These slides were presented at the SEMrush webinar "5 Hours of SEO | What 1,200 Domains Tell Us about Zero-Click Searches, SERP Features, and Getting Traffic". ideo replay and transcript are available at https://www.semrush.com/webinars/5-hours-of-seo-or-what-1-200-domains-tell-us-about-zero-click-searches-serp-features-and-getting-traffic/
Snapshot of Consumer Behaviors of March 2024-EOLiSurvey (EN).pdf
Kevin Indig — What 1,200 Domains Tell Us about Zero-Click Searches, SERP Features, and Getting Traffic
1. www.kevin-indig.com
What 1,200 Domains Tell
Us about Zero-Click
Searches, SERP Features,
and Getting Traffic
A journey through 100,000 keywords and 1,200 domains
3. KEVIN INDIG
• 3/14 - SEO Campixx - keynote, Berlin, Germany
• 4/17 - Brighton SEO, Brighton, England
• 5/15 - TTT, Miami, FL
• 6/13 - Elite Camp, Estonia
• 7/12 - UnGagged, NYC
• 11/13 - CMSEO, Chang Mai, Thailand
Let’s hang out! ✌
4.
5. KEVIN INDIG
“[…] three fundamental shifts in how we think about
Search:
The shift from answers to journeys: […]
The shift from queries to providing a queryless way to
get to information: […]
And the shift from text to a more visual way of finding
information: […]”
(Sundar Pichai, 2018, Google Blog)
9. KEVIN INDIG
"We are moving from a company that helps you
find answers to a company that helps you get
things done."
(Sundar Pichai, Google I/O 2019)
12. KEVIN INDIG
Entertainment + education grow, technology + references shrink
Arts and
Entertainment
26%
Computers
Electronics and
Technology
26%
Reference
Materials
14%
Science and
Education
3%
Traffic 2018
Arts and Entertainment
Business and Consumer Services
Community and Society
Computers Electronics and Technology
E commerce and Shopping
Finance
Food and Drink
Gambling
Games
Health
Heavy Industry and Engineering
Hobbies and Leisure
Home and Garden
Jobs and Career
Law and Government
Lifestyle
News and Media
Arts and
Entertainment
29%
Computers
Electronics and
Technology
22%
Reference
Materials
13%
Science and
Education
5%
Traffic 2019
Arts and Entertainment
Business and Consumer Services
Community and Society
Computers Electronics and Technology
E commerce and Shopping
Finance
Food and Drink
Gambling
Games
Health
Heavy Industry and Engineering
Hobbies and Leisure
Home and Garden
Jobs and Career
Law and Government
Lifestyle
News and Media
13. KEVIN INDIG
Traffic winners from 2018 to 2019
Industry absolute relative
Education 555m 25%
Science 146m 25%
Accommodation 119m 29%
Health 96m 7%
Classifieds 68m 5%
14. KEVIN INDIG
Booking: +49% desktop traffic 2018 vs. 2019
-
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
50
2018-01-012018-02-012018-03-012018-04-012018-05-012018-06-012018-07-012018-08-012018-09-012018-10-012018-11-012018-12-012019-01-012019-02-012019-03-012019-04-012019-05-012019-06-012019-07-012019-08-012019-09-012019-10-012019-11-01
Millions
Booking.com desktop traffic
booking.com
17. KEVIN INDIG
Online education grows rapidly (17% YoY)
-
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
2019-04-01
2019-05-01
2019-06-01
2019-07-01
2019-08-01
2019-09-01
2019-10-01
2019-11-01
Millions
Mobile traffic of the biggest course sites
coursera.org coursehero.com chegg.com udemy.com
-
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
2018-01-012018-03-012018-05-012018-07-012018-09-012018-11-012019-01-012019-03-012019-05-012019-07-012019-09-012019-11-01
Millions
Desktop traffic of the biggest course sites
coursera.org coursehero.com chegg.com udemy.com
18. KEVIN INDIG
Rise of research: research sites grow 67% YoY
-
10
20
30
40
50
60
2018-01-012018-02-012018-03-012018-04-012018-05-012018-06-012018-07-012018-08-012018-09-012018-10-012018-11-012018-12-012019-01-012019-02-012019-03-012019-04-012019-05-012019-06-012019-07-012019-08-012019-09-012019-10-012019-11-01
Millions
Chart Title
jstor.org researchgate.net academia.edu
19. KEVIN INDIG
Health is a mobile game and Mayoclinic is winning
-
10
20
30
40
50
60
2018-01-012018-02-012018-03-012018-04-012018-05-012018-06-012018-07-012018-08-012018-09-012018-10-012018-11-012018-12-012019-01-012019-02-012019-03-012019-04-012019-05-012019-06-012019-07-012019-08-012019-09-012019-10-012019-11-01
Millions
Mayoclinic vs. Clevelandclinic on mobile and desktop
mayoclinic.org clevelandclinic.org mayoclinic.org mobile clevelandclinic.org mobile
20. KEVIN INDIG
Healthline grew 28% mobile, 21% desktop to 100M/month
-
5
10
15
20
25
2018-01-012018-02-012018-03-012018-04-012018-05-012018-06-012018-07-012018-08-012018-09-012018-10-012018-11-012018-12-012019-01-012019-02-012019-03-012019-04-012019-05-012019-06-012019-07-012019-08-012019-09-012019-10-012019-11-01
Millions
Desktop organic traffic to health sites
webmd.com psychologytoday.com medicalnewstoday.com healthline.com
21. KEVIN INDIG
Traffic loser industries 2018 -> 2019
Industry absolute relative
Search Engines -4,672m -51%
Dictionaries -2,903m -19%
Social Networks -2,271m -16%
TV -1,868m -7%
Marketplace -680m -14%
27. KEVIN INDIG
Amazon is lost -12% desktop traffic YoY
-
50
100
150
200
250
300
350
400
2018-01-012018-02-012018-03-012018-04-012018-05-012018-06-012018-07-012018-08-012018-09-012018-10-012018-11-012018-12-012019-01-012019-02-012019-03-012019-04-012019-05-012019-06-012019-07-012019-08-012019-09-012019-10-012019-11-01
Millions
Amazon international desktop traffic
28. KEVIN INDIG
… but doesn’t have to worry about Alibaba and Walmart ;-)
-
20
40
60
80
100
120
140
160
180
200
2018-01-012018-02-012018-03-012018-04-012018-05-012018-06-012018-07-012018-08-012018-09-012018-10-012018-11-012018-12-012019-01-012019-02-012019-03-012019-04-012019-05-012019-06-012019-07-012019-08-012019-09-012019-10-012019-11-01
Millions
Amazon vs. walmart vs. alibaba US desktop traffic (Amazon on 2nd y-axis)
alibaba.com walmart.com amazon.com
29. KEVIN INDIG
Google lost desktop traffic in most countries (Jan18–Nov19)
2018 vs 2019
google.ru +16%
google.pl +30%
google.fr -19%
google.it -6%
google.se +5%
google.es -28%
google.ca -40%
google.de -7%
google.com -57%0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
2018-01-01
2018-02-01
2018-03-01
2018-04-01
2018-05-01
2018-06-01
2018-07-01
2018-08-01
2018-09-01
2018-10-01
2018-11-01
2018-12-01
2019-01-01
2019-02-01
2019-03-01
2019-04-01
2019-05-01
2019-06-01
2019-07-01
2019-08-01
2019-09-01
2019-10-01
2019-11-01
Non-US Google traffic per country 2018 -2019
google.ru google.pl google.fr google.it google.se google.es google.ca google.de
31. KEVIN INDIG
Google is under immense pressure to grow stock price with
declining traffic
-
500
1,000
1,500
2,000
2,500
3,000
3,500
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3
2018 2019
Millions
Billions
Google quarterly traffic vs. revenue
Revenue Desktop Traffic
32. KEVIN INDIG
The second biggest search engine after Google is Baidu
7,951
48 19
449
3,414
48 35
365
google.com bing.com duckduckgo.com baidu.com
Visitorsinmillions
Search engines 2018 vs. 2019
2018 2019
33. KEVIN INDIG
Search engine mobile traffic outweighs desktop by a lot
3,377
336
133 185
2,331
34 26
261
google.com bing.com duckduckgo.com baidu.com
Visitorsinmillions
Search Engine Desktop vs. Mobile traffic (apr-nov 2019)
Mobile Desktop
34. KEVIN INDIG
Mobile traffic is ~2x as big as desktop
68% 66%
71% 72% 71% 73%
67% 64%
32% 34%
29% 28% 29% 27%
33% 36%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
2019-04-01 2019-05-01 2019-06-01 2019-07-01 2019-08-01 2019-09-01 2019-10-01 2019-11-01
Relative destop vs. mobile traffic 04/19-11/19
Mobile traffic Desktop traffic
35. KEVIN INDIG
Desktop traffic decreased over the last 2 years
-
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
2018-01-012018-02-012018-03-012018-04-012018-05-012018-06-012018-07-012018-08-012018-09-012018-10-012018-11-012018-12-012019-01-012019-02-012019-03-012019-04-012019-05-012019-06-012019-07-012019-08-012019-09-012019-10-012019-11-01
Billions
Desktop traffic of the largest industries from 01/2018 to 12/2019
Arts and Entertainment Business and Consumer Services Community and Society
Computers Electronics and Technology E commerce and Shopping Finance
Food and Drink Gambling Games
Health Heavy Industry and Engineering Hobbies and Leisure
Home and Garden Jobs and Career Law and Government
Lifestyle News and Media Pets and Animals
Reference Materials Science and Education Sports
Travel and Tourism Vehicles Adult
36. KEVIN INDIG
Takeaways from the 2019 SEMrush traffic analysis
1. Google is losing traffic
2. Sites are dependent on SERP features
3. 2x as much mobile as desktop traffic
4. Desktop traffic declines across the board
41. KEVIN INDIG
1/24: little impact, average CTR still 43%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
CTRafter1/24
CTR before 1/24
Desktop CTR before and after 1/24 for
queries with unchanged ranking positions
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
CTRafter1/24
CTR before 1/24
Mobile CTR before and after 1/24 for queries
with unchanged ranking positions
https://www.kevin-indig.com/a-case-study-of-2000-featured-snippets-about-deduplicating/
44. KEVIN INDIG
What seems increasingly troubling for Wall Street
analysts is Google. […] analysts said: “In our view,
the most concerning trend is the reduced efficiency
of SEO (search engine optimization) marketing as
Google pushes ‘free’ links’ further down the page.
In particular, Google is favoring its own ‘Hotel
Finder’ platform, along with other paid links, all of
which are capturing more real estate on page one
of the search results.
45. KEVIN INDIG
[…] TripAdvisor is facing
aggressive competition
from Google. CEO Steve
Kaufer said the search
giant's pushing its own
hotel products in search
results has become
TripAdvisor's "most
significant challenge,"
siphoning off quality
traffic.
48. KEVIN INDIG
SERP Mazes = clicking on the image thumbnails leads you to
another SERP
KEVIN INDIG
SERP Mazes = clicking on the image thumbnails leads you to
another SERP
63. KEVIN INDIG
If you had algorithm issues in the past 12 months…
1. Google Analytics
2. Segment mobile and desktop organic traffic
3. Compare dips and spikes
71. KEVIN INDIG
Google ranks Discover content
algorithmically based on content quality
and the strength of the match between
page content and user interests.
The two best ways to boost the ranking
and performance of your Discover content
are (1) to post content that you think users
would find interesting and (2) to use high-
quality images in your content.
https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/9046777?hl=en
72. KEVIN INDIG
Conde Nast: Discover drives more traffic than Google Search
“Google Discover drove more traffic to Vogue’s
international editions than Google Search did”
(Sarah Marshall)
“Up to 20% of U.S. sites’ Google traffic come from
Discover over the past few months”
(John Shehata)
https://digiday.com/media/publishers-see-mobile-traffic-spikes-google-discover/
77. KEVIN INDIG
Use the Pyramid Tactic to write for Featured Snippets
Answer
Context
Background
https://moz.com/blog/writing-content-for-featured-snippets