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I have had a term that's been in 1st, 2nd and 3rd positions at different times. I got more traffic when it was in 3rd and more conversions as well. Unfortunately it has now slipped to 6 and 7 and the traffic has decreased significantly but is still good.
I got more traffic when it was in 3rd and more conversions as well.
I'll agree 100% with that.
SERP position is only one component of of the CT equation.
And that one too!
I've also found that indented results appear to have a higher click thru (CT) rate than individual results as long as you are in a position that is visible.
Something I've noticed during my research with my corporate entity is that people sometimes have their browser minimized and can only see the first 4 or 5 results. An indented result with proper title strategy is definitely a performer no matter where it appears in those 4 or 5 results.
Your page title and Google snippet will be a determining factor in CTR (click thru rate).
For the indented results to be the most effective, at least when I am surfing, there has to be some branding to the title. Otherwise they do not looks similar enough that they catch the eye.
It also makes a difference if there are keywords highlighted in the title of the indented results. It give your section of the page a lot more blue ink than the other portions.
I don't have many cases where I can compare traffic from #1-#3, but I have had several cases where I did better at #11-#13 than I did at #5-#10. I still prefer being on the bottom of page one to being on page two for marketing reasons, and it also means that I am closer to getting on the top of page one.