Best position ever but sales worse

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Best position ever but sales worse

No1 in SERPS bad for conversion?

matt21811

1:24 pm on Oct 16, 2004 (gmt 0)

I had been in about 3rd or 4th in Googles serps for about 4 keywords for 6 months. I was making about $50 per one hundred click throughs on my affiliate program the whole time. For 2 days I moved to 2nd position and that rate went to $100 per 100 clicks.

Great, the higher the listing the better the traffic converts. Makes sense.

I have now recently acheived 1st spot for 3 of the 4 keywords but my conversion rate has droped to nothing.
Its been over 400 click throughs without a single sale.
I have never had a dry period last even a quarter as long.

My question... is the top spot a bad place to be? Do other people find the second or third spot converts better for thier affiliate site?

conroy

1:58 pm on Oct 16, 2004 (gmt 0)

I would think in almost all cases first spot is the best place to be.

I would check to see if perhaps the merchant's site was down, your link wasn't working properly, or some other technical error before blaming it on being number 1 in the SERPs.

matt21811

3:22 pm on Oct 16, 2004 (gmt 0)

I changed sponsor yesterday and after 1 day (50 clicks) I got no sales again. I will let it run for a week with the alternate sponser and see if there is a diefference but at this point, there is no marked improvement.

It is posible that my product is seasonal but I would not have thought so. Its a health product.

Essex_boy

5:52 pm on Oct 16, 2004 (gmt 0)

I had a situ once being 1st and gained no sales from it however I think its more than likely that its a more technical issue.

growingdigital

8:27 pm on Oct 16, 2004 (gmt 0)

Often the people who click on that first link in the SERPS are just click happy. If you appear further down the page, you may not get the traffic, but you are more likely to attract a buyer rather than a browser.

Think about it this way: Last cookie set gets the sale. When I go to buy something online, I don't just do a search, click on the first link and buy. Instead, I click on the first link, second link, and maybe a third or fourth link before I commit to a purchase. This allows me as a buyer to research something before I commit dollars to it.