Atlas DMT has released a study showing that paid search engine listings affect website traffic.

Atlas measured the trade-offs between the top 10 ranks in paid listings on search engines. The study found that, in some cases, a lower ranking may be more desirable, given the costs of supporting increased traffic. Overall, marketers should expect a 10-fold difference in potential traffic between the top and 10th rankings.

If you haven’t optimized your website for search engines, you may be missing out on critical traffic. That means you’re missing a valuable opportunity to communicate with potential customers. Even if you don’t need to maintain a number one ranking, you might want to consider the impact of moving up one to two spots.

(c) 2004 by Andrea Coutu. Vancouver Marketing Consultant. All rights reserved.