The Anchoring Effect
The anchoring effect is a psychological phenomenon where people tend to focus too much on the first piece of information they receive. In the context of Google search results, this means that users are more likely to believe the tOP result, even if it's not the most accurate or reliable.
Studies have shown that 28.5% of people click the first link on Google's search engine results page (SERP), while fewer than 10% open anything below the third result. This means that the top result has a disproportionate influence on people's opinions, often without them even realizing it.