Rand Fishkin posted on Twitter several updated stats and information around his most recent zero-click search study. There are some interesting tidbits in this update but more importantly, I think if Rand can take the industry feedback and work to update the study, Google can take the industry feedback and share some of its data.
So, Google, it is now your turn to share some data. Maybe say the 65% number is wrong or right? Maybe share how this changes by query type? Maybe share what percentage of clicks goes to search refinements or clicks to local results or what percentage are fact based questions. Share something outside of just saying you send more traffic to sites each year. It is your turn Google.
Now to Rand’s updates:
- US searches lead to more zero-clicks at 68.3% than the global average of 65.2%
- Google does send more traffic year-over-year because Google has more searches year-over-year
- Zero click percentages vary greatly based on type of query, as we expected. Rand said a search for [apple iphone xs] was 43%, while [donald trump age] was 95%
- Rand is working on segmenting this data by groups of searches, but said it is hard because of bias (I agree)
Here are Rand’s tweets:
A few important notes:
A) Zero-clicks means zero “observable” clicks (see post for methodology), e.g. clicks that don’t leave the results page are measured as zero click searches
B) Thanks to search growth, there were more total clicks (paid + organic) in 2020 than years prior.
— Rand Fishkin (@randfish) March 31, 2021
E) Zero-click rates can vary dramatically, e.g. in 2020, “apple iphone xs” had a zero click rate of 43%, while “donald trump age” had a zero click rate of 95%. pic.twitter.com/7tzp3PicuZ
— Rand Fishkin (@randfish) March 31, 2021
Many folks have asked about segmenting searches into subgroups (e-commerce, travel, etc), and then analyzing those zero-click vs. CTRs.
This is challenging & requires subjective categorization decisions, which = bias. However, I’m working w/ @SimilarWeb to try. Stay tuned!
— Rand Fishkin (@randfish) March 31, 2021
Google – your turn please.
Forum discussion at Twitter.