the search landscape in 2017
TRANSCRIPT
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Rand Fishkin, Wizard of Moz | @randfish | [email protected]
The Search Landscape in 2017What’s changed (and changing) in SEO, searcher behavior, technology, &
marketing
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Bit.ly/searchscape17
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Some Remarkable, New DataOn Searcher Behavior…
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How Many Searches Happen on Google.com?
In May, Google told SearchEngineLand it was 2+ Trillion…
Source
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How Many Searches Happen on Google.com?
Source
That’s 480-720B searches/year on just Google.com US
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Google.com US Search Session Data:
Average Session Length:
% of Search Clicks on Google Properties (YouTube, Maps, etc):
% of Searches Resulting in a Query Change Before a Click:
% of Searches Resulting in a Pogostick (click->back->click)
~55 seconds
11.8%*
21%
8%*11.8% of distinct search queries, 8.4% of all searches
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Google Search Activity
The average searcher does ~3.4 queries per day on their desktop and mobile (each).
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Mobile CTR
2.0% on Paid
40.9% on Organic
57.1% Don’t Click
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2.8% on Paid
Desktop CTR
62.2% on Organic
35% Don’t Click
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CTR on Google Mobile vs. Desktop
There may be more traffic opportunity from desktop STILL due to higher CTR
Source
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From All Google…to Only Mostly Google.
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Jumpshot’s Search Volume Distribution (Oct. 2016) Source
Halloween?
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If We Assumed There Are 50 Billion Monthly Searches on Google.com…
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Google Images Would Have:22.58 Billion Searches/Month
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YouTube: 3.13 Billion Searches/Month
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Yahoo!: 2.08 Billion Searches/Month
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Bing: 1.9 Billion Searches/Month
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Google Maps: 1.76 Billion Searches/Month
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Amazon: 1.56 Billion Searches/Month
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Facebook: 581 Million Searches/Month
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DuckDuckGo: 472 Million Searches/Month
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Google News: 236 Million Searches/Month
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From SEO First…to Holistic Marketing.
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2000-2012: SEO is Possible w/o Other Marketing
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2012-Today: SEO Rewards Great Marketing
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On-Page Keyword Use
Important Then: Important Now:
Crawler Accessibility
Links (the more the better)
Anchor Text
Keywords in Domain Name
Internal Linking & PageRank Flow
Content Quantity
Staying Under Google’s Radar
Content’s Overall Relevance (incl. KWs)
Crawler Accessibility
Links (but only from legit sources)
Anchor Text (better not be too good)
Branding & Memorability
Mobile Friendliness & Overall UX
Searcher Satisfaction
Have Nothing to Hide
Why? A Change in Ranking Inputs
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Launching a New Venture?
SEO
Brand & Product
Unique Value Proposition
Audience & Influencers
Content & UX
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From SERP Rankings…to SERP Features.
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SERP Features Are Near-Universal
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SERP Features Massively Impact CTR
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Many Features Remove SEO Opportunity
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But, in 2017, There’s Also More Feature Opportunity Than Ever Before
You can do SEO to show up here
And here
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And here
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Here And here Here too Also here Yup!
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16 Features Every SEO Should Consider:
Video units
SERP Feature Type How to Get In
“People Also Ask”
Featured Snippet
Maps Box
Knowledge Panel
Top Stories (News)
Images
Apps
Create & optimize on YouTube (or, rarely, Vimeo)
Branding – get searched for with/after the query
Phrasing & position of short answer in content
Claim GMB, get links, earn citations, be nearby
Earn brand association, use structured markup
Get in Google News, earn links, title w/ KWs
Relevant images, alt attributes, & direct embeds
KWs in title/description, get popular in app stores
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Books
Related Searches
Tweets
Search Suggest
Sitelinks
Section Sitelinks
In-Depth Articles
Carousels/List Results
Write a book, use KWs in the title, have an ISBN
Be searched+found commonly w/ the KWs
Verified accounts help, use KWs in tweets
As w/ related searches, also geo-sensitive
Get links & visits to several pop pgs; use markup
Grow popular subsections w/ popular subpages
Author longer pieces that receive attention/links
Be listed alongside common sets on the web
16 Features Every SEO Should Consider:SERP Feature Type How to Get In
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AdWords
54.7% of Results, 3.4% of Clicks
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Local/Maps Results
15% of Results, 0.9% of Clicks
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Tweet Blocks
7% of Results, 0.23% of Clicks
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Google Shopping
9% of Results, 0.55% of Clicks
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Image Block
11% of Results, 3% of Clicks
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YouTube
6.3% of Results, 1.8% of Clicks
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Personalized Gmail
??% of Results, 0.16% of Clicks
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Top Stories?
Unfortunately, we couldn’t get data on these (yet)
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Knowledge Panel
38% of Results, 0.5% of Clicks
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Knowledge Panel
??!
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You’re Welcome!
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From Apps!…to Apps?
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We Spend A Lot of Time on Our Mobiles
Source
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But Apps Are a Winner-Take-All Market
Source
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The Avg Person Really Only Uses 3 Apps
Source
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Apps Are Only Valuable for a Few; Mobile Websites are Crucial For Everyone
Source
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Be Careful Over-focusing on Mobile Only
Source
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Desktop’s Plateauing, Not Dying
Source
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From Expressed Intent…to Implied Intent.
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Past: Query Terms Determined Results
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Today: Google Knows What You Want Better Than (& Before) You Do
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Elements We Believe Google Usesin Predictive Intent:
Location & Prior Behavior of Users in That Location
Device Attributes: Type, O/S, Speed, Installed Apps, etc
Search, App, & Browser History
Gmail Behavior (& possibly all keyboard behavior)
Temporal Elements & Time-Based Patterns
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Different Devices/People; Different Results
Seattle, WA Northampton, MA
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It’s Not Just Search Suggestions;It’s Rankings Too
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e.g. In San Diego, Comics
Rule:
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If Google Becomes a Suggestion Engine, Marketers Will Be Left With Two Choices:
Capture attention here Or compete, unaided, here
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When I first stumbled across this article, I didn’t even know where
in Japan I’d go…
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By the time I reached evaluation stage, it was too late to convince me
to stay anywhere else…
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From Results…to Answers.
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Many Queries GetNo Clicks at All
According to our clickstream data, <25% of searchers will click
from a result like this.
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This is so common that, according to our data, 49% of searches results in 0 clicks!
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Why Sacrifice Ad $$ for Answers?
These are high CPC ads, with high ROI
Why is Google hurting ad CTR w/ these answers?!
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Answers More Searches
Google’s willing to lose a lot of short-term revenue in exchange for addictive search behavior
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Is the Future Ads as Answers?
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In Organic, Featured Snippets Are Google’s Primary “Be the Answer” Bet.
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Extracted, Card-Style Answersare Also on the Rise
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From Voice Search…to Smart Assistants.
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Voice Search = No Threat
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Smart Assistants = Some Threat
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From Net Neutrality…to an Uncertain Future.
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Source
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If Net Neutrality is Eliminated in the US, What Will It Mean for Site Owners?
ISPs will charge subscribers more to visit sites outside the included bundles, massively lowering traffic opportunities.
A lot of SEO will shift to sites included by ISP defaults
Sites targeting top 20-30% earners will be less affected
Paying ISPs may be required to achieve the most traffic
Google may show sites’ status w/ the ISP in the SERP