Most people never leave the first search results page
When someone types a keyword into Google, it creates a search engine results page, or SERP. Technically, Google will usually return numerous pages, depending on how many relevant hits it gets. These are all ranked based on relevance, site authority, traffic and other factors. There could be dozens of pages of search results that are relevant to the keyword or keyword phrase the user typed in.
That said, even if there are 20 pages of results, reports show that most people never leave the first page. In fact, some suggest you should think of it as if the second page does not even exist. Your site is either listed on the first results page or it is effectively invisible. You could technically be the first link on the second page, but almost no one is going to see it. Why does this happen?
The first page is getting more complex
One reason is that the first search results page now has much more on it than in the past. There may be an AI overview at the top, paid links or advertisements, and shopping results for products you can click to purchase. Below all of this, you start to see the actual links to different websites or webpages.
As Google adds more features to the first page, it increases the chances that users will find what they need right away. They don’t need to go to the second page or beyond because the first page already provides what they are looking for.
They’ll run another search
Many people also trust that the most relevant results are on the first page and assume that the results become less helpful as they move through subsequent pages.
As such, if they don’t find what they want on the first page, they usually won’t move on to page two. Instead, they’ll run another search, refining their keywords or adding new elements, such as a geographical location.
In this sense, users are essentially doing research through multiple searches. If the first query doesn’t get them what they want, they adjust the terms and run it again. As a result, they never even see the links that are buried on the second page.
Setting yourself up for success
This highlights the importance of ranking as highly as possible so that your business is in the best position for success. We can help you here at Content Customs, so do not hesitate to get in touch with our experienced team to learn more about search engine optimization, keyword usage and more.
