Everyone knows the importance of top search engine rankings, but does being on top mean you need to be first for the best quality traffic?

The higher your site is positioned within search engine results means you are going to increase your websites exposure. This does not mean you are going to get a enormous increase in traffic or, guarantee the quality of the traffic.

It can be as beneficial to be positioned 3rd or 4th as being in number one position. Top position will generally get the clicks, though not necessarily the highest quality traffic. High quality traffic will often navigate further down the search engine results page. This becomes more evident when setting up a paid search campaign.

When managing a paid search campaign the rule of thumb is the more you bid on a term (there are other elements that effect top position though bid price is still a key factor) the higher your position will be in the sponsored links. If you’re the highest bidder at $1.00 – each time you get a click it will cost you $1.00, this means top position is going to cost you the most in clicks, and drive the most traffic to you.

However what is the quality of this traffic? A high percentage of this traffic will be people simply doing research, possibly using the wrong search term then clicking back out of your site, general time wasters. The result is that you are spending money on dead traffic!

Positioning your results further down the results page can actually help “qualify your” searcher. A quality searcher will not always click on the first result they see, they will often review all the results on a search results page and click on the ad that most suites their query. This then means that you don’t have to bid maximum price to get the best quality traffic, you can spend less for a better return.

Depending on your business goals, top position will help you build your brand and get you more traffic. However for more qualified traffic that is more likely to convert, position your self in the top 5 search results, not number 1.

About the Author

Matt Hodgson, Web manager for www.addme.com. Addme is a usefull resource of internet marketing, search engine optimisation and search engine submission tools.