On odd signup pattern with search engine traffic
 

I have a blog that has been #1 in google for its search term for close to a year now. I haven't even updated in all that time because I haven't needed to. It isn't a hugely searched term, but it is very targeted. I got some decent traffic to the site and have some nice sign-ups.

About 3 weeks ago it dropped to between 3-4 in the rankings. I haven't updated or done anything to get my top spot back because I have been too busy with other stuff and a little lazy. The odd thing is, while traffic is down about 20%, sales for the site are now up about 25%. I guess maybe people check out the other sites and by the time they get to mine they are sick of seeing all the similar content and are ready to join.

Kind of odd, but if it continues to happen, I'll take it. :)

be happy and celebrate man :) but three weeks its not much to say, or depends on the amount of sales, but i think in another weeks you will end on the same number of joins as if you were nr 1 :winkwink: :2 cents:

oh and i forgot, other thing is that you may lost traffic to the old keywords, but you can get traffic to other keyword combinations that is making more money :2 cents:

i always prefer the second and third spot over the first one....

i called that super sweet, even with traffic down, sales are up, congrats

That's and old adsense trick. Sometimes being #1 doesn't give the best ROI.

I always like the 4th spot oh and the 3rd, 2nd and first too

First spot can get lost in images and may look like an ad. Towards the bottom of the page is usually better for me too, as long as it is above the fold 3-6.

I have been taking note of my own SE habits and I noticed the other day that I rarely click on the first link on the page. Not sure why that is other than maybe my eye is used to seeing the paid links at the top and so now automatically goes further down the page.

Now that you mention it, I think I do the same thing. I search things then scan down the page to find the actual sites below the ads so it is possible people just skip the first one by accident or they click it then back out real fast thinking it is advertiser site.

Ya, I think google has conditioned us to read from bottom to top because of the ads and other BS they ad to the SERPs. Being just above the fold is the sweet spot.