As of October 2022, Google Search was still the most visited website on the Internet, according to Similarweb. With 87 billion visits in that month alone, the Alphabet-owned search engine almost doubled the entries achieved by YouTube: the second most visited site on the web.
Google's dominance on the Internet is such that most of its revenue, which in the Q2 of 2022 alone reached US$ 69.69 billion, comes from its advertising business for the websites it recommends through its system. So, if you still doubt whether or not it's worth fine-tuning your marketing strategy beyond social media platforms, here are ten Google Search key statistics you need to know in 2023-2024.
1. Google Search accounts for 91% of the web traffic on the Internet.
Yet Google Search is not the only search engine on the market; it seems like it is for millions of people worldwide. Its use is so widespread in the West that some studies claim almost half of the first searches for an item, brand, or service are thanks to Google (46%, to be exact, according to The Business Journal).
That picture reflects in the annual reports of marketing companies such as Statcounter, where it was evidenced in early 2022 that 91.86% of web traffic was given thanks to Google. In second place is Bing with 3.20%, and in third place is Yandex with 1.52%.
2. 30.8% of the audience visiting Google are 25-34 years old.
For any marketing strategy, it is essential to know the characteristics of the audiences that tend to frequent the platforms on which each brand seeks to position itself.
In the case of Google, the majority of daily visitors to its search engine are 58.72% men and 30.8% of users between 25 and 34 years old.
This data provided by Similarweb is fascinating considering Google's bet to conquer the 24.4% of the public between 18 and 24 years old by implementing updates in its results in other formats, such as video, as TikTok does.
3. In 2022, the first organic Google Search result will take approximately 39.6% of all clicks.
It is almost a rule of success at Google that to get the attention of those searching for your services, you must have a good position in the search engine results pages (SERPs).
In 2020, if your brand appeared in the top organic Google results, it would take approximately 28.5% of all clicks. However, in 2022 the situation has changed for the better, as today, the average reaches 39.6% for the top result and 18.4% of clicks for the second one, according to studies by SEO services company First Page Sage.
As for the first promoted results, the top-placed ad achieves 2.1% of clicks, and the second, 1.6%.
4. For every $1 invested in Google Search advertising, a return of approximately $8 is obtained.
Organic traffic is responsible for at least 53.3% of all crawlable traffic on the web; therefore, pages that rank high in Google SERPs get more clicks than those that pay in Google Ads.
However, in its 2021 economic report, the company concluded that Pay-per-click ad earnings estimated that for every dollar invested, it results in a profit of $8.
So, when thinking about your marketing strategy, think about optimizing your practices, but investing in paid search produces a 1% higher return on investment (ROI) than organic search.
5. It takes 50% of users nine seconds to make their first click on any Google Search result.
When writing the copies of your website that will appear in Google results, remember that you only have a little time to convince a user that your brand is their best option.
A Backlinko study that took into account 1800 responses to understand user behavior with the Google SERPs determined that, on average,14 seconds is the time it takes for someone to decide on their first click once Google Search displays the results. However, 50% of the people analyzed took only 9 seconds to click on their chosen website.
In addition, the previous analysis also showed that only 9 % of the users reached the bottom of the first page of results without having clicked on one of the top results.
6. 59% of all Google search traffic comes from mobile devices
When designing and creating the content of your web pages, remember to optimize them for the mobile version.
More and more users navigate the internet on their smartphones, and the data proves it. According to Statcounter, by Q2 2022, 59% of all web page entries indexed in Google Search were made from mobile devices.
Add to this that 90% of Google Lens queries prioritize results from mobile-friendly websites, and adapting your website and images for smartphone screens becomes necessary.
7. Only 17% of websites are well-ranked in both web and mobile versions.
Suppose you are one of those who have a website optimized for computer screens rather than for smartphones. In that case, you should consider this information because you could be part of the 88% of the domains that fall up to 100 places in the Google ranking when a user uses the search engine from his mobile.
Smartphone versions of the pages need to be optimized, as only 17% maintain their rank in both formats, according to Semrush.
Remember that difference and eliminate it because, in a world where queries about local businesses have increased up to 250%, it is not in your best interest to reduce your brand's visibility.
8. 40% of U.S. users between the ages of 18 and 24 prefer to do searches that display visual image results
Google continues to update itself to keep up with new Internet usage trends. And although theirs is still the most used search engine in the world, the company knows that the trend dictates that Google will increasingly implement visually driven answers.
According to an internal non-public survey that Google senior vice president Prabhakar Raghavan mentioned in July 2022 at Fortune magazine's Brainstorm Tech conference, 40% of the youngest Internet users in the U.S. prefer to consume answers to their searches in video format.
This type of consumer, between 18 and 24 years old, would tend to go more frequently to visual apps like TikTok to do searches, which is why Google plans to continue updating its Lens tool to catch this audience close to formats such as video.
9. 32.5 % of Google Lens results are linked to relevant keywords in web page titles
We already showed you that Google Search is evolving towards the inclusion of visually driven results. Therefore, the question is, are you constantly optimizing the keywords on your page's titles?
Well, to explore the Google Lens terrain and conquer younger audiences, you should know that a study led by Backlinko in 2020 showed that at least one-third of the images in Google Lens had some of the most relevant keywords included in the titles of a web page.
The analysis, which considered more than 65,000 responses, determined that 32.5% of Google Lens's results were directly linked to relevant keywords in the page's title tag.
10. 44% of users click on the second page of Google Search to search for their ideal result.
Thinking about user-friendly pages is necessary to keep users' attention and offer them an optimal experience. Fortunately, most of them understand this because according to a Backlinko study that analyzed more than 450 people, it was found that only 17% of users return to Google Search results after clicking on a link and that 6% need to visit more than four pages to see what they are looking for.
Make the navigation experience simple, so your page appears in the first results, and prevent your potential customers from abandoning your site. Remember that only 44% of searchers click on the second page of Google to find their ideal result.