Key Insights
Essential data points from our research
94.74% of keywords get 10 or fewer monthly searches
15% of daily Google searches have never been searched before
0.0008% of all keywords get more than 100,000 monthly searches
The #1 result in Google gets approximately 27.6% of all clicks
The top 3 Google search results get 54.4% of all clicks
Ranking #1 generates a typical CTR 10x higher than ranking #10
Advertisers get $2 for every $1 spent on Google Ads
41% of clicks on specific commercial queries go to the top 3 paid ads
According to SparkToro 65% of Google searches ended without a click in 2020
63% of Google's search traffic comes from mobile devices
30% of all mobile searches are related to location
76% of people who search on their smartphones for something nearby visit a business within a day
27% of the global online population uses voice search on mobile
52% of voice assistant users say they use it several times a day
Google Lens sees over 12 billion visual context searches per month
Keyword Composition & Volume
- 194.74% of keywords get 10 or fewer monthly searches
- 215% of daily Google searches have never been searched before
- 30.0008% of all keywords get more than 100,000 monthly searches
- 4The average Google search query is 3 words long
- 58% of search queries are phrased as questions
- 691.8% of all search queries are long-tail keywords
- 7Keywords between 10-15 words get 1.76x more clicks than single-word terms
- 850% of search queries contain 4 or more words
- 914.1% of searches are formulated as a question
- 1099.2% of all search queries have a volume of 1,000 or less
- 11The most searched keyword in the US usually relates to weather or major platforms like Facebook
- 12Searches for "best" grew by over 80% in a two-year period
- 13Keywords with "why" and "how" have a higher click-through rate in results
- 14Long-tail keywords convert 2.5x better than head keywords
- 1520% of keywords show significant seasonality
- 16Branded keywords often have high conversion rates but low volume new discovery
- 1729.13% of keywords with over 10k monthly searches consist of 3 or more words
- 18"How to" searches are among the most stable and evergreen query types
- 1960% of keyword queries are purely informational in nature
- 2065% of keywords for e-commerce sites are product specific
Interpretation
Think of Google as a crowd of whisperers: almost every query is a low-volume, multi-word, often question-shaped long-tail request, so helpful "how" and "why" content, product-specific pages and evergreen "best" guides will earn far more clicks and conversions than relentlessly chasing the microscopic handful of blockbuster keywords.
Mobile & Local Segments
- 163% of Google's search traffic comes from mobile devices
- 230% of all mobile searches are related to location
- 376% of people who search on their smartphones for something nearby visit a business within a day
- 428% of searches for something nearby result in a purchase
- 5Searches for "open now" have grown by 3x in recent years
- 6"Near me" mobile searches grew 136% year over year recently
- 746% of all Google searches have local intent
- 886% of people look up the location of a business on Google Maps
- 9Mobile searches for "where to buy" + "near me" have grown by over 200%
- 1061% of mobile searchers are more likely to contact a local business if they have a mobile-friendly site
- 11The first organic result on mobile gets 22.8% of clicks compared to 27.6% on desktop
- 1256% of in-store shoppers used their smartphones to shop or research items while in the store
- 1354% of smartphone users search for business hours
- 1453% of mobile site visitors leave a page that takes longer than three seconds to load
- 1592% of searchers will pick a business on the first page of local search results
- 1697% of people learn more about a local company online than anywhere else
- 17"Shopping near me" searches have grown over 200% globally
- 18Mobile search depth is lower than desktop meaning users scroll less
- 19Click-to-call is a feature used by 88% of mobile searchers searching for local business
- 202/3 of smartphone users are more likely to buy from companies whose mobile sites customize information to their location
Interpretation
With 63% of searches on mobile, 46% carrying local intent, and 76% of people who search nearby visiting a business within a day, being slow, non-mobile-friendly, or buried off the first page is basically locking your doors on a crowd that’s tapping "near me", calling with one touch, and buying within hours.
Organic Click Behavior
- 1The #1 result in Google gets approximately 27.6% of all clicks
- 2The top 3 Google search results get 54.4% of all clicks
- 3Ranking #1 generates a typical CTR 10x higher than ranking #10
- 4Moving up one spot in the search results increases CTR by 30.8%
- 5Only 0.63% of Google searchers click on results from the second page
- 6Title tags containing questions have a 14.1% higher CTR
- 7URLs that contain a keyword have a 45% higher click-through rate
- 8Emotional titles in search results may actually decrease CTR
- 959% of Google users visit a single page during their search session
- 1021% of searchers click on more than one result
- 11Organic search produces 53.3% of all site traffic
- 12B2B companies see 2x more revenue from organic search than any other channel
- 1318% of organic clicks go to the #1 position on mobile
- 14Titles between 15 and 40 characters have the highest CTR of 8.6%
- 15Meta descriptions resulting in snippets increase CTR by 5.8%
- 16Organic clicks for position 5 generally hover around 4-6%
- 1770% of marketers see SEO as more effective than PPC for driving sales
- 18Posts with videos earn more clicks and engagement from SERPs
- 19Schema markup does not directly increase rank but improves CTR
- 20Updating old content can increase organic traffic by up to 106%
Interpretation
Think of Google as a popularity contest where the front row gets applause, with the number one result drawing about 27.6 percent of clicks and the top three grabbing 54.4 percent, so every climb matters because moving up one spot typically increases CTR by 30.8 percent and the top spot yields roughly ten times the clicks of tenth place, while question-based titles, keyword-rich URLs, concise 15 to 40 character headings, meta snippets, schema, video and updated content can substantially boost CTR and revenue from the roughly 53.3 percent of traffic that comes from organic search, even as the second page is essentially invisible at 0.63 percent and emotional clickbait may actually repel users.
SERP Features & Paid Search
- 1Advertisers get $2 for every $1 spent on Google Ads
- 241% of clicks on specific commercial queries go to the top 3 paid ads
- 3According to SparkToro 65% of Google searches ended without a click in 2020
- 4Featured snippets appear in about 12.3% of search queries
- 599% of pages shown in Featured Snippets already rank in the top 10
- 6People Also Ask (PAA) boxes appear in 43% of search results
- 775% of PAA results appear within the top 3 results
- 8Video carousels appear in approximately 35% of search results
- 9Image packs appear in about 19-21% of organic search results
- 10When a featured snippet is present the #1 organic result loses ~8.6% of clicks
- 11Local packs appear in over 30% of SERPs for US desktop queries
- 12Google Shopping ads account for 76% of retail search ad spend
- 1350% of people are more likely to click on a brand name if they see it appear more than once in results
- 14Knowledge Panels appear in about 38% of desktop searches
- 15Site Links appear in nearly 55% of all Google search results
- 16Top Stories blocks appear on only 4.6% of desktop SERPs but often on mobile
- 17Ads in the Google Display Network reach 90% of internet users reducing reliance on pure search
- 18Zero-click searches on desktop are lower (~46%) compared to mobile
- 195.7% of pages rank in the top 10 for just one keyword
- 20Paragraph snippets are the most common type of Featured Snippet at 82%
Interpretation
If Google Search were a party, the loudest, most visible guests—paid ads, featured snippets, People Also Ask, video, image and local packs, and Shopping—get most of the attention while nearly half the room leaves without speaking to anyone, so the smart move is to stop playing one-keyword roulette and instead combine paid spend, structured content to win snippets and PAA, media and local optimization, and repeated brand visibility to occupy multiple SERP spots and actually capture the clicks you want.
Visual, Voice & Future Search
- 127% of the global online population uses voice search on mobile
- 252% of voice assistant users say they use it several times a day
- 3Google Lens sees over 12 billion visual context searches per month
- 4Voice search queries are usually longer than text-based searches averaging 4.2 words
- 558% of consumers have used voice search to find a local business information
- 6The average voice search result page loads in 4.6 seconds
- 7SSL (HTTPS) domains appear in 70.4% of voice search result results
- 840.7% of all voice search answers come from a Featured Snippet
- 9Pinterest and Google Lens drive the visual search market with Lens usage growing 4x recently
- 1036% of consumers have used visual search for shopping research
- 11The accuracy of Google voice search is at 95%
- 1272% of people who own voice-activated speakers say that their devices are used as part of their daily routines
- 13Simply calling "Hey Google" is becoming a primary entry point for 20% of all searches on Android
- 14The schema types "Recipe" and "HowTo" are heavily favored in voice results for smart displays
- 1525% of individuals ages 16-24 use voice search on mobile
- 16Pages ranking in voice search average 2312 words in length
- 17Visual search is expected to increase digital commerce revenue by 30%
- 1862% of smart speaker owners have made a purchase via voice commerce
- 19Simple, conversational language (9th grade reading level) is preferred in voice results
- 20Multisearch (text and image combined) is the newest Google trend allowing complex visual queries
Interpretation
With 27% of the global online population using voice search and Google Lens handling over 12 billion visual queries a month, companies that speak plainly, secure pages with HTTPS, optimize long-form content for conversational queries and featured snippets, and embrace visual multisearch will turn habitual voice and image searches into real revenue instead of being silently ignored.
