Being number one in natural search is important, we kind of knew that.

But just how important we probably couldn’t have said. The answer is hidden away in a Wikipedia entry about click through rates. Wikipedia links to Red Cardinal’s definitive analysis of click-through rates based on Search Engine ranking. They base as their work on data inadvertently leaked by AOL. It turns out that the number one position is hugely important. It brings almost four times more click-throughs (42.3%) than number two (11.9%).

And if you are not on page one, forget it. Result #11 has 80% fewer click-throughs than number 10.

Blogger Vincent Ferrari wants to cancel his AOL account. He has heard horror stories that the folks there make it as difficult for you as they possibly can. So he tapes the call. The customer service guy on the other end makes it as difficult for him as he can.

Ferrari posts the story, along with an MP3 of the conversation. He describes what happened next here. Notice the huge impact of the site Digg. Overnight Ferrari has turned into the number one commentator on AOL’s customer service, with videos all over the web. (Youtube’s has been viewed 149,000 times) He receives an official apology from AOL VP of customer services. This was an isolated event, and the customer service rep has been sacked, the guy says. However, anonymous ex-AOL employees have opened a second front, telling Vincent that this is a standard process to stop AOL customers from quitting, and customer service reps are paid according to how successful they are in keeping customers with AOL. Vincent is asking one of them to go on the record.

Check out the discussion here. 181 comments and counting.