Key Insights
Essential data points from our research
68% of online experiences begin with a search engine
Organic search drives 53.3% of all website traffic
92.96% of global traffic comes from Google Search, Images, and Maps
Website conversion rates drop by an average of 4.42% with each additional second of load time
53% of mobile site visits leave a page that takes longer than three seconds to load
A site that loads in 1 second has a conversion rate 3x higher than a site that loads in 5 seconds
Content with at least one image gets twice as many shares as content with no images
The average first-page result on Google contains 1,447 words
Ideally, title tags should be between 50 and 60 characters to avoid truncation
46% of all Google searches are looking for local information
97% of people learn more about a local company online than anywhere else
"Near me" or "nearby" searches grew by more than 900% over two years
94% of the world's content gets zero external links
The #1 result in Google has an average of 3.8x more backlinks than positions #2-#10
66.31% of pages contain zero backlinks pointing to them
Backlinks & Off-Page SEO
- 194% of the world's content gets zero external links
- 2The #1 result in Google has an average of 3.8x more backlinks than positions #2-#10
- 366.31% of pages contain zero backlinks pointing to them
- 4Correlation between the number of referring domains and highest search ranking is 0.77 (VERY high)
- 543.7% of the top-ranking pages have some specific reciprocal links
- 651% of marketers say link building will be the most difficult part of SEO
- 7Links purchased for money are considered a violation of Google's Webmaster Guidelines
- 8Only 2.2% of content generates links from multiple websites
- 9A whopping 99.2% of all top 50 results had at least one external link pointing to the website
- 1073.6% of domains have reciprocal links (site A links to B and B links to A)
- 11Why posts (posts explaining "Why...") have a 25.8% higher chance of being linked to than other post types
- 12Pages with many backlinks rank above pages that enjoy just a few backlinks 74.3% of the time
- 13Google’s algorithm uses PageRank to count the number and quality of links to determines a rough estimate of the site's importance
- 14Cost of buying a link in 2018 was on average $361.44 according to Ahrefs
- 1592% of marketers believe that link building is still a vital ranking factor
- 16Long content (3000+ words) gets an average of 77.2% more referring domains links than short content (1000 words)
- 17Brands that are active on social media have 22% more inbound links
- 1813% of search experts believe link building is the most valuable SEO tactic
- 19Almost 60% of the pages ranking in the top 10 Google results use at least one exact match anchor text in their backlinks
- 2041% of large companies consider link building as the most difficult SEO tactic
Interpretation
If content is king, backlinks are the kingmakers: with 94% of content getting no external links and top results averaging nearly four times more backlinks, earning high-quality, often reciprocal links—frequently attracted by long "why" posts and social activity—is an essential, costly and difficult strategy (buying links breaks Google's rules) that helps explain the very high 0.77 correlation between referring domains and top rankings.
Content & On-Page SEO
- 1Content with at least one image gets twice as many shares as content with no images
- 2The average first-page result on Google contains 1,447 words
- 3Ideally, title tags should be between 50 and 60 characters to avoid truncation
- 436.4% of marketers want to integrate video into their SEO strategy
- 5Pages with videos are 53 times more likely to rank on the first page of Google
- 6Updating and republishing old blog posts can increase traffic by 106%
- 7Companies that blog get 97% more links to their websites
- 8H1 tags are a significant ranking factor and 80% of first-page results have an H1
- 972% of marketers describe content creation as their most effective SEO tactic
- 10Articles with lists get 218% more shares than "how-to" articles
- 1147% of buyers view 3-5 pieces of content before engaging with a sales rep
- 12Headlines ending with a question mark get 23.3% more social shares
- 1370% of marketers are actively investing in content marketing
- 14Video content is 50 times more likely to drive organic search results than plain text
- 15URLs that contain a keyword have a 45% higher click-through rate
- 16Shortened URLs rank better on Google compared to long URLs
- 1727.6% of clicks on the first page of Google go to the first organic result if it is a video
- 18Listicles receive 80% more traffic than other types of articles
- 1959% of people would rather watch a video than read text on a webpage
- 20Content longer than 3,000 words gets 3x more traffic than articles of average length (900-1,200 words)
Interpretation
Treat your content like a multimedia feast, because images double shares, videos can catapult rankings and clicks with pages containing video far more likely to reach the first page and the top organic video grabbing about 27.6 percent of first-page clicks, long-form and list-driven pieces pay off with articles over 3,000 words getting three times the traffic and listicles earning roughly 218 percent more shares and 80 percent more traffic, updating old posts can boost traffic about 106 percent and companies that blog get 97 percent more links, on-page basics still matter since 80 percent of first-page results use H1 tags and title tags should sit between 50 and 60 characters while keyword-rich short URLs lift click-through rates, headlines ending in a question get about 23.3 percent more shares and 47 percent of buyers view three to five pieces of content before contacting sales, so with 70 percent of marketers investing in content and many prioritizing video that audiences increasingly prefer, prioritize regular, multimedia-rich, long-form content with clean titles and URLs.
Local SEO & Business Impact
- 146% of all Google searches are looking for local information
- 297% of people learn more about a local company online than anywhere else
- 3"Near me" or "nearby" searches grew by more than 900% over two years
- 476% of people who search on their smartphones for something nearby visit a business within a day
- 528% of local searches result in a purchase
- 661% of mobile searchers are more likely to contact a local business if they have a mobile-friendly site
- 786% of people look up the location of a business on Google Maps
- 857% of B2B marketers state that SEO generates more leads than any other marketing initiative
- 978% of location-based mobile searches result in an offline purchase
- 10Businesses with a Google Business Profile roughly receive 94% of calls from local search results between Monday and Friday
- 1188% of potential customers look for online reviews before choosing local services
- 1292% of searchers will pick a business on the first page of local search results
- 13On average, businesses earn $2.75 for every $1 spent on Google Search Ads but $22 for every $1 spent on SEO
- 1418% of local mobile searches lead to a sale within one day
- 1550% of consumers visit a store within a day of their local search on their smartphone
- 1662% of consumers will disregard a business if they can’t find them online
- 17Google Maps is the preferred navigation app for 67% of consumers
- 1893% of consumers used the internet to find a local business in the last year
- 19SEO leads have a 14.6% close rate, compared to 1.7% for outbound leads (like print ads)
Interpretation
Think of local SEO as your digital welcome mat: if your business is easy to find on Google and Google Maps, mobile-friendly, well-reviewed and optimized with a Google Business Profile, those searches overwhelmingly turn into calls, visits and sales far more efficiently than ads or outbound marketing, so ignoring it quietly hands customers to competitors.
Search Behavior & Organic Traffic
- 168% of online experiences begin with a search engine
- 2Organic search drives 53.3% of all website traffic
- 392.96% of global traffic comes from Google Search, Images, and Maps
- 4Only 0.78% of Google searchers click on results from the second page
- 5The #1 result in Google gets 31.7% of all clicks
- 6Moving from position #3 to position #2 boosts CTR by 30.8%
- 715% of all Google searches have never been searched before
- 8Google processes approximately 63,000 search queries every second
- 912.29% of search queries have featured snippets in their search results
- 10Over 50% of Google searches end without a click to a different property (Zero-Click Searches)
- 1127% of the global online population uses voice search on mobile
- 12Long-tail keywords (3+ words) make up 70% of all search traffic
- 1321% of searchers access more than one of the search results
- 1458% of searches come from mobile devices
- 158% of search queries are phrased as questions
- 16Organic search delivers 1000% more traffic than organic social media on average
- 17Google Images accounts for 22.6% of all internet searches
- 18Users gaze at the top left of the search results 100% of the time
- 19Amazon has surpassed Google for product searches with 54% starting on Amazon
- 2018% of organic clicks go to the first position, 10% to the second, and 7% to the third on mobile
Interpretation
Bottom line, if you're not fighting for top organic spots, featured snippets, image and mobile visibility, and long-tail and voice answers while also owning product discovery on Amazon, you're essentially invisible to the vast majority who start with search, funnel clicks to the top results, and often never click away from Google.
User Experience & Technical SEO
- 1Website conversion rates drop by an average of 4.42% with each additional second of load time
- 253% of mobile site visits leave a page that takes longer than three seconds to load
- 3A site that loads in 1 second has a conversion rate 3x higher than a site that loads in 5 seconds
- 473% of mobile internet users say that they’ve encountered a website that was too slow to load
- 5Nearly 70% of consumers admit that Page Speed impacts their willingness to buy from an online retailer
- 688% of online consumers are less likely to return to a site after a bad experience
- 7First impressions of a website are 94% design-related
- 840% of people will leave a website if it takes more than 3 seconds to load
- 982% of websites reported issues with Core Web Vitals
- 10Switching from HTTP to HTTPS can slightly improve rankings as it is a Google ranking signal
- 1125% of pages examined have no meta description tag
- 1240.5% of mobile users use an ad blocker, impacting analytics data
- 13Pages with a faster Time to First Byte (TTFB) rank significantly higher
- 1461% of users are unlikely to return to a mobile site they had trouble accessing
- 15Duplicate content appears on 29% of the web
- 1685% of adults think that a company’s mobile website should be as good or better than their desktop website
- 17Websites with a 'Superior' mobile experience generate up to 400% more revenue than those without
- 1851% of online shoppers say that slow site loading times are the top reason they abandon a purchase
- 19Two-thirds of global web traffic is encrypted via HTTPS
- 20B2B sites that load in 1 second have a 5x higher conversion rate than those that load in 10 seconds
Interpretation
If your site loads like molasses, looks like an afterthought, or skips basics like HTTPS and meta tags, expect visitors to flee, conversions to crater and revenue to evaporate, because speed, mobile polish and technical SEO are the not so secret ingredients customers and search engines now demand.
