This is an article “These 5 SEO Stats Can Make or Break Your Business” by Marc Primo Warren
Search engine optimization (SEO) gameplay continues to change rapidly. Keeping abreast of what’s happening in the digital marketing industry is essential for any marketer who wants to get their brand into the public’s consciousness. While the rules are somewhat erratic and a tad intimidating, numbers and figures certainly do not lie and they are what most professionals rely on to deliver real results. With these new fascinating SEO stats, you’re sure to get the upper hand in getting on your SEO A-game over the competition.
There are practically hundreds of Google algorithm updates every marketer should familiarize themselves with. Add to this more best practices in SEO and you have the essential keys to position your content for increased organic search results and traffic to your site.
Despite the fast and numerous changes, the objective remains the same for every marketer – to establish brands on top of the search engine results page (SERP) for more hits and engagement. It’s always important to note that every ideal buyer has a question waiting to be answered in all honesty, and doing SEO properly lets you stay on top of those questions.
Here are five SEO figures that you have to focus on right now to increase business productivity:
70% of global desktop traffic comes from Google
Yes, this has been the unadulterated statistic for years but in 2021, staying ahead means you have to know and play by Google’s rules, while also considering how Baidu can contribute 13% to your search traffic, with Bing and Yahoo getting you 12% and 2% more, respectively. Even when combined, the others’ share of the pie is indeed significantly smaller than that of Google’s 70%, but they can still bring in visitors and lookalike audiences from different parts of the globe.
Nonetheless, there’s no doubt that Google’s dominance in search engines continues to be strong regardless of where you perform your SEO. Using the platform’s Search Console will give you more insights on how your targeted users are reaching you, so it’s very essential to keep yourself updated on the most recent algorithm changes that happen within the platform.
When in China, pick Baidu which accounts for 95% of local users
On the other hand, China’s Baidu should be your top pick along with Google for your SEO efforts if you are concentrating on the East Asian market as it is still the most popular search engine in the territory. With 95% of Chinese users accounting for 99% of the platform’s revenue, it can significantly increase your website traffic in your focused market area.
However, there are differences in the way you should approach SEO for Baidu, specifically on local regulations and censorship laws. This means that websites that are hosted in China and with Internet Content Provider (ICP) licenses get higher priority on the Baidu platform.
Doing effective SEO in the East Asian market will require you to be coherent in the local language, select more relative content at the top of your page (as the platform only takes the first 100KB of every page into account, familiarize yourself with its three verification levels, getting certified, and optimizing your mobile search capabilities.
The first five organic results comprise nearly 70% of all the clicks
Sure, typical page analytics tools will give you valuable insights on how your site performs and ranks on SERPs but what solely matters is how you can get on top of page one. That’s because only the top five results usually account for more than two-thirds of all the clicks on the page, and getting there only becomes more and more competitive nowadays.
Consider re-evaluating your meta tags and complement your Google organic SEO campaign with social media SEO copies that are compelling with visuals and design to give you a better chance of topping the ranks.
Remember that Google applies over 200 algorithm rules to determine which websites should rank the highest and while they are a bit unclear for many as to how the platform executes this, creating a checklist of what elements should matter on your SEO makes things easier.
57% of marketers consider on-page SEO the most effective
By now, most seasoned marketers know the magic that on-page SEO can do for brands and the tactic remains true if you want to get better results for your link-building efforts.
Producing more appealing yet honest content that’s driven by both art and copy is one of the most consistent factors in gaining better traffic to your websites and landing pages. Focus more on quality rather than quantity and see how your content performs or how your target audiences receive them. There’s no question valuable content will only become a bigger force on your SEO campaigns in the future.
2,416 is the magic number for Google articles
Lastly, long-form content returns with a vengeance, having an average of 2,416 words per article for most of the top-ranking sites on the first page. As was suggested in the previous entry, high-quality content is still ‘king’ so make sure you have addressed all your potential customers’ questions once you are done with your draft.
Long-form articles somehow perform better than concise ones as they get your target audiences more informed about your brand’s transparency and integrity. They also get you more opportunities to backlink to more reputable sites which can significantly take your rankings higher on Google’s SERP.
However, be aware of the common downsides when resorting to longer articles including being less than 100% on top of your topics. Focusing on single and easy-to-understand subjects gives your readers a better user experience and while Google can parse pieces of your content into 5 to 100 passages, being on point about a specific topic will rank you higher than writing your article in broad strokes.
Taking note of these five new figures can improve your SEO campaigns as everyone moves towards a new normal in digital marketing. While things are becoming more complicated than before, understanding how your platform’s algorithms work and knowing what solutions you can do about them tracks a clearer pathway to the right audiences. And the more traffic you get on your site, the better you’ll rank on the search pages.