As a marketer, you may feel like you’re swimming in the dark. But don’t worry! We’ve got your back. We’re here to help you understand the latest SEO statistics so that you can stay on top of your game. This article will cover everything from keywords to keyword research and beyond—all in one place!
It’s an $80 billion industry
There is no other way to begin an SEO statistics article with anything else but money. With the amount of money being thrown around, it’s no surprise that SEO is one of the most competitive industries in the world. According to a study by SEMrush, about 100,000 people are working in SEO worldwide, and another 600,000 are involved in some way or another.
While all this information on SEO stats may tempt you and how much money could be made from it. It would help if you also considered whether or not you have what it takes to succeed in this industry.
75% of users never scroll past the first page of search results
This is one of the most important SEO statistics to get a grap off. To ensure your website gets the most visibility, you need to ensure it’s in the top 3 search results on the first page. Once a user starts scrolling down, they’re less likely to click on anything else. So you need to make it into those coveted top spots to avoid losing out on potential traffic that could have come through your site.
Of course, this isn’t an exact science—many factors determine where a website ranks in search engine optimization (such as backlinks). But knowledge of these statistics can help you achieve better results when optimizing for SEO.
Google owns over 90% of the search engine market share
The next of the SEO statistics we looked at was the market share of search engines. On a global scale, Google owns over 90% of the market share for search engine use. This means that if you want to rank on Google, you need to understand how it works and how to optimize your content for their algorithms. Other popular options are Bing (owned by Microsoft) and Yahoo, but both only have about 10% of the worldwide search engine market share.
Google’s dominance in this area is also growing: In 2017 alone, they grew their total number of searches by 20%. In addition to being one of the most-used websites on Earth, Google is also a massive corporation with over 70 thousand employees worldwide—to say nothing about its closest competitors, such as Yahoo or Bing. They both employ just over 10 thousand people each!
The top 3 organic search results get 60% of all traffic from a web search
The top three organic search results get 60% of all traffic from a web search. That’s a huge number!
This is another reason you can’t ignore SEO and should work hard to ensure your business ranks in the top 3 organic results for any important keyword phrases.
The good news is that it only costs something to rank organically on Google if you count your time and energy.
18% of local mobile searches lead to a sale within one day vs. 7% on non-local searches
You may have heard that local search is a great way to increase your web presence, but did you know that it can also help you turn a profit? Just like Google reported in their 2018 Local Search Trends Report, a whopping 18% of people who searched for local businesses on mobile devices ended up making an appointment within one day of searching. This figure was twice as high as the 7% average for non-local searches.
Local business owners can take advantage of these SEO statistics by using local SEO or geo-targeting strategies to increase their visibility in search engine results and boost sales opportunities for their company. They can also use these techniques to increase brand awareness so that customers will choose them over other companies when looking for products or services in their area!
Google uses over 200 ranking signals to determine where to rank websites
You may think you know everything there is to know about Google’s ranking factors and how they work, but it’s always good to check. For example, did you know that Google uses over 200 ranking signals?
Almost every day, at least one new ranking signal is in place—or a change to how an existing signal is used. If your site hasn’t been updated, it might be time for fine-tuning.
Here are a few things on this list that can help your website get higher rankings:
High-quality content receives 94% more views than thin content
This statistic shows that high-quality content is more likely to receive higher rankings. This makes sense, as Google wants to show relevant information on its search engine results page (SERP). This also means that it’s best to create thought-provoking, useful and informative pieces if you are writing content for your blog or website.
Here’s a simple way to check if your posts are up to scratch: ask yourself, “Is this article useful?” If the answer is no, then don’t publish it! You can find out if people like what you’re creating by checking social media analytics or asking friends what they think before publishing anything online.
70-80% of users ignore paid ads, focusing on organic results.
The data shows that users trust organic listings more than paid ads. They perceive them as more relevant and trustworthy and are likelier to click on a website if it appears in the top results. Users are more likely to stay on a website if it appears in the top results, which is also significant; this means that your business can benefit from SEO even when you’re not buying ads or paying for sponsored links.
Longer content consistently outperforms shorter posts on the same topic
People are more likely to share long-form than short-form content.
According to a study by BuzzSumo, posts with more than 2,000 words received an average of 104 social shares. In comparison, posts with less than 500 words had only 29 shares.
In addition, longer pieces of content are more likely to be read in their entirety.
According to a 2016 Buffer and SurveyMonkey Audience survey, 44% of Americans reported reading less than 10% of an article if it takes them more than four minutes to finish it. However, when reading speed increased from 300 words per minute to 1,200 words per minute (which is approximately what you’d expect from a typical blog post), only 7% said they skimmed or skipped around while reading any piece of long-form writing on the web.
Updating old blog posts increases traffic by 106%
You know that writing blog content is a great way to improve your SEO, but did you know that it can also help you get more traffic? Blogging is so powerful that updating old posts can increase your overall website traffic by 106%. That’s right: updating old blog content can double the number of people visiting your site. When done correctly, blogging effectively builds brand recognition and keeps users engaged with your product or service. The statistics above show just how powerful well-written blogs are at attracting new visitors.
On average, 10.3% of clicks go to the top 3 organic search positions
The average CTR is 10.3%, which means that 10.3% of the time someone clicks on a search result, they’re clicking on an organic listing.
That’s not all! The average conversion rate is 4.2%. This means that 4.2% of people who visit your website (whether through organic search or paid search) end up taking some action—like filling out a form or making a purchase—on that first visit alone.
And guess how long visitors spend on your site? About 16 seconds per visit, according to Google Keyword Planner data from August 2017. That may seem like a short amount of time, but don’t worry: People spend an average of 3 minutes and 43 seconds per page view when they land on one of your pages after clicking through via organic search results!
Conclusion
Content marketing has become the go-to approach for most businesses. The reason? It works! You can have an amazing website, but if it’s not getting any traffic, there’s no point in having one. Search engine optimization (SEO) is still an important part of your overall strategy and should always be considered. But when it comes down to it, focusing more on content creation will help you reach more people who are interested in what you have to offer—and that’s what matters!
