Google SERP Rank and Click Distribution
Google SERP Rank Is All The Buzz Since February
Unless you have been living under a rock in which case you haven’t seen your Google Rank in the Search Engine Results Page (SERPs) plummet because of the new algorithm then you don’t need to read anymore. Google has left some Internet Marketers feeling very very ill. All of the buzz is of course related to lost revenues from affiliate sites or screaming clients wanting to know what happened and “why didn’t you anticipate this move by Google ?”. It was and for some still very ugly out there. I know for a fact that if you relied on Hubpages as your 2nd tier or 3rd tier property …
Your Google SERP Rank Got Whacked
If you go into the archives you will find my 11/15/2010 post on Homes For Sale Jackson Hole where we ranked #4 in Google SERP Rank and a second tier Hubpages site was on the second page. Well today, the main site is #99 and the Hubpages site is nowhere to be found. Thankfully, not all of my sites have experienced this Google SERP Rank BEAT DOWN !!!
Whenever I participate in forums and blogs I always leave thinking that most of the people commenting on this subject is crazy. I just think that the subject of Google SERP Ranking it is like the blind leading the blind. I guess it is only fair to discuss what the “state” of knowledge” is regarding Google SERP Rank.
There are 3 main studies that focus specifically on Google SERP Rank. The first study was from 2004 by Cornell University that used “eye tracking” specifically regarding searches on Google. The study was criticized by “Predictive Marketing” in that the data was derived “…from eye tracking study, not actual searches, and would thus compel some caution on extrapolating the results.” however, “seosearcher.com” stated that the students were to “…search in Google for 397 queries on topics covering movies, travel, music, politics, local and trivia.” which is counter to Predictive Marketing’s statement. The Cornell Study provides the following results…Click To Expand
In my opinion the heat map just illustrates what we all have known intuitively which is the higher you are on the Google SERP rank’s first page the more attention you will get as far as clicks are concerned. As you can see the first 3 slots capture over 78% of the Google Page Rank…in other words 78% of the clicks. This is huge for business…big and small.
I also believe it has more veracity than what is given out there on the critic’s blogs.
The next Google Page Rank study was actually a mistake by AOL…who release the results of the study inadvertently in 2006. The study consisted of over 30 million searches of 600,000 AOL users. Richard Hearne presented a great analysis of the AOL data.
Richard Hearne’s review of the AOL data shows a different result for google SERP rank than the Cornell study that is a 17% differential on google page rank !!!
Ok the third study on google page rank is based upon the search results of searches of 63 gambling sites for 29,327 key phrases from 5,357,519 clicks by BrandSoftech.
Click the image to enlarge
So what do we know about all of these studies? Google page rank of the BrandSoftech? The results are 8% off of the Cornell study and 9% off of the AOL study. What does it all mean?
Google page rank is a crap shoot. Many say that when using Google External Keyword Tool to understand the search statistics that you should reduce the totals by 20% for ad words clicks and muddied searches. I on the other had strive to be conservative and look critically at the results and reduce all numbers by 40% before making any decisions.
Google SERP rank is extremely important to business viability on the web but caution must be observed when expending dollars and energy to increase google page rank.











