first page of search engine

never look at first page

[HarlsenC]

I'm new to search engine submission. In what I've read everyone is very concerned about getting on the first page of Google.

Most people I know never visit any sites listed on the first page. The theory being that the first page is full of shady businesses who've used all sorts of submission programs to get listed on the first page.

I've written this post because only today I overheard a guy, in a coffee shop, recommending his friends to 'click straight past the first page of google, because the sites in the first page are all full of pop-ups try to get you to change your homepage or download something'. For the most part, he's right.

It doesn't help that most of the time when you use google you get:

find your KEYWORD at ebay.
more of KEYWORD on Amazon
red-hot KEYWORD action at...
download KEYWORD at...

We're probably just a small minority, but I always have more success with search engines by skipping past the first few pages.

[1milehgh80210]

The only time I skip the first page of SERPs is when all the results have the same (spammers) description snippets...
fairly common

[bufferzone]

In some (if not most cases) you are probably right, I feel it depends on the keyword or phrase you are searching with. The more popular, the more competitive the more irrelevant sites you will find on the first SERP in most SE’s.

This means (IMHO) that if your business is not in the hyped area, (sex, mp3, Britny Spears), being on the first page is still the goal. If your search in Goggle is not hyped (sex, mp3, Britny Spears) but a phrase or in a “normal” buisnes area, you can use the fires SERP

[Gundamknight]

Granted, we're a bit savvier searchers than Joe and Jane Surfer, so we know what to look for, but when I'm searching for info and page one is cluttered or not useful, I'll just refine my search instead of digging through pages. Still, it seems there are enough people who will click on that number one spot (be it sponsored or web result), to make it worth trying to get that.

[treeline]

In a not-super-competitive area, the number of clicks I get for a page at the top (#1 spot) are way above the number of clicks for the number two spot.

Being on page two is like being banished to the desert. Nobody clicks.