7 SEO Statistics You Should Take Notice Of

With that in mind, I want to share with you some of the more interesting and actionable SEO statistics that you should at least be aware of, and preferably implementing into your SEO strategy.

1 – Google is still the search engine to focus on

According to ongoing research, over 87.35% of search traffic in January this year (latest stats available) use Google. The other search engines don’t even come close with Bing having 5.53%, and Yahoo with a tiny 2.83%.

This is why we focus so much on so much on satisfying Google’s standards when we talk about SEO and search engine marketing as the others don’t even come close to the same levels of traffic. Get things right with Google and you simply don’t have to worry about the rest (although you should be aware of them all the same).

2 – Front page results still matter

It’s not just getting to the front page of Google that matters for increased traffic and sales but where you are on that page. Advanced Web Ranking have found that the number 1 position on Google.co.uk search results leads to a 34.81% clickthrough rate (according to their April 2020 figures).

But what is more remarkable is how quickly that clickthrough rate drops down the positions:

• Position 2 = 16.35%
• Position 3 = 11.2%
• Position 4 = 7.77%

You can see how positioning your website on the front page is important and that the top 4 positions account for 70% of all click throughs to the website, so every effort should be made to get your website ranked as highly as possible. Aiming for first place isn’t realistic for every business and every keyword, and your positions will fluctuate as your competitors strive to beat you but do all you can to get your content ranking higher in 2020.

Just to drive the point home, only 0.78% of Google users found what they were looking for on the second page or later. First page results is where you need to be as just moving your result up by one position can improve your traffic by 30.8%.

3 – Longer content gets better SEO results

Research by HubSpot found that articles with 2,250 to 2,500 words received the most organic traffic so it is worth taking the time and effort to craft valuable long-form content for your marketing efforts. It really does work!

In case you were wondering, it works the same way for voice search with 2,312 words being the average for high-performing content according to backlinko.

Another relevant statistic around longer content is that they generate more inbound links. Link building is vital to any successful SEO strategy while being one of the harder aspects to achieve. So, make it easier for yourself with the right content in place.

4 – Pages without backlinks don’t receive traffic

At least that’s the findings of Ahrefs who looked at the 91% of website pages without organic traffic and found that they were lacking in backlinks. It’s an older study from 2018 but the point still stands, if you want your web pages to perform well you need to generate some backlinks.

This shouldn’t really come as a surprise as backlinks are one of the top three ranking factors that Google uses to determine search results positioning. So, make an effort to connect with other business owners and website admins to generate some backlinks today – remember, they must be valuable for your audience, relevant and not in exchange for payment or services.

5 – Most online traffic comes from mobile search

While it’s only just tipped the scales at 52% mobile, only 45% of organic search comes from desktops. You might be surprised to hear that mobile media consumption has increased 504% since 2011, that means more of your audience are using their mobile phones to find you and connect with your content.

That’s why we say that mobile responsive websites are crucial to achieving consistent traffic, indeed Google is crawling most pages from a mobile perspective these days so do pay attention to what Google Search Console and PageSpeed Insights are telling you.

6 – Google My Business works

I know many brick and mortar stores struggle to see the benefits of SEO, but did you know that 72% of individuals that carry out an online search go on to visit a local store for their purchase within a 5-mile radius?

Google My Business is a great way to put your offers and opening hours in front of those searchers and have them visit your store, so go on, try it today.

7 – It’s worth updating and republishing old blogs

Existing content can get stale, but freshening things up with an update can work magic for your SEO, with an organic search traffic increase of as much as 106% as the result!

Try adding new images, adding some new content, and refreshing the copy for best results. If  you’re not sure how to go about tweaking things the right way for SEO, why not outsource to a copy editor or SEO consultant to help you along?

I hope that you find these statistics as interesting as I do! Why not take one of the stats I’ve just shared with you and implement it in your SEO strategy today, whether that’s updating old blog posts, deciding to write longer content in future or generating some new backlinks?