Organic results own only 42 percent of the first screen on commercial queries

Organic results own only 42 percent of the first screen on commercial queries
We measured pixel height of result blocks above the fold for 700 commercial queries. The first screen is finite real estate.

— Ads: 28 percent of first screen ▇▇▇▇▇▇
— Shopping/product units: 19 percent ▇▇▇▇
— People Also Ask: 11 percent ▇▇
— Organic links: 42 percent ▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇

More than half the visible space is taken before the first blue link, so rank-1 organic sits lower than the position number implies. So what: on commercial queries, treat the first-screen squeeze as part of difficulty. A high rank with no above-fold presence underperforms a lower rank that clears the units.

Benchmark of the week: on commercial SERPs, fewer than half the top pixels are organic.