2024’s SEO Statistics Unveiled: Essential Data for Every Marketer

December 18, 2024
| Maria Harutyunyan
| 10 Min Read
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In 2024, the SEO industry is undergoing rapid evolution, driven by technological advancements, changing consumer preferences, and various other factors. This research, powered by SEO stats, aims to explore the latest SEO trends, offering insights into the growth and trajectory of the sector. By delving into top SEO statistics, conducting SEO surveys, and analyzing industry trends, we aim to provide a comprehensive understanding of the current state and future prospects of SEO.

Key Statistics

  • Google handles approximately 5.9 million searches every minute.
  • Google captures the vast majority of worldwide desktop search traffic, with a 91.37% market share.
  • 23% of Google searchers opt for one of Google's autocomplete suggestions.
  • The top result in Google typically garners around 27.6% of all clicks.
  • Mobile devices account for 59.91% of the global search engine market share, while desktops represent 37.89%.
  • 76% of individuals typically visit a business within one day after conducting a smartphone search for nearby businesses.
  • 46% of Google searches are related to location, highlighting the importance of local SEO efforts.
  • Titles conveying a positive sentiment experience a 4% increase in click-through rate (CTR).
  • Long content receives 77.2% more backlinks compared to short articles, indicating a correlation between content length and link acquisition in SEO strategies.
  • SEO roles are projected to grow by 22% between 2020 and 2030, highlighting the increasing significance of SEO expertise in the coming years.

User Behavior and Search Intent

  • Every minute, Google handles approximately 5.9 million searches. To provide context, this translates to about 8.5 billion daily searches or 3.1 trillion searches annually. (source)
Google handles approximately 5.9 million searches

This means that Google processes 98,380 searches every second.

  • In 2023-2024, Google grabbed most of the worldwide desktop search traffic with 91.37%. (source)

It was followed by Bing (3.37%), Yandex (1.64%), Yahoo (1.1%), Baidu (0.99%), and DuckDuckGo (0.53%) in the list of top 5 search engines by market share.

search engine market share worldwide
  • 23% of Google searchers opt for one of Google's autocomplete suggestions. (source)

Individuals conducting informational and local searches are inclined to select an autocomplete suggestion more frequently than those conducting commercial queries.

  • Half of Google users click on search results within 9 seconds of initiating their search, with the typical time taken for a Google searcher to click on a result being 14.6 seconds. (source)
  • The top result in Google typically garners around 27.6% of all clicks. (source)
full ctr breakdown of google's first page organic results

As evident in these SEO charts, the click-through rate (CTR) for the top result in Google is 10 times greater than that of the 10th result. This observation should not be unexpected for those familiar with the SEO realm. It's widely recognized that achieving the #1 ranking holds substantially more value than any other position.

Voice search statistics

  • An analysis of 10,000 Google Home search results discovered that 40.7% of all answers from voice searches are extracted from a Featured Snippet. (source)

This underscores the importance of optimizing content for Featured Snippets to enhance visibility in voice search results. Businesses need to focus on user intent, content structure, and continuous adaptation to stay competitive in this rapidly evolving landscape.

  • PageSpeed seems to influence voice search SEO significantly. (source)

On average, voice search result pages load in 4.6 seconds, which is 52% quicker than the average page load time. Therefore, if you want to rank in voice search, make sure your site loads as quickly as possible.

  • HTTPS websites dominate Google’s voice search results. 70.4% of Google Home result pages are secured with HTTPS. (source)
  • Content that ranks well in desktop search is highly probable to be featured as a voice search answer.  (source)
voice search statistics

Approximately 75% of voice search results rank within the top 3 positions for their respective query. This is because they prioritize concise, direct answers tailored to the user's query, leveraging snippets and featured content that align with the search intent, ensuring relevance and user satisfaction.

Local SEO statistics

  • Around 46% of Google searches are related to location. Location-based queries make up nearly half of all searches conducted on Google. (source)
  • 24.4% of all clicks go to the first result of local business searches. (source)

With 24.4% of clicks going to the first result, businesses must prioritize local SEO efforts to increase visibility and attract potential customers. Strategies such as optimizing Google My Business listings, ensuring consistent NAP (Name, Address, Phone Number) information across online directories, and garnering positive reviews can all contribute to achieving a coveted top spot in local search results.

  • Before selecting local services, a significant majority of potential customers, around 88%, actively seek out online reviews to inform their decision-making process.  (source)

These individuals prioritize accessing feedback and evaluations from previous customers or clients, utilizing these reviews as crucial indicators of the quality, reliability, and overall satisfaction associated with the services they are considering.

online review statistcs
  • Following a smartphone search for nearby businesses, 76% of individuals typically visit the business within one day. Of those, 28% of searchers for something nearby result in a purchase. (source)
28% of searchers for something nearby result in a purchase
  • 42% of individuals conducting local searches click on map pack results, which is a set of three Google Maps-based results that will often appear when users conduct local searches for businesses. (source)

SEO Stats by Devices

  • There are 5.44 billion unique mobile phone users worldwide in 2023. (source)

Equating to 68 percent of the total global population. Unique mobile users have increased by just over 3 percent during the past year, with 168 million new users over the past 12 months.

  • When considering the global market share of all search engines, mobile devices account for 59.91%, while tablets contribute 2.2%, and desktops represent 37.89%. (source)
desktop, mobile, tablet market share
  • Mobile SEO statistics show that worldwide, approximately 4.96 billion searches are conducted per day by only mobile users. (source)
  • As of the end of 2023, mobile traffic overwhelmingly dominated the ecommerce sector, with over 78% of online shoppers browsing ecommerce websites via their mobile devices. (source)

This surge in mobile usage began in early 2021, marking unprecedented growth compared to desktop usage.

  • Mobile results gain 85.8% more impressions than results on desktop. (source)
  • The click-through rate for the first position decreases from 8.17% on desktop to 6.74% on mobile devices. (source)
CTR by devices
  • The United States represented 26.95% of the traffic to the online search website Google.com through mobile. India held the second position, accounting for 4.52% of website visits, followed by Brazil in third place with 4.35%. (source)
regional distribution of desktop traffic to google
  • Securing the top position on mobile search engine results pages (SERPs) can be thrilling. Nevertheless, achieving this feat doesn't guarantee the same ranking on desktop SERPs. Only 17% of websites maintained their positions across both mobile and desktop SERPs. Furthermore, 37% experienced a loss in their rankings when searches were conducted from mobile devices. (source)
17% of websites maintained their positions across both mobile and desktop SERPs

Keyword Research and Optimization

  • 15% of all Google searches have never been searched before. (source)

This reflects the vast diversity of human interests and queries, presenting both challenges and opportunities for search engines and content creators alike.

  • In 2020, 64.82% of Google searches were zero-click searches. (source)

That means searchers input their query and then don't click on a result — either because the SERP answered the question with a SERP Feature like a handy featured snippet or a knowledge panel or the results weren’t what they were looking for. Out of the remaining 35.18%, 33.59% resulted in clicks on organic search results and 1.59% in paid search results.

clicking habits within google searches
  • The initial five organic results in the Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs) collectively capture 69.1% of total clicks. (source)

This emphasizes the significant advantage of having strong search visibility, as it drives a majority of user traffic to these top-ranked pages, making it essential for businesses and content creators to optimize their SEO strategies to achieve these positions.

  • Titles conveying a positive sentiment experience a 4% increase in click-through rate (CTR). (source)

This indicates that readers are more likely to engage with content that promises an uplifting or beneficial experience.

  • Keyword phrases consisting of approximately 10-15 words receive 1.76 times more clicks compared to single-word terms. (source)
  • URLs that contain terms similar to a keyword have a 45% higher click-through rate compared to URLs that don’t contain a keyword. (source)

As they signal relevance to searchers, the link appears more pertinent to their query, thus increasing the likelihood of them clicking on it.

Ranking Statistics

Experts assert that the most crucial ranking factors in 2024 include high-quality content, backlinks, and search intent or relevance.

  • Google modifies the title approximately 61% of the time and alters the description around 63% of the time. (source)

Businesses and website owners should craft titles and descriptions that accurately reflect the content of their pages while also considering the potential for Google to modify them for better alignment with user queries. Regular monitoring and optimization of meta tags are essential to maintain visibility and click-through rates in search results.

  • The predominant types of featured snippets are paragraphs (82%) and lists (11%). (source)
types of features snippets

Featured snippets, which are brief text excerpts displayed at the top of Google search results to promptly address user inquiries, are mostly presented in paragraph format (81.95%), with a smaller portion appearing as lists (10.77%). To enhance the likelihood of securing a featured snippet position, create content that addresses common questions, incorporate a table of contents with anchor links, and include an FAQ section.

  • The average age of the pages that rank as top results in search engine queries is determined to be 2.6 years old, indicating the significance of longevity and historical relevance in search engine optimization. (source)
  • On the first page, there is an average decrease in click-through rates of 32.3% for each position. (source)

This significant drop highlights the importance of securing higher positions to maximize visibility and engagement.

  • 96.55% of all pages receive no traffic from Google, while 1.94% receive between one and ten monthly visits. (source)

Linkbuilding Statistics

  • Nearly all (92.3%) of the 100 top-ranking domains had at least one backlink. (source)
  • Over 50% of qualified sites without at least one backlink never reached the first page. (source)

This is because backlinks are crucial for search engine algorithms to evaluate a site's authority and relevance, significantly impacting its ranking.

  • More than 66% of pages have zero backlinks pointing to them. (source)
  • Long content, on average, receives 77.2% more backlinks compared to short articles, indicating a correlation between content length and link acquisition in SEO strategies. (source)
  • The #1 ranking page in the search results gets an additional 5%-14.5% more Do Follow backlinks from new websites each month. (source)

This comes from higher visibility and perceived authority that lead other site owners to link to it more frequently, enhancing its credibility and discoverability.

  • The top result in Google has an average of 3.8x more backlinks than those in second to tenth place. (source)
  • Over 50% of qualified sites without at least one backlink never reached the first page. (source)

Backlinks from other reputable sites signal to search engines that the content is valuable and trustworthy, which significantly boosts search engine rankings. The absence of those will affect the position of the website accordingly.

  • Around 67.5% of SEO experts believe backlinks impact search engine rankings. (source)
  • Almost half of those in the SEO industry spend $5,000 to $10,000 a month on link building. (source)

Digital PR Statistics

Digital PR strategies are becoming increasingly important in the Global SEO Market as more and more businesses look to establish their online presence.

  • The worldwide PR market is valued at $106.93 billion. (source)

It is expected to grow at a CAGR of 6% over the next four years, reaching $144.28 billion by 2028.

  • The most promising areas for expansion in the realm of public relations firms are “Strategic communication & PR consultancy,” ranked highest at 25%. (source)
leading services with growth opportunities

“Social media & digital communications” comes in second at 14%, while “Issues & crisis management” and “Change management” tie for third place at 13%. “Digital strategy” rounds out the list at 11%.

Digital PR Technology Statistics

The majority of digital PR experts agree that technology will continue to be a driving factor shaping how the public relations landscape and methodologies change.

  • More than 50% of digital PR specialists use media monitoring software and a media database every day. (source)
  • Just over half of digital PR professionals (51%) use PR reporting software to measure and analyze their ongoing campaign progress and impact. (source)

Digital PR professionals use PR reporting software to measure and analyze their ongoing campaign progress and impact because it provides precise, real-time insights and metrics that are essential for optimizing strategies and demonstrating ROI to stakeholders.

  • More digital PR experts are relying on CRM software to monitor communications, manage relationships with influencers and media contacts, and develop relationships with clients. (source)
  • As of April of 2023, 68% of PR professionals around the world responded that they would find artificial intelligence (AI) most impactful when it comes to research and list building. (source)

The majority of PR professionals find AI most impactful for research and list building because it efficiently processes vast amounts of data, identifies relevant information, and automates tedious tasks, thereby saving time and improving accuracy in creating targeted media lists.

Digital PR Common Challenges

  • 60% of PR professionals find media relations to be more difficult. (source)

Due to the evolving digital landscape, increased competition for media attention, and the rapid pace of news cycles.

  • On average, journalists receive over 100 pitches per week. They find most of them not to be useful. (source)
  • Over half of PR professionals cite “getting responses from journalists” as their top communication challenge. (source)
  • Journalists respond to only 3.27% of all the pitches they receive. (source)

Because of the need for highly relevant and newsworthy content and the limited time they have to review each pitch thoroughly.

  • For nearly half of PR professionals (48%), a top challenge in their company is a lack of proper resources. (source)

The Future of SEO

  • SEO roles are projected to grow by 22% between 2020 and 2030. (source)

This reflects the increasing importance of optimizing online content and following search engine algorithm trends in daily SEO operations for better visibility. This demand surge is driven by the expanding digital market and evolving search engine algorithms, and businesses need to stand out in competitive online environments.

  • This year, brands anticipate raising their expenditures on both organic and PPC advertising. (source)

Just over 53% indicated intentions to boost their investment in SEO over the coming 12 months, while nearly two-thirds foresee an uptick in PPC spending.

  • The projected value of the SEO industry is expected to reach nearly $218 billion by the year 2030. (source)
  • The SEO market’s Compound Annual Growth Rates (CAGR) differ across various regions.
seo market's compound annual growth rates

According to estimates, China will grow at a CAGR of 7.6%, reaching a market size of $22 billion by 2030. Similarly, Japan and Canada will have a CAGR of 7.2% and 7%, respectively, from 2022 to 2030. Meanwhile, Germany’s SEO industry will have a lower CAGR of approximately 6.5%. Overall, these growth rates highlight the significant potential for the SEO industry in various regions globally.

Conclusion

In summary, our research shows that SEO, the art of getting websites to rank higher on search engines, is rapidly changing. We've looked at the latest trends and numbers to understand where it's heading.

Our findings suggest that businesses need to keep up with these changes to stay visible and successful online. This means adapting to new technologies and understanding how people search, especially with voice search and mobile devices becoming more popular.

By paying attention to these trends and statistics, businesses can better position themselves to succeed in the competitive online market. It's all about staying ahead of the game and making sure your website is easily found by potential customers.

References

  1. Ahrefs, Afrefs’ Study Of 2 Million Featured Snippets: 10 Important Takeaways, Assessed on April 5, 2024
    https://ahrefs.com/blog/featured-snippets-study/
  2. Ahrefs, How long does it take to rank in Google? (A study by Ahrefs), Assessed on April 5, 2024
    https://ahrefs.com/blog/how-long-does-it-take-to-rank/
  3. Backlinko, 69 Important SEO Statistics for 2024, Assessed on April 1, 2024
    https://backlinko.com/seo-stats 
  4. Backlinko, User Behaviour Study, Assessed on April 1, 2024
    https://backlinko.com/google-user-behavior
  5. Backlinko, Voice Search SEO, Assessed on April 1, 2024
    https://backlinko.com/voice-search-seo-study
  6. Datareportal, DIGITAL 2023: GLOBAL OVERVIEW REPORT, Assessed on April 3, 2024
    https://datareportal.com/reports/digital-2023-global-overview-report
  7. MuckRack, The State of PR 2021, Assessed on April 5, 2024
    https://info.muckrack.com/state-of-pr-2021
  8. MuckRack, The State of PR 2023, Assessed on April 5, 2024
    https://muckrack.com/blog/2023/05/18/state-of-pr-2023
  9. The Business Research Company, Public Relations Global Market Report, 2022, by Medium, by Type, by End User, Market Size, Assessed on April 5, 2024
    https://www.thebusinessresearchcompany.com/report/search-engine-optimization-services-market
  10. Think With Google, How Mobile Search Connects Consumers to Stores, Assessed on April 4, 2024
    https://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/marketing-strategies/app-and-mobile/mobile-search-trends-consumers-to-stores/
  11. Safari Digital, 18 Local SEO Statistics That Matter in 2024, Assessed on April 3, 2024
    https://www.safaridigital.com.au/blog/local-seo-statistics/
  12. Search Engine Journal, Google Changes More Than 61 Percent Of Title Tags, Assessed on April 4, 2024
    https://www.searchenginejournal.com/google-changes-more-than-61-percent-of-title-tags/435618/
  13. Searchmetrics, The Future of Search 2022, Assessed on April 5, 2024
    https://pages.searchmetrics.com/rs/656-KWJ-035/images/Searchmetrics_Future-of-Search_2022.pdf
  14. Semrush, SERPs, Traffic and Trends: Mobile vs. Desktop in 2021 [Study], Assessed on April 3, 2024
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    https://www.similarweb.com/blog/marketing/seo/zero-click-searches/
  17. Statcounter, Desktop vs Mobile vs Tablet Market Share Worldwide Apr 2023 - Apr 2024, Assessed on April 3, 2024
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  18. Statcounter, Search Engine Market Share Worldwide Apr 2023 - Apr 2024, Assessed on April 1, 2024
    https://gs.statcounter.com/search-engine-market-share
Maria Harutyunyan

Our blog covers a combination of industry trends and professional insights from behind-the-scenes experiences. We provide weekly updates on link building, content marketing, on-site and technical SEO, and more! Sign up for our newsletter and join our LinkedIn to be on top of industry trends!

Maria Harutyunyan
Our blog covers a combination of industry trends and professional insights from behind-the-scenes experiences dealing with every aspect of SEO. We provide weekly updates on topics such as link building, content marketing, on-site and technical SEO and more! Don’t miss any industry updates by signing up for our newsletter! You’ll also receive exclusive SEO strategies and learn about industry secrets like:

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