As its name implies, the goal of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is to achieve high rankings for your website on search engines, especially Google. You earn those high rankings by optimizing your website with the keywords that best match searchers’ intents, adding valuable content, making it mobile friendly, and performing additional fine tuning to verify trustworthiness. The reward for a high rank on Google’s search engine results pages (SERPs) is an increase in the number of clicks to your website.
To achieve high search rankings and website traffic from Google is no easy task, especially for small to midsize businesses. For those who are investing in SEO to achieve those rankings, it has been alarming news to hear that the zero-click searches are on the rise. Before you hit the panic button, we’ll explain what zero-click searches are, why they’re on the rise, and what you can do to drive more traffic and increase clicks in the face of this challenging search engine trend.
Key takeaways to make zero-click searches work to your business’s benefit:
- Understand that zero-click searches will continue to grow; it’s a trend that is not going away since it benefits Google and its users
- Have your website content optimized to include long tail keywords that help answer questions your audience are searching for on Google
- Talk to an SEO expert about how to better optimize your website overall to reach the top of search engine results pages
What Are Zero Click Searches?
In the simplest terms, a zero-click search, or no click search, is when a person’s question is immediately answered by the search engine results. When the search engine provides the answer in its results via a text block, list, table, or an embedded video, then there’s no need for the person to click any links to visit any websites. Examples of zero-click searches can range from queries that won’t impact most businesses such as “When is daylight savings time” and “What’s today’s weather” to questions like “What are zero search clicks” which could impact businesses like marketing agencies.
Since 2019, the percentage of zero-click searches has grown from 50% to 65% and that trend does not show any signs of slowing. If search engines are supposed to be the main source of driving traffic to websites, then why are these searches growing—and why are the search engines ok with this trend?
Why Are Zero Click Searches Rising?
As you’re well aware, Google is the world’s go-to choice when it comes to search engines. Not only does Google control the biggest search engine, but it also owns the second most popular search engine (YouTube), the most popular operating system (Android), and the most popular browser (Chrome).
Heck, Google is so big that it’s become a verb in the English language. So, why is the world’s leading search engine allowing zero-click searches to grow? The short answer: because it benefits the user greatly.
If Google’s job is to successfully answer a question every time a search is conducted, and they can do so without having to redirect a person to other websites, then that’s great for Google. They successfully fulfilled their task which satisfied the user’s intent and will result in future visits from that person. Extra bonus: Google gets to keep the person searching on their site (Google) the whole time. When you consider all those factors, you can easily understand why Google embraces zero-click searches.
Of course, many businesses are not thrilled with this arrangement.
Since zero-click search percentages continue to rise, businesses will need to rethink some of their current SEO practices to best address this trend. The good news is that these types of queries are not necessarily a terrible trend for businesses. In fact, there are many things that can be done to make zero-click searches work in your website’s favor.
Worried about how zero click searches are affecting your business? Contact us to see how we can help today.
Worried about how zero click searches are affecting your business?
How to Get Clicks from Position Zero
Now that you know what zero-click searches are and understand why they’re not going away, you can begin to set the table for success in the no-click search world. We’ll show you how to best optimize your website to achieve position zero.
Optimize Your Website Content for Featured Snippets
You may not know their name but odds are you’ve seen (and used) Google’s Featured Snippets. These are the text blocks, lists, tables, and videos that appear at the very top of Google’s results. Some SEO experts call these blocks “Position Zero” because of their prime placement. Featured Snippets are most commonly used by Google when a user asks “How to” or “What is” type questions.
A great way to optimize your website for Featured Snippet consideration is to add long-tail keywords to your content. Long-tail keywords that are longer in length (four or more words) include more detailed information that better helps answer a searcher’s very specific question. Using a website that sells men’s suits as an example, if long-tail keywords like “men’s suits with double vents” are added to the content then the chances of appearing in a Featured Snippet are greater than if the site relied on the less specific “men’s suits” short keywords.
Optimize The Little Things
There are a bunch of little things you can do on your website to increase your chances of appearing at position zero. Use images that are properly sized and are relevant to the content on the pages where they reside; add an F.A.Q. page to your website to take advantage of question-based keywords, and utilize content that offers instructions or answers in a list form or table to appear in those Featured Snippet lists or tables.
Since zero-click searches are the new norm, there’s no point in complaining about them. Your best course of action is to optimize your site’s content in order to increase your chances of appearing at position zero.
To learn more about how Results Repeat can help your business thrive in the zero-click search world, contact us today to start your SEO plan for tomorrow!
