come up top, or at least on the first page for many reptile related searches, and without that, I'd be gettin a lot less hits than I currently do (about 8,000 unique page views per day).

How important the top spot is depends on the specific search term.

For instance, people searching for "Martian mating habits" will probably visit many sites to gather a complete picture. Being listed #15 might get you, say, half the hits as being listed #1.

However, someone searching for "martian aphrodesiacs" will click oon the first site that looks like it has what they want (#1 if the description is good). Being ranked #15 for such a search would be as useless as being ranked #1,000,015.

Anyone here supply Martians?