Search Engine Stats that should influence your 2020 optimisation strategy

Between 2010 - 2018, Google made over 3,234 algorithm changes. That's almost 9 per day.

With the digital world steadily evolving - how on earth do we possibly keep up and stay ahead?

The answer is in the data. Search engine stats are essential for understanding and capitalising on algorithm trends.

In a recent article, I came across a few statistics regarding SEO that got me thinking, and I felt they were significant enough to share. I’ve followed each stat with some tips to get the most out what the data is telling us.

What can I do to improve conversion rates?

According to Grow Code the average eCommerce industry conversion rate is 2.04% - this gives us a benchmark figure for determining digital marketing success.

The industry with the highest average conversion rate is arts and crafts at 4.01%.

TIP: There’s a lot you can do to improve conversion rates, but the one action is to focus on usability. Specifically, make sure your mobile site works flawlessly. Also ensure your offer is crystal clear, and that the copy drives decisions.

Will people buy from an unsecured site?

A 2019 study shows 82% of people will not even browse if they are dealing with an unsecured website.

TIP: If your website shows as not secure – relax. The most likely cause is that you don’t have an SSL certificate. Your friendly IT support person and a couple of quick Google searches can help you with that.

Local SEO - how popular are ‘near me’ searches?

82% of smartphone shoppers in 2018 conduct ‘near me’ searches and these stats are continuously on the rise (especially amongst Millennials).

TIP: Some things you can do to improve getting returns on ‘near me’ searches:

1. Create and optimise your Google My Business Account.

• Encourage online reviews from happy customers.
• Create content based on local news stories or events.

2. Optimise for Voice Search… more on this below

Organic search - where does video fit into the picture?

Video content is more important than ever. Data shows videos are 50 times more likely to drive organic search results than plain text.

TIP: As video production technology becomes more accessible, having rich media content as part of your Search Engine Optimisation strategy is becoming more affordable.

Voice Search - how popular is voice search?

65% of 25-49 year old’s speak to their voice-enabled devices at least once a day. Voice is expected to be a $40 billion channel by 2022.

TIP: Look to optimise your content, especially the local search portion, by making the language conversational and inserting likely topic clusters that people would use to voice search for a business like yours.

There are plenty more stats where those ones came from. Keep an eye out for more in future issues.

Need help with optimising your Search Engine performance? The Imagic SEO team consistently get great search results and ROI for our clients. Ask us about how we can get your business seen via search