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A recently conducted study (PDF) examined the links users followed on the search engine results page. They found that 42% of users clicked the top result, and 8% of users clicked the second result. This confirms previous studies that the number one result gets many more clicks than all other results.

In this study, the researchers did a second test, wherein they secretly swapped the order of the top two search hits. The original number two entry in the search engine's prioritization ended up on top, and the top entry was relegated to second place.

Although the search results were different, users still clicked on the top entry 34% of the time and on the second hit 12% of the time.

What does this mean to your web site?

The study confirms the importance of being listed on the first result page. If your web site is not listed on the first result page, changes are that web surfers won't see your site.

A previous study of the Georgia Institute of Technology found that 75% of searchers never look further than page one. Usability expert Jakob Nielsen pointed out: "Users almost never look beyond the second page of search results."

It is important that you get your web site on the first result page. If you're new to search engine optimization: submitting your web site to search engines is not enough. You have to do more to get high search engine rankings.

How do you get your web site to the first result page or even on position 1?

1. Start by choosing the right keywords. It makes no sense to target general keywords such as "business" because you have no chance of getting the number 1 listing for such a keyword.
   
   Choose targeted keywords that are related to your business and that attract web surfers who are interested in what your web site has to offer. This keyword generator tool can help you to find the right keywords.
   
   
2. Create a content rich web site that can be optimized for many different keyword combinations. The more different web pages you have the more likely it is that search engines will list your web site on the first position for a keyword and that web surfers will find your web site relevant to their needs.
   
   Optimize your web pages so that search engines can list them on the first position. Use descriptive and keyword rich summaries in the Meta description tag for search engines that use that tag.
   
   
3. Get incoming links to your web site. High search engine rankings are the result of optimized web page content and good incoming links. If you want to have rankings, your web site must have both.

Read the free SEO book for detailed information and checklists on how to get your web site in the first result page on Google and other major search engines.

Yahoo's Site Explorer shows all subpages within a URL indexed by Yahoo. You can also see subpages under a path and inlinks indexed by Yahoo! to a URL. You can also submit missing URLs to Yahoo.

"Thanks to your help and feedback, the latest version of Yahoo! Desktop Search is also no longer in Beta."

Google offers San Francisco Wi-Fi for free

"Google Inc. has offered to blanket San Francisco with free wireless Internet access at no cost to the city. [...] The proposal raises speculation that Google intends to create a free national Wi-Fi network, a business in which the company has limited experience."

Yahoo challenges Google in book digitizing plan

"Internet search giant Yahoo formed an alliance dedicated to the goal of digitizing literature and making it available on the Internet.

The alliance, consisting of corporations, non-profit groups and universities, plans to announce today an ambitious plan to digitize hundreds of thousands of books over the next several years and put them on the Internet, with the full text accessible to anyone."

Google gains search engine market share

"Google increased its share by 1.2 percent, rising to 37.3 percent from 36.1 percent in the same month a year ago, according to ComScore Networks.

Among the top five search engines, Microsoft Corp.'s MSN and Ask Jeeves, which is owned by IAC/InterActiveCorp, also increased their market shares, rising to 15.8 percent from 14.4 percent, and 6 percent from 5.9 percent, respectively.

No. 2 Yahoo Inc., dipped nearly 1 percent to 29.7 percent, and the Time Warner Network fell 1 percent to 9.6 percent from 10.6 percent."

Ask Jeeves to drop mascot, change name

"[Ask Jeeves] intends to drop Jeeves as a mascot and shorten the search site's name to Ask or Ask.com."

Search engine newslets

• A new virus hijacks Yahoo!, MSN and Google results.
• Yahoo prepares blog search.
• Take a look at the first wedding proposal via search engine.
• Pro's and Con's of breaking up with Google.
• Try Woogle for interesting search results.
• The address http://calendar.google.com/ is now online (although nothing is available there yet).
• Rollyo allows you to choose on which sites you want to search.
• Web search engine helps students find jobs.
• Drums.com is a new search engine for drummers.

Wikipedia eats Google

"Google is becoming increasingly prone to Wikipedia. [...] Over time, Wikipedia has been slowly eating the entire Web's knowledge base until it becomes itself a faster, better, and--most critically--unspammed reference matter of what are the relevant and valuable resources."

Next up: Google Office?

"Google and Sun Microsystems will hold a press conference on Tuesday at which they're expected to announce a collaboration to bring StarOffice productivity applications to Google users.

StarOffice is Sun's suite of integrated word processing, spreadsheet, presentation, drawing and database software based on the OpenOffice open source project."

Yahoo! testing new branding metrics for search

"The company has been quietly beta testing two new tools with 10 to 15 of Yahoo!'s top advertisers and agencies for the past two months. [...] 'Marketers have tended to think of search as click-to-sale. That's beginning to change as more and more brand advertisers are beginning to recognize the power of search for things like message association and engagement.'"

Google's main man in China

"Kai-Fu Lee, Google's new man in China, is fresh from what appears to have been a court victory over Microsoft. And he is already talking about his plans to set up Google's research and development center in this country."

IBP has received the Editor's Choice Award from 123-Free-Download.com:

"IBP is the multi award winning web site promotion tool that helps you to get more revenue with higher search engine rankings in Google, Yahoo and all other major search engines.

The suite of 15 professional website promotion tools includes a search engine submission tool, a search engine ranking checker, a link popularity improver, a top 10 optimizer and a keyword generator. IBP creates professional reports in PDF, HTML and Microsoft Word format."

Another award for ARELIS

ARELIS has received the Excellent Award from CriticalFiles.com:

"You'll get highly targeted visitors to your web site, you'll benefit from new business contacts and your web site will get a higher ranking on search engines because of higher link popularity.

ARELIS helps you to establish many high quality reciprocal links that point to your web site.

It is the first software program that provides a serious, spam-free reciprocal links solution for professional webmasters."

Do you want to be mentioned in this newsletter?

Just tell us why you switched from another SEO tool to IBP and how IBP helped you to improve your web site. You might get featured in this newsletter along with your web site address.

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• An open SEO analysis
• Search engine insiders talk about links
• Is the KEI (keyword effectiveness index) really a good indicator for useful keywords?
• View all past issues...