By publishing original and insightful content on their websites, businesses can elevate their search rankings considerably.

By publishing original and insightful content on their websites, businesses can elevate their search rankings considerably. A new report from Slingshot SEO highlights the importance of using content marketing to reach top spots on the search engine results page, as high positions intuitively generate the highest number of clicks.

According to Slingshot SEO's research, the first organic position on the results page has a click-through rate of 18.2 percent. Results in the No. 2 spot garner 10.05 percent of clicks. The drop off is the most noticeable after the fifth-place spot, below the fold – sites that occupy positions six through 10 get less than 3 percent of total clicks.

These findings mirror an earlier Optify.net report covered by Brafton, which proved that the top spots get the highest clicks. Moreover, Optify.net found marketers should create content that promotes longtail keywords as these more focused, convertible search terms tend to enjoy relatively high CTRs anywhere on page one.

If businesses focus long-tail keywords with their search engine optimization efforts, Slingshot SEO says getting the top spot for the root word is still crucial to maximizing traffic. For example, if a company ranked highly for the term “car,” the same business would be likely to generate traffic for the terms “used cars” or “affordable cars.”

Slingshot was quick to note, however, that each keyword generates its own search engine results pages and these variables need to be considered to have the most effective SEO campaigns.

“Every SERP is different, and employing a successful marketing strategy involves considering multiple factors about each keyword phrase,” the report explains.

Brafton reported that Microsoft is experimenting with the insertion of paid advertisements into the middle of SERPs. If Slingshot SEO's study is any indication, the strategy may not prove to be any more effective than the traditional paid search format.