Click Through Rates for Top Search Engine Rankings

We may always assume that top ranking results on search engine queries get more exposure. And that’s not just guess work; heat map studies show that search engine users are likely fixated towards top results that are located towards the top left section of search results. (Sometimes, its proximity can vary as maps, news, images, PPC ads and other properties may also occupy the same vicinity.)

The infamous AOL data leak has opened up ideas on how much advantage is a number one ranking is going to enjoy over #2 ranking , or a #2 ranking over a #3 placer, and so on. SEO Scoop posted a breakdown on how much percentage each rank position is getting; it seems that being on top spot brings almost half of all traffic.

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Google Includes Location Information on Search Results?

It seems that Google selectively displays location of where content of its search results is based. A search for “get sitelinks google” via Google Spain yields a page from SEO Hong Kong. But if you look at the URL details, you’ll see extra information that’s definitely not found within the URL of the search result.

That information is a location “Región Administrativa Especial de Hong Kong de la República Popular China” which my guesswork suggests is taken from where the website is hosted or located. Does this help search engine users? It’s hard to tell for now because in my opinion, what matters most is the quality of content rather than where is the website located. Maybe unless my website has the .hk domain which used to be the riskiest domain in the world. Thank goodness it’s no longer the case as of the latest research.

Google Thinks My Page Title Sucks

Page titles are important elements to optimize for search engine results. I guess most webmasters are aware of this. The more targeted our page titles, the better. More targeted page title means it contains main keywords / phrases about the topic of the page.

It also means picking the right keywords / phrases that target visitors use when looking for information provided by the page. For example, if your target market are the Chinese locals from Hong Kong, page title should also match the language they speak and keywords they use.

In the case of this blog, I deliberately did not include the name and decided to use only the title of my blog post, just like the one below.

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Slow Loading Pages Might Get Lower Search Rankings

Early last year, I wrote about how Google AdWords Quality Score uses page load as a basis for scoring. Loading time obviously affects user experience and a slow loading web page could mean a crank web infrastructure or a poorly maintained unstable website.

Such paid search factor may also be included in evaluating pages for organic search engine results. Matt Cutts has admitted that it’s currently not in Google’s algorithms but it could well be incorporated on its test runs. Google prefers users access fast loading web pages and accomplish things faster than on slower pages.

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5 Advantages of Outsourcing Search Engine Marketing

I hope you read my previous post about the advantages of performing search engine marketing in-house. It highlights cost and long term benefits. But what about short-term and best results? Why don’t we take a look at the advantages of handing our search engine marketing to vendors or agencies.

Experience and expertise
Search engine marketing is a specialized field and experience plays a great role in achieving success. Therefore, agencies have the edge over first-timers when it comes to knowing the ins and outs of organic or paid search. We don’t want to waste time (organic search requires considerable amount of time) and money (every paid search click means money) experimenting, right?