19 SEO statistics to convince you to strengthen your SEO strategy

Have you been trying to single-handedly manage your business’s SEO strategy, but feel swamped by keywords and meta descriptions? 

Or, maybe your business has been using a local SEO strategy that hasn’t delivered the expected results and you’re looking for some extra evidence that a stronger SEO strategy will be worth it? 

We could ramble about the pros of SEO all day; going into masses of detail about all the technical aspects of how to create an SEO strategy until we’re blue in the face. 

In fact, we have done just that with our deep dive into search intent. 

But, sometimes the most convincing thing can be cold, hard data.

So, we’re letting the numbers do the talking with this roundup of SEO statistics that are sure to convince even the most search averse reader of the benefits of a strong SEO strategy. 

And, to be even more helpful, we’ve split the stats into easy to digest sections. You can thank us later.

Go Google or go home

1. Google has a 92.69% market share in the UK.

It’s not news that Google is the preferred search engine for users. It’s so popular that the verb google has been added to the dictionary, as in ‘Who’s that actress I liked in that film we watched last week? Nevermind, I’ll just google it’.

Google’s market domination means optimising your digital content in line with the needs of this search engine behemoth is essential to being successful online. 

We’re all about mobile, baby

2. In the UK in October 2019, for the first time since records began, desktop and mobile market share was 50-50.

Compared to 2018 when desktop had a 58.34% market share versus mobile’s 41.66%, this is a huge gain by mobile.

And in December 2019 mobile use continued to grow; edging slightly ahead of desktop, with a 52.27 to 47.73% share in favour of mobile. 

This all means that, if your site isn’t optimised for mobile platforms, it’s going to be left behind. There’s no escaping it; the future is bright, the future is mobile. 

3. 65% of people use their phone in their ‘I want to buy’ moments.

Those are the moments you need to be getting your product pages in front of people; catching them at the exact time they’re in the mood to commit to a purchase. Which means that if your site is optimised for mobile and ranking high up on the search engine results page you’re more likely to secure a sale.

4. 79% of people took a relevant action on their phone prior to making a purchase.

Whether that’s researching a product, hunting for the best prices or looking for reviews; mobile is a key touchpoint in a customer’s purchase journey. Getting your digital content optimised for mobile search results is vital if you want to capitalise on this massive audience using mobile devices in their purchase journey.

5. 53% of mobile visitors will leave a page that takes longer than three seconds to load.

Google has got the stats on this, and they’re not great for anyone with a bloated website.

Imagine losing 123% of your potential customers because your website takes 10 seconds too long to load on a mobile device… 

And, if mobile is outstripping desktop as the preferred way to surf the web, you really can’t afford to have a glitchy mobile site.

If you’re not first, you’re lost

6. 75% of people don’t go beyond page one of a search engine.

So, if your site isn’t ranking between positions one to ten, 75% of your potential customers aren’t seeing your content. Sorting your search engine optimisation out is how you get placed higher on the results pages. 

7. The top five results get the majority of clicks.

Yes, it’s true… While we’re all striving to get placed on the top ten results, it turns out that even that isn’t always enough. The top five links on the first page of a Google results page get 66% of clicks from users on mobile devices and 73% from those searching on a desktop.

It’s all about organic

8. B2B Companies generate 2X more revenue from Organic Search than any other channel.

So, if you’re a B2B business, ensuring your content is optimised for organic search should be top of your priorities. You need to be discoverable through organic search to capitalise on this potential revenue boost. 

9. Organic Search share of traffic increased to 53.3% on average across industries.

Organic traffic has risen to 53.3% on average from 51% in 2014 when the research was last conducted. Organic is undoubtedly the dominant traffic source compared to paid search, which takes up 15% of traffic, and traffic from social channels which sits at just 4.7%.

10. Including a video in a post increases organic traffic from search results by 157%.

No, you didn’t read that wrong… When a search engine result offers a video organic traffic can increase, on average, by over 150%. Videos can also lead to an increase of 105% in time spent on-site and two times overall conversion compared to pages without a video. 

Still not sold on video content? 

Research has found that pages with video content are 53 times more likely to rank on the first page of Google and using videos on landing pages can increase conversion by up to 80%.

It doesn’t pay to go paid

11.  Only 4% of worldwide e-commerce traffic comes from paid search ads.

39% of all ecommerce traffic worldwide comes from search. So, if you’re a retailer, paid search tactics aren’t likely to have a great payoff for your business. Especially when you consider the fact that organic search accounts for 35% of that 39% of total search traffic.  

12. 80% of people ignore Google-sponsored ads.

Yep, that’s right. A whopping three-quarters of Google users completely ignore sponsored ads. We’re living in the age of authenticity in marketing and it seems people have wised-up to spon-con and paid promo. So, chances are even if you were to pay out for a sponsored ad, your potential customers would give it the cold-shoulder. 

We’re all on a journey, man

13. 44% of UK shoppers visit multiple sites before deciding what to buy, and where to buy it from.

The buying journey isn’t linear anymore. Customers have more and more touchpoints across multiple channels, both on and offline when they shop for a product. Cater to your customer’s purchase journey by making sure your content is optimised for all stages; from initial research to final purchase.

Strengthening your local SEO strategy can help you to reach customers when they’re making location-specific searches before a purchase.

14. 68% of online experiences begin with a search engine.

It’s not very surprising that the majority of us start our online sessions with a search engine. From Googling the name of a website because we can’t be bothered to put in the full address to asking a question we want the answer to; search engines are the launch point for almost all of our web experiences. 

When your brand has its SEO strategy in order, it allows you to get in front of users right as they start their online experience; so that, hopefully, they’ll continue that experience with your site.  

15. 89% of B2B buyers turn to Google to research before a purchase.

Nearly half of all B2B decision-makers are millennials (born between 1981 and 1996) and they’re using what they know best, the internet, to research before committing to a purchase. 

So, if you’re operating in the B2B sector and you’re not making digital marketing content a priority, you’re going to be losing out on a lot of potential trade. 

Say it louder for the people in the back

16. By 2020, 50% of all online searches will be voice searches.

This one is going to have a huge impact on SEO and the way we produce online content. When a user makes a voice search request to a smart speaker, they tend to use complete sentences framed as full questions. 

This is great for content marketing; the clunky keywords we often have to shoehorn into our digital content in an attempt to rank high on Google will be a thing of the past. 

17. As of January 2018, there were about 1 billion voice searches per month.

This means, if you’re not catering to these types of searches in your SEO, you could be missing out. When a user makes a voice search request to a smart speaker, they’re not looking for a website or a search results page. They want a direct answer. 

The result for a voice search is, usually, delivered in 30 words or less. So, to appeal to voice searches, your content needs to answer questions and deliver information concisely.

18. 50% of search queries are four words or longer.

These multi-word searches are called long-tail keywords, and not using them in your SEO strategy means you could be losing out on 50% of searches. Like we said above, searches are going to get longer and more conversational as the use of voice search increases. 

So, get ahead of this developing trend and include longer phrases in your keywords as part of your SEO strategy. 

The bottom line

19. 57% of B2B marketers said SEO generates more leads than any other form of marketing.

Strong SEO is an invaluable resource for any brand or business operating in the digital sphere. The statistics above should be proof enough of that. 

The fundamental goal of employing an SEO strategy is to get your website seen by the right people at the exact moment they’re searching for your products or services. 

Utilising SEO helps you to sell products, generate enquiries, promote your brand, and grow your business online. With people using search engines more today than ever before, it’s vital to integrate SEO into your marketing efforts.