Search rankings: Aim high says iProspect

If Internet users don’t find what they’re looking for within the first three pages of search results they are likely to give up and try another search term, found iProspect’s Blended Search Results Study.

Sixty-eight percent click on a listing within the first page but only 8 percent will continue searching past page three of results. Those websites listed in the very top positions were perceived as leaders in their field by 39% of the 2,400 online consumers surveyed for the report.

Almost half (49%) who continued searching after unsuccessfully finding what they were looking for on the first page of results will change their search term and/or search engine. This behavior is on the increase, rising from 40% in 2006.

As well as optimizing text for search engines, marketers also need to consider giving news, images and video elements the same attention. The last 12 months has witnessed the introduction of blended search results to the major search engines, bringing the once “invisible tab” search results into full view.

“It should be clear to marketers that users click different types of vertical results (images, news, and video) within blended search results in far greater numbers than they do when conducting vertical searches,” says the report. “So where it may not have seemed worthwhile to optimize all your digital asset types to be found by vertical-specific searches – due to low user adoption for those categories – it is now paramount for marketers to do so for purposes of being found within the blended search results.”

Tags: blended search, search engine optimization, search marketing, SEO, vertical search