We’re entering the digital era a little faster than we had expected. Within the past decade, the face of digital communications has changed dramatically. Starting from 3G, we now have entered the 5G era where the most complex of the tasks are being reduced to just the touches and taps on our mobile devices. From calling the cab to transferring money, and from buying groceries to working and studying online, everything has undergone a digital transformation.
The web search has undergone a significant change too. With a larger smartphone and data services penetration than ever before, access to search engines like Google has become easier and more ubiquitous. With an extremely strong Google ecosystem and availability of other search widgets, mobile searches have seen a rapid and growing rise. But what does this mean for businesses investing or looking to invest in improving their search rankings?
Let’s have a little preview of the search giant Google first
According to Internet Live Stats, over 3.5 billion Google searches are made every day with the volume of the searches growing roughly by 10% every year. Of these annual searches, about 20% of Google searches are new. Google enjoys the largest share of the online search market with 90% of all searches via desktop made on Google. Moreover, about 35% of the product and ‘near me’ searches start on Google.
Fun Question: Do you know what were the two most popular ‘what is’ searches on Google in 2018? Read on for the answer.
According to Statista’s not-so-fresh stats, about 53% of global internet traffic comes from mobile devices. So, it’s no wonder why at least 60% of Google searches are done via mobile devices. And, unsurprisingly, Google captures 95% of the mobile search engine market in the U.S. besides organic results, 65% of clicks on paid Google search results to come from mobile devices.
What’s the key takeaway of these stats for businesses?
“The key learning from these search stats for businesses and Search Engine Optimizers (SEOs) is that online visibility isn’t something they can take lightly anymore. With an internet-enabled smartphone in almost every hand, Google and other search services are closer to users than they have ever been, and searching for a product or service before buying it is a norm today. Even when inside a physical store, the customer tends to run a quick wen search to read reviews of the product they’re going to buy”, quoted by Mr. Zahir Shah, a pioneer SEO from Dubai, United Arab emirates.
This brings us to a second and more important thing: quality control and customer service. If you’re a business, let’s face the bitter fact: you can’t hide a bad product or service anymore. And alongside stepping up your SEO game, you must also improve and maintain the quality of your offerings and customer care. One bad review of what you have to offer can divert a dozen customers to your competition who may or may not be as good as you.
Answer: “What is Bitcoin?” and “What is racketeering?” were the two most popular “What is” searches of 2018.
And when it comes to Search Engine Optimizers, they must take it upon themselves to educate the clients on new SEO trends besides helping them improve their practices by way of taking the public criticism constructively. Businesses need to understand that the era of keyword-based content is almost over: thankfully, Google (and maybe other search engines too) has become smart enough to rank relevant, original, and useful content better than the rest.
If you think about it, this is good news not just for the users but for the businesses too. If your SEO efforts are in the right direction and your offerings satisfy the customers, you’re the unstoppable leader of your market segment. On the flip side, if wither goes wrong, the impact on the business could be disastrous in the worst case. And this winning balance is what good SEO is all about!