Page Three is the benchmark

Doom and gloom descends on the eve of Easter, perhaps, for those struggling to make it anyway close to the top on the likes of Google and Yahoo!.

A survey by those clever folk at JupiterResearch and IProspect reveals that 90% of internet users only go as far as Page Three before clicking on a result on a search engine.

Around 60% click on a website listed on the first page, the survey said.

This is a significant increase on figures from a similar study in 2002, which said 40% of users clicked on first page listings and 80% often waited until Page Three before picking a website.

This is good news for those with the buying power to appear high up on paid-for listings or with the ability to optimise their websites to appear in prominent positions in natural search.

For the others struggling to get a good spot on search engine listings the bar has been raised a notch higher again.

Danny Sullivan from Search Engine Watch, in an interview on the BBC News website, said the survey was “another call for search engines to look at their performance”.

But is it also the time for travel companies to re-think how they get their message out?

Kevin May, editor, Travolution