While many businesses know the importance of search engine optimization (SEO), it has been hard to precisely measure how much the top spot on Google is worth.

A new report released by Chitika answered that question, finding that the top spot on Google is worth double the second position. According to the report, the first search result generates 34.4 percent of all traffic from search engines, while the second spot only receives 17 percent. What’s more, the first search result generated roughly the same amount of traffic as the remainder of the top 5 spots.

"Obviously, everyone knows that the No. 1 spot on Google is where you want to be," says Chitika research director Daniel Ruby. "It’s just kind of shocking to look at the numbers and see just how important it is, and how much of a jump there is from [second to first]."

In 2010, marketing firm Razorfish projected, Google is expected to lose market share to Microsoft and Yahoo. While Google has traditionally dominated the search engine optimization (SEO) landscape, Razorfish predicts the partnership between Microsoft and Yahoo will allow the two companies to regain influence.

Katherine Griwert is Brafton's Marketing Director. She's practiced content marketing, SEO and social marketing for over five years, and her enthusiasm for new media has even deeper roots. Katherine holds a degree in American Studies from Boston College, and her writing is featured in a number of web publications.