The changing reality of the SEO landscape is equal parts fascinating and intimidating.
Staying on top of the hundreds of Google algorithm updates and SEO best practices is key to positioning your digital content and increasing organic search results.
However, we need to put our focus in the right place.
That’s why we’ve pulled together some of the most important SEO statistics to help you make masterful digital marketing decisions in 2020.
Here are 10 stats to help you tap into an enormous amount of digital traffic and leads – and be able to attribute real value to the content investment you’re making.
1) In 2019, Google accounted for just over 75% of all global desktop search traffic, followed by Bing at 9.97%, Baidu at 9.34%, and Yahoo at 2.77%.
To win at SEO, you have to play by Google’s rules. Ranking high on Yahoo or Bing will bring visitors to your site, but companies who rank on Google are most likely getting the most business.
Google’s strength can’t be denied in the search engine category. Keeping up with Google Algorithm changes ensures you’ll stay agile and can make key changes when they’re needed.
2) Google has received nearly 2.3 trillion searches in 2019.
Customers are searching… a lot.
In fact, consumers now do as much as 70% of their purchasing research online before they ever get into a sales conversation.
Ranking well in search engines enables your buyers to easily research on their own while spending time learning about your on your terms.
Prioritizing SEO gives you the power to do what you can to make sure your business appears first during those 2+ trillion searches.
3) Of the billions of searches that happen on any given day, 15% of daily searches are new to Google.
It’s important to remember that SEO isn’t only about competing with others trying to rank for the existing terms. With so many new searches happening every day, SEO is as much about getting found for new terms as it is for what’s already popular.
How do you rank for something new?
This is where Google’s BERT algorithm comes in.
BERT looks at the context and intent of words in a series. So when you write with the intent to educate on a certain topic, BERT understands what you’re doing and rewards you for it.
There’s no secret, then, to “hacking” the BERT algorithm. The key is to write like a human.
4) Google’s search algorithm uses more than 200 factors to rank websites.
Google remains somewhat mysterious about exactly what and how they rank, but SEO experts all over the world have been making lists to pinpoint the magic of SERP ranking.
Backlinko has done a nice job of keeping this list up-to-date and it is comprehensive.
Even so, there is so many rather obvious and low-hanging fruit on the SEO tree.
5) High-quality content and link building are the two most important signals used by Google to rank your website for search.
Quality content has consistently been a factor toward gaining traffic and ranking for your site/page, so it’s one thing we can expect to remain the same for the foreseeable future.
Focus on quality and honesty over quantity.
This will help your buyer see you as a trustworthy expert in your space. This also will help competitors or others in your industry see your site as valuable and worth returning to.
Before publishing, share your work with others in the industry or with your customers to ensure you’re spending time on valuable content.
6) 91% of all pages never get any organic traffic from Google, mostly due to the fact they don’t have backlinks.
A 2018 study by Ahrefs looked at 2 million websites and found some pretty interesting data. While the word count factored into how a site ranks, it’s the backlinks that matter more.
7) The more backlinks a page has, the more search traffic it gets from Google.
In a study of 920 million web pages, Ahrefs found that as traffic increased, so did the number of referring domains.
What’s the correlation?
That solid content you wrote – you know, the one with 2,000+ words – not only will answer your customer’s question, but it will satisfy other industry leaders who are also looking for strong content.
They’ll reward your effort with a link, and, in the process, increase your ranking along the way.
8) In 2019, 52% of all worldwide online traffic came from mobile, 45% from desktop.
Before you go changing everything to mobile, it’s important to look at the analytics specific to your site. These are global stats and may not represent what’s going on in your next of the cyber woods.
That said, even though desktop may have the edge for your site, you still need to be mobile-friendly if you want to compete regionally, nationally, and globally.
Also, the range of device sizes means it’s important for your website to be responsive, instead of just having one fixed size for mobile.
9) 36% of SEO experts think the headline/title tag is the most important SEO element.
It’s tempting to spend the bulk of your time crafting the perfect copy for an article then to just want to move on. Because of this, we tend to treat the headline as an afterthought.
That’s a mistake, according to the majority of SEO experts surveyed recently.
Your headline will not only let the search engines know what you’re writing about, but there’s a good chance it will show up across social media feeds, in newsletters, and in all the backlinks you’ll receive.
Your audience will only click into that headline if it’s appealing enough to grab their attention.
Take the time to create multiple (at least three) versions that contain the keyword phrase you want to rank for. Then, workshop your title with coworkers and colleagues.
The time you put into crafting the perfect headline will pay off in traffic and ranking.
10) Long-tail keyword searches have a click-through rate 3% to 5% higher than generic searches.
While most searchers aren’t seeking out one- and two-word terms, they’re searching phrases that are four words or longer.
They’re looking for specifics.
Your content needs to reflect this.
It’s the difference between “SEO” and “SEO statistics” and “SEO statistics for 2020.”
See how those last searches are different? There’s unique intent with each of these, and the user expects different, more specific, and more updated content as the keyword gets longer.
If you’re looking to rank for the keyword “SEO strategy,” for example, you could set your sights on the following long-tail keywords:
– How to create an SEO strategy?
– What is an SEO strategy?
– What are the benefits of an SEO strategy?
– How do I get more website traffic?
– How much does an SEO strategy cost?
If you wish to implement any of these insights into your marketing strategy, contact TheIuvo today!
