Although it was expected, the day that a long-awaited piece of news finally arrives marks a turning point, especially if there are irrefutable numbers that corroborate reality.
Last June 2019, for the first time, More than half of the searches performed on Google.com did not produce any interaction. with none of the results, that is, they didn't produce a single click.
The main digital marketing portals have echoed the news which, as I said before, is backed by real data provided by the American data analytics company Jumpshot, a platform that aggregates, stores and organizes literally trillions of anonymous interactions per day, providing an endless amount of valuable information for decision-making by brands and e-commerce businesses.
It's worth noting that the data Jumpshot used for its study refers to the analysis of over 40 million searches performed on Google.com in June 2019, via desktop and mobile devices (including tablets) in the United States. Therefore, the data may differ somewhat if the same study were conducted in other countries, but this trend has been observed globally for years, making this information undoubtedly valuable and representative of a shift towards a different way of consuming information through search engines.
In fact, if we analyze the graph of data for the second quarter of 2019 (April, May, and June 2019), we can see that zero-click searches already represented 49.761% of all searches analyzed. In this case, the data sample analyzed consists of more than 140 million searches performed on Google.com in the second quarter of 2019 in the United States, including both desktop and mobile devices.
It is also interesting to see that a significant portion of searches end up going to one of Google's properties, whether it be one of the subdomains of google.com (for example, maps.google.com), YouTube, or another brand belonging to the Mountain View giant, which tend to rank highly in many search results, further reducing the likelihood of clicking on snippets from sources other than Google.
If we broaden the date range and analyze the last three and a half years, we can detect a clear trend indicating that searches without interactions have grown almost exponentially and without interruption, to the point of representing more than half of all searches performed.
The data sample taken into consideration for the evolutionary graph above consists of more than two trillion searches performed on Google.com in the United States, from January 2016 to June 2019 and using any type of device.
Although the upward trend in searches without interactions is evident (as is that of searches that end in a click on a paid result), to truly appreciate the increase of this type of search over time, it is necessary to break down the data by differentiating between queries made on mobile and desktop devices, since not only are these devices usually used differently (due to the different screen sizes and the time of use to which they are usually associated), but it is also necessary to take into account the impact that ads, rich results (featured snippets), answer boxes, video and image carousels, etc. have, especially on the small screens of a mobile device.
It is clear that on mobile devices there is a very marked trend indicating that the CTR of organic searches has been steadily decreasing, dropping 15 percentage points in just three and a half years, from 41.44% at the beginning of 2016 to 26.68% in June 2019. In other words, currently barely One in four organic searches performed on mobile devices generates a click on one of the results.
Conversely, clicks on paid results have more than tripled, perhaps due to the increasing optimization of ad formats for mobile phones and tablets. This data is obviously very interesting (for both publishers and advertisers), since More than half of all searches globally are performed from a mobile device..
The same evolutionary graph, but filtering the data by searches performed exclusively on desktop, gives us a very different picture of how organic, paid, and non-interaction search traffic has evolved over the last three and a half years.
The graph shows how on desktop the percentage increases (or decreases) of the three types of searches are much less marked, although the trends are the same as those detected in the analysis of searches on mobile devices.
But what does this data mean for a traffic manager, a digital acquisition director, or someone who simply wants to grow their online presence?
Mobile is here to stay. Unless there are any surprises, it seems clear that the spread and use of mobile devices will continue to increase (remember that, already, more than half of all searches are done through these devices), so it is reasonable to assume that organic searches will continue to generate less and less traffic, due to the combination of ads that are performing their function more and more successfully and rich results offered by Google, especially through answer boxes and feature snippets.
The importance of having an omnichannel strategy. The game is changing; there's no other option but to accept it. Betting on a single channel (whether direct investment in paid traffic or in content and links to improve organic ranking) can be very costly, and you're not fully capitalizing on opportunities to maximize lead generation, sales, or even just clicks. It's crucial to remember that users, with their habits, are what drive marketers' decisions (you could say that user habits are, in turn, influenced by how Google displays its results, but that's another topic...), not the other way around. Therefore, it's essential to adapt and develop an omnichannel strategy that encompasses all possible traffic sources, optimizing resources to achieve maximum results.
Know your brand… and your audience. To counter the downward trend in organic search click-through rates (CTR), it's important to find ways to continue converting organic rankings into visits. Another trend that Google itself has acknowledged is brand building. Having a recognized brand is key to maintaining traffic, as former Google CEO Eric Schmidt once said, "Brands are the solution, not the problem... (working) your brand is the way out of the hole." For years, Google has emphasized the concepts of branding and relevance, making it highly advisable to cultivate your brand at all levels. This involves identifying the appropriate channels where your target audience is (social media, YouTube channel, Google Places/My Business, etc.), engaging with them, building a community that becomes a brand ambassador, and thus strengthening this connection, which translates into loyalty, more traffic, and ultimately, more sales.
Analysis, study and planning. To counter the upward trend in searches without interaction, it's important to identify the types of content and keywords that maintain a high click-through rate (CTR). Therefore, it will be crucial to analyze the SERPs and properly plan the content generation strategy, based on effective keyword research that considers the semantic context and the potential featured results that Google will display depending on the queries users perform.
If you need help defining your multi-channel digital acquisition plan, conducting comprehensive keyword research, or running your SEO or SEM campaigns, contact me Let's talk.
