- 11,997
A website that we currently have analytics to is ranked 12th (on page 2). The majority of their traffic comes from Google. Thus, I don't think you have to be on Page 1. This month they have 800 vists - all organic from google, yahoo, and bing. Their application rate is about 3%.
You don't have to be, but it makes a huge difference. The difference between page 1 and page 2 is a big deal. Heck, bottom of page 1 vs middle of page 1 makes a major difference.