Best SEO Stats For 2023

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Search Engine Optimization helps to increase quality traffic to your website.

However, the moment you think that you know everything about SEO, a new set of algorithms and strategies emerges.

Webmasters and SEO experts always want to remain on top of the latest SEO trends and SEO stats to comprehensively optimize their website.

Let’s have a look at the top SEO stats from key leading sources that will help feed your strategies for the coming months and beyond:

#1 – 70.4% of voice query search results have HTTPs

Websites that have implemented HTTPS by purchasing an SSL certificate have greater chances of appearing as a voice search result than the other websites ranking on Google’s first page.  

Google favors websites with HTTPS as they provide a safe experience to the users and thus, show them in the voice search results compared to sites that are not secured. 

#2 – Google processes more than 3.5 billion searches per day and around 1.2 trillion searches per year worldwide

Google processes over 40,000 searches every second on average. It shows the huge opportunity that your website has if you opt for SEO services.

#3 – Around 95% of newly published pages do not make it to the top 10 within a year

The pages that rank in the Top 10 in Google are mostly more than two years old. Sites that have been around for a long time will dominate the top page rankings for popular industry keywords. Only 22% of pages that rank in the Top 10 are created in six months to one year.

Thus, to simply put it across, it generally takes more than one or two years for a website to get on the first page of Google. 

#4 – More than 50% of searches are initiated on a mobile device 

Patterns observed in online search revealed that more than half of the searches originate on a smartphone or tablet than on desktops.  

That said, while your desktop may have the edge for your platform, if you want to succeed regionally, nationally, and internationally, you still need to be mobile-friendly.

#5 – 95% of users do not even scroll past the first page of the search engine result pages

Most of the searchers click only on the first 3 to 4 results on the first page and do not even click on the second page of the search results. Thus, this is one of the SEO stats that shows how useful it is to rank on the first page of Google to get the maximum clicks and traffic. 

#6 – Over 64% of marketers invest in SEO

SEO is becoming a priority across all industries. 64% of marketers actively invest in SEO, and 55% say SEO is extremely important to the overall marketing strategy. Moreover, over 52% of marketers are investing in technical SEO to beat their competitors. 

#7 – 50% of consumers prefer video content 

Video content is in higher demand. The average user spends 88% more time on a website with video. Similarly, around eight out of every ten users have purchased the software or app after having watched the brand’s video. It shows that videos keep users more engaged. (Also see: Top 25 video marketing tools)

#8 – Google accounts for almost 72% of the search engine market share 

Google has dominated the search engine market, followed by Bing, Baidu, and Yahoo. Over the years, Google has used hundreds of ranking factors in its algorithm, and it remains the most reliable way to find what you are looking for on the Internet. 

#9 – More than half of all website traffic comes from organic searches

Organic searches drive more traffic than paid and social searches. It shows that ads are losing out in favor of more personalized, relevant, and targeted content. While PPC remains a valuable strategy, it may drive less traffic to your website. 

#10 – The average content-length of top-ranking pages on google is 1,890 words

As per this SEO stat, it is clear that Google favors in-depth content. One of the best ways of making your website stand out is by writing longer blog posts. Ensure that every post of your site should have a minimum of 2000 words, and a target of around 3000 words is a bonus. 

#11 – Websites saw a 10% hike in conversion even with a single business review

Online reviews are more trustworthy and useful than branded social content. Thus, businesses should feature reviews on their landing page where consumers can read about the experience of others.

#12 – URLs that include a keyword see a 45% greater CTR

Backlinko analyzed CTR data across 8,74,929 pages and found that URLs that contain a keyword have a 45% higher click-through rate. Use short URLs that describe the topic of your post and put the most important keywords at the beginning of the URL.

#13 – There is an increase in the smartphone searches for “where to buy”, “where to find” and “where to get” in the past couple of years

The data for the last couple of years shows that people search for directions and local stores by conducting local searches on their smartphones. 

This implies that businesses should have a consistent marketing strategy to appear on the search result pages. You should ensure that your address, directions, and product availability appear in your content across mobile and desktops. 

#14 – Pages with more backlinks rank higher than pages with fewer backlinks

Despite continuous changes in its algorithm by Google, backlinks remain a crucial ranking factor. Links inform search engines that a website is recognized and thus, worthy of ranking on SERPs. You should focus on building backlinks from a well-trusted domain with high domain authority and higher organic traffic.

#15 – 1 of every 2 users who perform a local search on their smartphone visit a physical store within one day

Searchers of local businesses on smartphones are ready to act. Most of them visit a nearby location within a day, to purchase from businesses that customize their content depending on their location. 

Thus, you should use content that reaches your target customers in such a way that it drives them to your physical store (if you have one). 

#16 – Almost  91% of content gets no traffic from google

Only 9% of content gets traffic from Google, and most of them are top-ranking pages on search result pages. There are a lot of SEO issues that prevent your page from ranking well on Google. Some of these SEO issues are no backlinks, the content has zero long term traffic potential or the page isn’t indexed.

#17 – 5 out of 10 search queries are four words or longer

Since half of the search queries are four words or longer, targeting effective long-tail keywords is the best way to increase your website traffic. According to research by WordStream, the average conversion rate for long-tail keywords is 36%. 

#18 –Faster pages convert 20% more on smartphones

Users will bounce faster if you do not have a fast website. This is called pogo-sticking. Google prefers websites that load quickly. Thus, if your site is fast, you will have a better chance of conversion on google.  

#19 – Companies with an active blog generate 67% more leads

Blogs are an effective and affordable way to bring your audience to your digital domain. Blog posts with compelling CTAs have the power to generate more traffic and leads. Offering exclusive content to your readers gives them a reason to return to your website, which increases the chances of conversion. 

#20 – The top 10 million keywords on Google is ¼th of all the searches on Google

According to Google search word statistics, searches for the top 10 million keywords account for less than 50% of all searches. In fact, 1/4th of all searches happens outside the top 100 million keywords. 

#21 – 57% of SEOs believe content creation drives the best results

Google looks for informative and useful content that can answer the questions asked by searchers. This SEO stat proves that user intent optimized content with the right SEO keywords is most likely to be picked up by Google. 

#22 – Long content on average receives 77.2% more backlinks

An analysis of more than 900 million articles revealed that long-form content correlates with the acquisition of higher backlinks.

Longer blog posts with more than 3,000 words receive an average of 77.2% more referring domain links than short blog posts.

#23 – Google search algorithm uses over 200 factors to rank websites

Google has confirmed that it uses more than 200 ranking factors when determining organic search rankings. There are numerous technical SEO factors that as domain-related, on-page, off-page, and site-level factors that contribute to where your website ranks on Google search results page. 

#24 – Around 55.24% of pages do not have even a single backlink

Backlinks increase your website’s domain authority and relevance, which improves your chance of ranking on the first page.

More than 50% of pages do not have even one backlink, and 30% have only three or fewer backlinks. 

#25 – More than 15% of all searches have never been seen by Google

15% of trillions of queries every year is new to Google. As per Google search stats, such searches are mostly related to day-to-day activities, news, and trends.

#26 – The average page in the top position of Google has over 35,000 external backlinks

A massive amount of backlinks helps your content to rank on the top page of the Google search results.

#27 – 12% of search queries have a featured snippet box

Google has unveiled new updates to featured snippets that aim to answer the user’s question right away. A featured snippet box broadly provides information in three forms i.e. a paragraph, a list, or a table form. 

#28 – Updating old posts with new content can double traffic

To boost your SEO and effectiveness of your search engine traffic, just update your old content. If you keep your older posts relevant and updated, Google will show the date you last changed your blog post on the result page. It can benefit you to get higher click-through rates and traffic. 

#29 – 1/5th of online searches are image searches

Images help improve audience engagements ensuring that readers stay on your blog for a longer time. However, images can also prove to be a great form of visual content for SEO. 

Optimize images by using a proper image file name, adding alt text and captions in images, creating image sitemaps, and using the correct file type. 

#30 – More than half of all searches end in no click

Users these days are looking for short and practical answers to their specific questions. This problem has been resolved by new SERP features such as featured snippets that have made clicking on certain types of search results unnecessary. 

A simple featured snippet pulls a short answer directly into the SERPs. Thus, resulting in growing zero-clicking searches and in turn, lower CTRs.

#31 – SEO leads have a conversion rate of 14.6% while print ads have 1.7%

SEO leads have the highest conversion rates among all the other channels of digital marketing. PPC has a conversion rate of 3.75% while outbound channels such as print media have a conversion rate of 1.7%. SEO conversion rate is way above the conversion rates of different marketing channels.

Moreover, you can easily measure the ROI from SEO and the effects of SEO strategy always stay long-term meaning your site continues to get leads and sales even when you stop doing SEO.

#32 – Around 51% of traffic acquired by B2B and B2B businesses comes via organic search

SEO still has a larger share of traffic acquisition when compared to other channels of marketing. For both B2B and B2C businesses, the number stays the same hinting why SEO services are a must for every type of business.

#33 – The average link building budget is around $1000 for most of the companies

Companies are spending more on the link building efforts because of the rising competition.

SEOs are pretty aware of the fact that links are the backbone of SEO and without quality links, the chances of ranking on the first page of Google are less.

Hence, companies are keeping aside a budget of $1000 (on an average) on different link building activities.

Final Thoughts

Search traffic is increasing year by year. The ROI of SEO is greater than most of the traditional and internet marketing channels.

SEO concepts are straightforward and easy to apply. You just have to optimize your website to give better information to search engines and users. It is to make sure that your webpage is indexed correctly and the reader is getting a ton of value from your content. 

Start investing in SEO. The above SEO stats will help you make profitable marketing decisions.

Sources:

  • Backlinko
  • Internet Live Stats
  • Ahrefs
  • Hitwise
  • Stat Counter
  • HubSpot
  • Net Market Share
  • BrightEdge
  • Business2Community
  • Spyfu
  • Forrester
  • 99Firms
  • Advanced Web Ranking
  • Google