Search Engine Optimization Statistics for 2020

Listed below are categorized statistics concerning the power of the Internet and the incredible numbers solidifying the importance of online marketing. The links and citations are the sources of these stats - most well-known trusted industry leaders.

Search Engine Use Statistics
  1. 93% of online experiences begin with a search engine.
  2. 32.5 percent: The average traffic share the first Google organic search result gets. (Chitika)
  3. 91.5 percent: The average traffic share generated by the sites listed on the first Google search results page. (Chitika)
  4. Google currently holds 90.1% of the total search engine market share (Google + Google Images), followed by YouTube (owned by Google), Yahoo!, Bing, and Amazon.
  5. 51 percent of all website traffic comes from organic search, 10 percent from paid search, 5 percent for social, and 34 percent from all other sources. (BrightEdge)
  6. 57% of B2B marketers stated that SEO generates more leads than any other marketing initiative.
  7. 81% of people perform some type of online research before making a large purchase.
  8. 47% of consumers view 3-5 pieces of content created by a company before talking to a salesman from that company.
  9. 72% of online marketers describe content marketing as their most effective SEO tactic.
  10. 75% of people never scroll past the first page of search engines.
  11. 61% of internet users do research on a product online before making a purchase.
  12. The average first-page result on Google consists of 1,890 words.
  13. Leads from search engines have a 14.6% close rate, while outbound leads (ex. cold-calling, direct mail, etc.) have a 1.7% close rate.
  14. 70-80% of people ignore paid search results, choosing to only click on organic search results.
  15. Bounce rates increase by 50% if your website takes 2 seconds extra to load.
  16. Conversion rates fall by 12% for every extra second that it takes your website to load.
  17. Voice search currently accounts for 10% of total searches.
  18. Over 40 percent of revenue is captured by organic traffic. (BrightEdge)
  19. 8.5: The average number of organic mobile search results that Google shows on page 1. It previously consisted of 10 “blue links” in its search results. (SearchMetrics)
  20. 8.59: The average number of organic desktop search results that Google shows on page 1. (SearchMetrics)
  21. ~20: The number of times SEO has more traffic opportunity than PPC on both mobile and desktop. (Jumpshot/Moz)
Industry/Business Spending Statistics
  1. $65 billion: The amount that companies spent on SEO in 2016. (Borrell Associates)
  2. $72.02 billion: The estimated amount brands and agencies in the United States will shell out for SEO services in 2018. The amount is forecasted to rise up to $79.27 billion by 2020. (Borrell Associates)
  3. >$5,000: The monthly amount majority of businesses are spending on SEO. (Moz)
  4. 77.8 percent of US search ad revenues for 2017 is expected to be earned by Google. (eMarketer)
  5. 45 percent of all companies say content marketing is ‘highly integrated’ with their SEO strategy. (Econsultancy)
Local SEO Statistics for 2020
  1. 72% of consumers who perform a local search visit a store within 5 miles of their current location.
  2. 61% of mobile searchers are more likely to contact a local business if they have a mobile-friendly site.
  3. 88% of consumers trust online reviews as much as they trust personal recommendations.
  4. 86% of people look up the location of a business on Google Maps.
  5. 78% of location-based mobile searches result in an offline purchase.
  6. 18% of location-based mobile searches result in a sale within one day.
  7. 80 percent of Google search interest in “near me” came from mobile in Q4 2014. (Think with Google)
  8. 4 in 5 consumers use search engines to find local information. (Google/Ipsos MediaCT/Purchased)
  9. 54 percent of smartphone users search for business hours, 53 percent search for directions to a local store. (Google/Ipsos MediaCT/Purchased)
  10. 4 in 5 consumers want ads customized to their city, zip code, or immediate surroundings. (Google/Ipsos MediaCT/Purchased)
  11. >70 percent of consumers say it’s important to have directions and a call button in ads. (Google/Ipsos MediaCT/Purchased)
  12. 2.1X: The increase in mobile searches for “stores open now” or “food open now” in the past year. (Think with Google)
  13. 1.3: The number of times mobile searches for “where to buy/find/get” increased in the past year. (Think with Google)
  14. 65 percent of people use their phone in their I-want-to-buy moments. (Think with Google)
Link Building Statistics
  1. Over 1,000 words: The average length of long form content that receives more shares and links than shorter form content. (Buzzsumo/Moz)
  2. 41 percent of large companies consider link building as the most difficult SEO tactic. (Ascend2/Conductor)
Mobile SEO Statistics for 2020

If you thought that mobile-friendly sites were “unnecessary”, I think it’s safe to say that Mobilegeddon proved you wrong.
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On April 21, 2015, Google rolled out an algorithm update that hurt the search rankings of non-mobile-friendly sites in mobile search results. In other words, if your website ranked first in Google for “Denver pizza shop” when searching from your mobile device, but was a impossible to navigate through on your phone, then it wasn’t going to stay there for long.

Mobile search rankings are more important than ever, and will only grow increasingly important over time.

  1. As of 2015, more searches are done every day on mobile devices than desktops.
  2. 87% of smartphone users use search engines at least once a day.
  3. 40% of ecommerce sales during the 2018 holiday season came from a smartphone.
  4. The average U.S. adult spent 3 hours, 35 minutes on their phones every day in 2018.
  5. 40% of mobile website visitors will leave your site if it takes more than 3 seconds to load.
User Search Behavior Statistics
  1. 51.3 percent of internet users worldwide operate mobile and tablet devices, while 48.7 percent use desktops.(StatCounter)
  2. 15 percent of the millions of active US web users performed at least one or more searches in a day, 45 percent performed at least one query in a week, and 68 percent performed one or more queries that month. (Jumpshot/Moz)
  3. 79 percent of people took a relevant action on their phone prior to making a purchase. (Think with Google)
  4. 39 percent of purchasers were influenced by a relevant search. (Think with Google)
  5. 3: The average number of words a typical searcher uses in their search query. (Jumpshot/Moz)
  6. ~8 percent of search queries are phrased as questions. (Jumpshot/Moz)
  7. 8 percent of queries on Google result in the searcher changing their search terms without clicking any results. (Jumpshot/Moz)
  8. 21 percent of searches lead to more than one click on Google’s results. (Jumpshot/Moz)
  9. 8 percent of Google queries result in pogo-sticking (i.e. the searcher clicks a result, then bounces back to the search results page and chooses a different result). (Jumpshot/Moz)
Google Statistics
  1. 130 trillion: How many webpages Google is aware of as of 2016. (Google via Search Engine Land)
  2. ~2 trillion: The estimated number of searches Google is handling per year worldwide. That breaks down to 63,000 searches per second; 3.8 million searches per minute; 228 million searches per hour; 5.5 billion searches per day; and 167 billion searches per month. (Search Engine Land)
  3. 1 billion+: How many people use Google search every month. (Google via Business Insider)
  4. 40-60 billion: The estimated number of searches happening on Google in the U.S. each month. (Jumpshot/Moz)
  5. 1,600+: How many improvements to search Google launched in 2016. (Google)
    81.12 percent: The total search engine market share that Google currently holds. (Net Market Share)
  6. 15 percent: The percentage of daily queries Google sees that have never been searched for previously. (Google)
  7. Under 1 minute: The all-in time of the average Google search session (from the time of the initial query to the loading of the search results page and the selection of any results, plus any back button clicks to those SERPs and selection of new results.) (Jumpshot/Moz)
  8. 30 percent of all mobile searches are related to location. (Think with Google)
  9. 66 percent of distinct search queries resulted in one or more clicks on Google’s results, while 34 percent of searches get no clicks at all. (Jumpshot/Moz)
  10. 3.4 percent of distinct search queries in Google resulted in a click on an AdWords (paid) ad. (Jumpshot/Moz)
  11. 0.9 percent of Google.com search results get a click on Google Maps. (Jumpshot/Moz)
  12. ~0.5 percent of clicks on Google search results go to links in the Knowledge Graph. (Jumpshot/Moz)
  13. 3 percent of clicks on Google search results go to image blocks. (Jumpshot/Moz)
  14. ~0.23 percent of clicks on Google search results go to Twitter block results. (Jumpshot/Moz)
  15. 1.8 percent of clicks on Google search results go to YouTube. (Jumpshot/Moz)
    0.16 percent of clicks on Google search results go to personalized Gmail/Google Mail results. (Jumpshot/Moz)
  16. 0.55 percent of clicks on Google search results go to Google Shopping results. (Jumpshot/Moz)
  17. 11.8 percent of clicks from distinct Google searches result in a click on a Google property, i.e. YouTube, Google Maps, Gmail, Google Books, the Google Play Store on mobile, and Google+. (Jumpshot/Moz)
  18. ~25 percent of all searches are distributed across the top 1MM queries, with the top 10MM queries accounting for about 45 percent and the top 1BB queries accounting for close to 90 percent. (Jumpshot/Moz)
  19. 25 percent of all search volume happens outside the top 100 million keywords. (Jumpshot/Moz)
  20. 40.9 percent of Google searches done on mobile devices result in an organic click, 2 percent in a paid click, and 57.1 percent in no click at all. (Jumpshot/Moz)
  21. 62.2 percent of Google searches done on desktop devices result in an organic click, 2.8 percent in a paid click, and 35 percent in no click. (Jumpshot/Moz)
To Sum It All Up:
  • Search engine optimization is essential to your business’ success
  • In most cases, writing long-form content is better than writing 500-word blog articles
  • If your website isn’t mobile friendly, it’s probably time for a new website.
  • Every local business needs to have a website that is optimized for local search results.

Source of statistics and content for this page: SearchEngineJournal.Com