Key Insights
Essential data points from our research
68% of online experiences begin with a search engine
53.3% of all website traffic comes from organic search
92.96% of global traffic comes from Google Search, Images, and Maps
46% of all Google searches are seeking local information
72% of consumers that did a local search visited a store within five miles
88% of searches for local businesses on a mobile device either call or visit the business within 24 hours
53% of mobile site visits are abandoned if a page takes longer than 3 seconds to load
The average time a user spends on a page from a Google result is 3 minutes 10 seconds
70% of marketers see SEO as more effective than PPC for generating sales
27% of the global online population is using voice search on mobile
55% of households are expected to own smart speaker devices by 2022
Google Lens images are now used for more than 10 billion searches per month
89% of B2B researchers use the internet during the B2B research process
71% of B2B search queries start with a generic term
Video content is 50 times more likely to drive organic search results than plain text
B2B & Video Search
- 189% of B2B researchers use the internet during the B2B research process
- 271% of B2B search queries start with a generic term
- 3Video content is 50 times more likely to drive organic search results than plain text
- 4YouTube is the second largest search engine in the world
- 562% of B2B marketers utilize video to drive traffic and search visibility
- 6Posts with videos earn more backlinks and see a 157% increase in search traffic
- 770% of B2B buyers watch a video at some point during their buying journey
- 8Including a video in a post increases organic traffic from search results by 157%
- 964% of consumers purchase a product after watching a branded social video
- 1053% of B2B tech buyers cite video as the most useful form of content
- 11B2B researchers do 12 searches on average prior to engaging on a specific brand's site
- 1242% of B2B researchers use a mobile device during the purchasing process
- 1380% of video marketers say video has directly increased sales
- 14First page videos on YouTube have an average length of 14 minutes and 50 seconds
- 15The number of "how to" videos searched on YouTube is growing 70% year over year
- 1687% of video marketers say video has increased traffic to their website
- 17B2B companies that blog generate 67% more leads per month than those that don't
- 1868.2% of first page YouTube results are HD videos
- 19LinkedIn drives more than 50% of social traffic to B2B sites and blogs
- 2057% of B2B marketers say that SEO generates more leads than any other marketing initiative
Interpretation
If content is king, video is the crown and SEO is the map: with 89% of B2B researchers starting online, 71% using generic queries, YouTube as the world’s second largest search engine where first-page videos are long-form and HD, and video driving dramatically more backlinks, traffic and sales, B2B teams that prioritize video-first, SEO-optimized content promoted on LinkedIn and supported by consistent blogging will capture the dozen searches buyers make across devices before they ever visit a brand site.
General SEO & Organic Search
- 168% of online experiences begin with a search engine
- 253.3% of all website traffic comes from organic search
- 392.96% of global traffic comes from Google Search, Images, and Maps
- 40.78% of Google searchers click on results from the second page
- 5The #1 result in Google’s organic search results has an average CTR of 31.7%
- 6Ahrefs found that 90.63% of pages get no traffic from Google
- 715% of all searches on Google have never been searched before
- 8SEO drives 1000%+ more traffic than organic social media
- 912.29% of search queries have featured snippets in their search results
- 1060% of marketers say that inbound (SEO, blog content, etc.) is their highest quality source of leads
- 1114.1% of searches are question-based queries
- 1261% of B2B marketers stated that SEO and organic traffic generate more leads than any other marketing initiative
- 1349% of marketers report that organic search has the best ROI of any marketing channel
- 14Moving up one spot in the search results increases CTR by 30.8%
- 15There are over 3.5 billion searches per day on Google
- 16Including a keyword in your URL may lead to a higher click-through rate
- 17Titles with a question mark have a 14.1% higher click-through rate
- 1825.02% of top-ranking pages don’t have a meta description
- 197% of all voice search answers come from a featured snippet
- 2065% of digital marketers state that link building is the hardest part of SEO
Interpretation
Given that about two-thirds of online experiences begin with search and Google handles over 90% of billions of daily queries, the top organic result's roughly one-third click share and the near invisibility of page two mean that if you are not on page one you are practically invisible, so careful SEO that optimizes titles, URLs and featured snippets while committing to the painfully important work of link building is the high-ROI engine that converts question-driven and never-before-seen queries into traffic and leads.
Local Search & Mobile
- 146% of all Google searches are seeking local information
- 272% of consumers that did a local search visited a store within five miles
- 388% of searches for local businesses on a mobile device either call or visit the business within 24 hours
- 4"Near me" or "nearby" searches grew by more than 900% over two years
- 597% of people learn more about a local company online than anywhere else
- 661% of mobile searchers are more likely to contact a local business if they have a mobile-friendly site
- 728% of local searches result in a purchase
- 8Mobile searches for "open now" have grown by 3x
- 958% of people use a smartphone to find local business information
- 1086% of people look up the location of a business on Google Maps
- 1154% of smartphone users search for business hours
- 1278% of location-based mobile searches result in an offline purchase
- 1356% of local retailers have not claimed their Google My Business listing
- 14Mobile devices generated 54.8% of global website traffic
- 1530% of all mobile searches are related to location
- 1642% of local searches involve clicking on the Google Map Pack
- 17"Where to buy" + "near me" mobile queries have grown by over 200%
- 1818% of local smartphone searches led to a purchase within a day
- 1982% of smartphone users use a search engine when looking for a local business
- 20Listings with photos are 2x as likely to be considered reputable
Interpretation
These stats make it painfully clear that with nearly half of searches seeking local information, "near me" queries exploding and mobile users calling, visiting and buying within hours, any business that has not claimed its Google listing, added photos and optimized for mobile is effectively turning away a stream of customers standing on its doorstep.
User Behavior & Experience
- 153% of mobile site visits are abandoned if a page takes longer than 3 seconds to load
- 2The average time a user spends on a page from a Google result is 3 minutes 10 seconds
- 370% of marketers see SEO as more effective than PPC for generating sales
- 4Users spend an average of 5.59 seconds looking at a website's written content
- 5Websites with a 2-second delay in load time can result in bounce rates of up to 87%
- 679% of users who are dissatisfied with website performance are less likely to buy from the same site again
- 752% of users say a bad mobile experience makes them less likely to engage with a company
- 847% of consumers expect a web page to load in 2 seconds or less
- 938% of people will stop engaging with a website if the content or layout is unattractive
- 10The average bounce rate for search traffic is approximately 49%
- 11Pages with a longer dwell time tend to rank higher in Google search results
- 1270% of people look at lists with bullet points
- 1334% of people click on the first organic result because it answers their question immediately
- 14Organic search improves user engagement by 5.6x compared to social media
- 1594% of people cite web design as the reason they mistrusted or rejected a website
- 16Users form an opinion about your website in 0.05 seconds
- 1788% of online consumers are less likely to return to a site after a bad experience
- 18Conversion rates drop by 4.42% with each additional second of load time
- 19On average, users read only 20% to 28% of the words on a webpage
- 2044% of website visitors will leave a company's website if there's no contact information or phone number
Interpretation
You have about 0.05 seconds to make a good impression and roughly two to three seconds to stop people from leaving, so a slow, unattractive, hard-to-scan mobile site with no clear contact info will not only torpedo conversions about 4.4% per extra second but also erase trust and undo whatever SEO and engagement gains you might have hoped for.
Voice & Visual Search
- 127% of the global online population is using voice search on mobile
- 255% of households are expected to own smart speaker devices by 2022
- 3Google Lens images are now used for more than 10 billion searches per month
- 4Voice search results load 52% faster than the average page
- 5The average voice search result is 29 words long
- 672% of people who own a voice-activated speaker use it as part of their daily routine
- 7Pinterest Lens visual searches increased by 140% year-over-year
- 862% of millennials want the ability to search by image
- 936.6% of US residents use voice assistants monthly
- 1058% of consumers find voice search to be faster than typing
- 1120% of mobile queries on the Google App are voice searches
- 12Schemas helps search engines understand content and can aid in voice search results
- 13Pages ranking for voice search load in 4.6 seconds on average
- 1440.7% of all voice search answers result from a Featured Snippet
- 15Over 1 billion voice searches are made per month as of Jan 2018
- 16The "People Also Ask" box appears in approximately 43% of search results
- 17Visual search creates 74% faster checkouts than text-based search
- 1890% of Getty Images’ revenue comes from image search licensing and usage
- 1970.4% of voice search result pages are secured with HTTPS
- 20600 million devices now feature Google Assistant
Interpretation
Voice and visual search are rewriting the rules: 27% of mobile users use voice, there are over a billion monthly voice searches, Google Lens handles more than 10 billion image searches a month and Pinterest Lens grew 140% year over year, so brands that prioritize fast, concise, schema-rich, HTTPS-secured content that earns Featured Snippets will be found first and probably before their competitors finish typing.
