

3,988,194
I just want to rank well and don't concern myself with being at the top. I got a referral yesterday from an out of state agent that googled the traits of an agent she was looking for. I came up and got the referral. That is how I want it to work.
979,801
David - I see your point, and have myself scanned through the first page of a Google search because of all the national businesses that show up.
I think it depends on your search. With long tail searches, I still think you want to be on the first page, but maybe a more generic search, it might not be as critical to be on page one.
356,972
First page always matters, it so important that for specific projects I insist on being on the first page with more then 2 or 3 spots!
4,322,995
David Barr Page#1 matters, just going by what I do! I rarely go to next page on Google Search results.
And I have seen many successful agents who show up on page #1, beating the Z/T/R!
1,102,852
Even with a much smaller budget I've found it possible to compete with the big guys for page 1 results. The more common the search, the tougher it is, but it can be done. I'm still shooting for page 1.
1,466,257
David Barr I would think for SEO purposes you would want to rank as high as you can.
2,820,209
Of course page 1 matters, and even more so to be in top 3 spots. Few go to 2nd page, and click though rate decreases as you go lower on the page...there is plenty of data to support that. Thankfully, many of my posts are on Page 1 and many in top 3 spots. I now have 4 articles getting 5000 or more clicks/month.
If the automobile thing is correct, that implies to me that many are looking for specific local places they know and some of those auto places are not doing much SEO at all and/or may not even have sites. It may also be that the terms are general and so automakers are coming up in the searches people are doing rather than the auto service places.
2,491,494
3,417,775
Every day i get a call promising first page results if i pay someone, too bad writing a daily blog on Active Rain gets me the same exposure.
1,157,847
The number of clickthroughs on the second and third pages is much lower than on the first page. Z/T/R are not in Canada so they are not an issue.