Difference between 1st place in Google and 4th place

[simonm]

One of the search terms I focus on has recently gone from 4th place in Google to 1st place.

This has resulted in a doubling of site visitors due to that key phrase!

I have had 4th place for some months and have recorded the recent change over a period of 1 month. I have also got an adwords for the search term and have actually seen a marginal drop in the total numbers doing a search for that term over the last few months so the relative increase in site vistors is greater.

Incidentally, taking the adwords stats which shows the total numbers doing a search on that particular search term and my figures showing success from being 1st place, my site now gets 1/3 of all people carrying out that search!

[rlrouse]

Yes, #1 is certainly prime real estate. Many searchers click on the top result and take whatever the landing page says as gospel, therefore they see no reason to continue on to #2.

Of those who do go back and try #2, many of those will be satisfied and not try #3.

Of course there are a couple of things to consider as well:

1 - A great title and description (as displayed by Google) can increase the percentage of clicks on a lower ranked page.

2 - My personal experience has shown that a spot on the bottom of the page (#10) draws more clicks than a spot in the middle (#4-#9). (Of course your milage may vary on this one and I certainly don't recommend aiming for the #10 spot.)

[redcircle]

(not directed to anyone here) it's really funny google spammers have adjusted what results I click on. The address is something I always look at now. If it's plastered with keywords I just go to the next result. It's happening more and more.. I'm getting sick of it. Google should lower scores with pure keywords in them. especially the ones with hyphens. more than one hyphen should be lethal to ranking.

[rlrouse]

Google should lower scores with pure keywords in them. especially the ones with hyphens. more than one hyphen should be lethal to ranking.

Since the average Google user knows zilch about SEO, most probably hold a different opinion. Hyphenated domain names and file names tend to be more descriptive about what they'll find on the page after they click through.

I use hyphenated filenames extensively for this very reason, not for any SEO benefits (which I think are more imagined than real anyway based on personal experience).

[incrediblehelp]

(not directed to anyone here) it's really funny google spammers have adjusted what results I click on. The address is something I always look at now. If it's plastered with keywords I just go to the next result. It's happening more and more.. I'm getting sick of it. Google should lower scores with pure keywords in them. especially the ones with hyphens. more than one hyphen should be lethal to ranking.

This is only agreeable to a point. If your the average Joe user and you enter a search query (long of short) and you find results with the exact search query in the ranking result they would be more apt to click your ranking. Of course if the ranking result looks spammy then they it might lend them to skip the result but I doubt it.

[rlrouse]

The average user who isn't a webmaster (actually, this also includes the average webmaster), isn't even aware of the concept of a "spammy" site. This concept is pretty much shared only by webmasters who have at least a basic understanding of SEO (which is a small minority of the total universe of webmasters I would think).

[SteveF]

Agree with red circle,
again this is not directed at any one,
but directories named with all your keywords seams a bit over the top

Dont want to give examples but you see it all the time.
SteveF

[D4www]

If you see it all the time,

I guess that might mean, for the guys using the "hyphenated-keyword-methods", it must work quite well.

Just thinking out loud here

edited, spelling

[simonm]

Hyphenated keywords in domain names, yes they do work, but I have noticed a consistent relationship to name, numbers of words and search term.

A two word generic search term (not a business name) that matches the domain name: Google seems to penalise!

The same two words but add an additional term, eg "-uk.co.uk" and you score better.

A three word search term works and is not penalised.

[Kenai Alaska]

Since the average Google user knows zilch about SEO, most probably hold a different opinion. Hyphenated domain names and file names tend to be more descriptive about what they'll find on the page after they click through.

I use hyphenated filenames extensively for this very reason, not for any SEO benefits (which I think are more imagined than real anyway based on personal experience).

I am going to agree with this statement 100%. Add in the aging baby boomer crowd with our eye sight dilemmas and hyphenated file names and size 14 fonts are a real blessing. I am one of these and like the use of this technique. At the bottom of the search results they show the URL path and this makes it far easier to read and decipher. This path when set up correctly tells a story in itself to the end user. Hats off to hyphenated file names and URL in general, used correctly of course.
Look at this example
http://www.crazybearlodge.net/kenai/lodge-interior.html . You can easily tell the topic of the page from the path.