How often are your branded products/services coming up as viable options on page 1 of the Search Engine Results Pages?
Like breathing, search has become a natural and instinctive action impacting the way we research and make every day choices and selections.
Every second, Google processes over 40,000 search queries, equating to over 3.5 billion searches a day and 1.2 trillion searches per year worldwide. If these statistics weren’t staggering enough, what’s even more impressive is the fact that search volume continues to grow year on year.
So, what does this mean for you as a brand marketer? Are your potential customers finding you at the end of their search queries? Are you happy with the quality and the number of people coming through to you via their digital search research? Let’s take a quick look into the growing area of digital search and highlight some key statistics and insights that will help you activate better search results.
The Google Giant
When it comes to impressive google statistics, there are far too many to present and or even remember.
We’ve selected 7 key insights below that will help you in developing your best practice Search Engine Optimisation:
Google represents 90.46% of the search engine market share worldwide.
Since its humble beginnings, Google’s key objective is to sift through the copious amount of content available on the web and provide its users with the best possible search results that are timely, relevant and accurate.
While no one can ever truly understand the speed and complexity at which Google search interactions take place, we do know that at the end of every search result page is a well formulate algorithm that helps to sort the men from the boys (so to speak) when it comes to providing the best possible search results.
Staying on Google’s best side is an objective that every modern-day marketer needs to achieve and therefore having an understanding of what Google is looking for is critical in developing and maintaining effective SEO practices.
During 2018 google updated its Search Quality Evaluator Guidelines to ensure that it continues to provide its users with content that stems from sources that are not only an expert and authority in their respective search areas but also a source that can be trusted.
While many have attempted to find ways to beat the search algorithm, ultimately Google rewards websites that supports them with the timely, relevant and factual content that their users are seeking.
(Source: StatCounter)
Around 16 to 20% of all Google searches are brand new, never been searched for before.
In this digitally saturated world that we now live in where there are more mobile devices than toothbrushes, it’s interesting to note that there are still unique search opportunities out there to be captured.
Whether these search queries are for new products/services, new industries, new features or just new ways of doing life, the potential for marketers lies in our ability to take advantage of these new search opportunities. Developing concrete strategies to preempt what the new search queries are going to be year on year and having content creation processes in place to be one of the fist to respond to these queries with a direct match.
(Source: Internet Live States)
The average Google search session lasts just under a minute.
We hit send, review the search results page and if we are satisfied with the selection of options available, we click into what we hope will be helpful landing pages. All we do all of this in just under a minute.
When up to 40% of searches end in no clicks at all, we see that the potential to still dominate the search result page with content that better matches the search query, remains a key strategy for leading marketers.
(Source: MOZ)
Organic search results still trump paid ads
When we consider the small percentage (3.4%) of clicks that result from a paid AdWords ad, we gain a fresh new perspective on the importance that is placed on the availability of effective organic search result matches that are fed from authentic content.
The goal here for marketers, especially those who are not active in paid advertising is having SEO strategies in place to create the effective website landing pages required to best match relevant search queries.
Organic Google results with 3 to 4 words in the title drive higher click through rates that those with only 1 to 2 words.
Whether we are time poor or not, no one wants to waste time visiting ‘un helpful’ websites. What we do want, is to find valuable content that matches our search query in a format that helps us with our research and decision-making process. The more we can anticipate what to expect from an unknown website, the more comfortable we are going to feel about clicking on that site.
As marketers, this insight shows us the importance of developing well designed websites that support an effective landing page structure, able to accommodate a host of multilayered search queries.
(Source: Smart Insights)
60% of Google searches are done via a mobile device and 65% of people use their mobile phone in their buying moments.
While the rise of the internet has given wings to global marketing, it has also provided a viable platform for local businesses to capture and influence their share of the market.
The mobile phone with its ability to provide’ right here right now’ experiences continues to change consumer behaviour.
According to Googles’ micro-moments research data, people across the globe wanting to feel empowered to make the right decisions, are turning to their mobile phones to provide immediate information needed in the moments that they want to ‘know, go, do or buy’ something.
As marketers, these insights help us to realise the important role that a mobile phone plays when we are developing integrated seamless experiences across all marketing platforms.
(Source: Statista)
50% of ‘near me’ Google Searches result in a store visit
With forecasters (Forrester) predicting that by 2021, mobile devices will influence over $1.4 billion in locally based sales, having an easily accessible and functional digital presence in 2019, is critical.
Local Google Search statistics reveal that 46% of all searches are seeking local information and up to 88% of consumers who search a local business on a mobile device will either call or visit that business within 24 hours.
Unsurprisingly, 92% of searchers will select businesses on the first page of the local search results with 70% of viewers visiting a store based on the information found online.
(Source: SEO Expert Brand)
Want to know more about how to improve your SEO optimisation?
At creative excellence we are passionate about connecting and engaging with digital audiences and have helped many organisations refine their digital media strategies to obtain best practice SEO optimisation outcomes.
If you’d like to discuss this or any other marketing/business development needs that you have then please take this opportunity to contact creative excellence today.
Author’s insights:
As an Integrated Marketing Strategist with over 20 years’ experience in brand marketing, roslyn whately knows what it takes to keep a brand relevant, profitable and sustainable.