Any Google Studies on Average Search Depth?

Percent of People that View Page 1, Page 2, Page3, etc.

[netguy]

I haven't seen any posts for this, but was wondering if there are any studies to show how deep the average visitor goes into Google when searching, and what percent increase in impressions (sites seen, but not necessarily clicks) can be expected by being listing on page 1 rather than page 2.

My experience is that the click-throughs on anything past page 3, drops Substantially, but I have never seen any statistics that say the average visitor will see:
page 1, 72% of the time
page 2, 18% of the time
page 3, 7% of the time, etc.

I have monitored my logs for several sites to get an idea of the differences, but this was only based on click-throughs - not Google impressions, and its difficult to determine exactly what keywords (and resulting SERPs) were used from the logs.

I know that there are a myriad of variables that can change significantly from site to site, and keyword to keyword, but was curious how happy I should be, statistically, with my page 1 listings - and how upset I should be with my page 3 results.

Such measured statistics could also be used as a benchmark in determining overall SEO success for clients.

[vitaplease]

Netguy,

seems your numbers are aprox. in the right range:

Number of Results pages consulted (France):

- 1 page 76%
- 2 pages 11%
- 3 pages or more 13%

from: [webmasterworld.com...]

[netguy]

Thanks vitaplease!

I was actually hoping that page 2 would be higher. I have to run now... gotta work hard to get everything on page 1! ;)

<Vita - Just realized it was your post that provided the report. Very Impressive!>

[freejung]

I don't have stats on this, but I bet it varies enormously from keyword to keyword. Are searchers looking to see everything out there about blue widgets? Or are they just looking for one blue widget maker so they can order it and go home?

I've seen good traffic from page 3 or even 4 for some keywords, whereas for others, if you're not number one, fuhgettaboudit. Sometimes they want to know everything about a subject and will search deeply, other times they just want to find one of whatever it is they're looking for. With a little forethought, you can guess which keywords are which to some extent, i.e. research-type terms are likely to be more deeply searched, whereas shopping type terms are likely to be more shallow.

I think it also makes a big difference whether searchers are looking for a hub or an authority. Authority searches will be deeper, as hub searchers will probably just go with the first hub they see, whereas authority searchers want to see all the authorities to get the maximum information.

[AthlonInside]

Page 2? Page 3?

I think 90% stop at page 1 while only 10% will step through page 2,3.... (ONLY if the search results is irrelavant in the page 1)

I think you should discuss on how many clicks the #1 listing as compare to #2 #3 ... for this I think everything which list #1 will receive at least 50% of the total clicks. Agree?

[vitaplease]

for this I think everything which list #1 will receive at least 50% of the total clicks. Agree? ..

and then for the competitive areas there are the premium ad listings sometimes collecting 15% or more of clicks.

what would be interesting as well is to know how many click on first and second and third and etc.

[le_gber]

vitaplease, with google representing more than 56% of the french search you have to be in the first ones!

[Tapolyai]

I have noticed that the last page of search results also get higher percentage then in the middle of the pages, post page 3.

[yetanotheruser]

Tapolyai et al,

I was just gonna ask - anyone have clear ideas of where in the results get what percentage?

Have a client who's two pages come in 10 and 11 for one search term.. so she appears last on page 1 and first on page two.. that particular search term is getting more hits now than when she was 6th and 7th on page one.. ..

I'd be very interested if anybody's done some sort of behavioral analysis of Google users.. Maybe one of the spammers out there who have the top 20 listings would be kind enough to tell us which pages get more incoming traffic ;)

[vitaplease]

Do not forget the searchers that do not click on any result..

Do a search for keyword1 keyword2 keyword3,

results do not look good, no clicks,

make that an "exact search", still no good looking results, no clicks,

add two keywords, just one bad result etc. (there go your adword click through ratios)

from a content spammer