How To Successfully Do SEO For Zero-Click Searches
How many times have you searched on Google and found the answer directly on SERP without having to click on any result? This situation is called a zero-click search.
According to a 2019 study conducted by SEO experts, Rand Fishkin (Founder and Ex-CEO of Moz) in collaboration with Jumpshot (a marketing analysis company), 49% of Google queries stop on the results page.
This study proves a fundamental trend, which is problematic for website publishers – almost 1 in 2 internet users stops at the Google results page and do not access the websites referenced on this page.
According to Jumpshot, in the first quarter of 2019 organic search clicks from Google’s SERPs were around 61.5 billion, while only three years ago they were 75.6 billion, or 20 percent more. In the same period, there was also a change in the click-through rate.
The CTR of organic searches fell by 13 percent, settling at 47.4 percent.
Internet Users Believe They No Longer Need To Click On Google
We can identify at least two reasons for this:
- The first one is that, in some cases, the results offered to the user do not correspond to their intention. They do not need to click on the results. The titles of the referenced pages are sufficient; they understand that they must make a new request. Google’s algorithm is not perfect, it is not always able to understand precisely what the users wish.
- The other reason is obvious and much more annoying for publishers. Google, via knowledge graph, featured snippets and other structured data, is increasingly becoming a response engine. Google’s goal is not to direct traffic to the most relevant sites, its goal is to directly serve the response to the user.
Google wants to create the best possible user experience for the consumer. And if it means “scrapping” a lot of websites and putting the answer right on the search engine results page (SERP).
Some niches already affected by the “zero-clickpocalypse” are e-commerce, hotels, flights and jobs. There are many other niches like – movie information, weather, dictionary & thesaurus, currency conversion, world clock, and more – where zero-click searches grab their content, siphon traffic, and overwhelm their business model.
How To Maintain Visibility With Zero Click Search?
Want to get a little ahead of your competitors’ SEO strategy? Start including rich & optimized snippets and video as part of your content strategy goals. Here’s what you need to remember:
1. Use microdata
Microdata or enriched data are pieces of code placed on your website to provide details to Google about the nature of your content.
Microdata is used to specify the nature of elements such as the name of your company, your address, or even the cooking time of a dish if your page talks about a recipe.
These elements are invisible to the visitor’s reading. Google offers them in its results pages to expand and complete its information. If you use WordPress, you can easily add them with the Rich Snippets extension.
2. Adjust Your Content To The Needs Of Your Internet Users
Google prioritizes the quality of your content above all. For Google, quality content is content that targets and meets the needs that the user expresses in his search bar. By targeting your content to the most asked questions in your industry, you will increase your chances of appearing in featured snippets.
A good source of inspiration for identifying questions representing featured snippet opportunities is the related searches section of the Google footer. Or, you can use other tools like KwFinder, Ubersuggest, AnswerThePublic, etc. which allow you to find longtail words, which are specific phrases sought by users.
3. Respond Concisely
It’s a known fact that Google considers the length of your content as a quality criterion, but to aim for optimized extracts, be concise. On average, the paragraph type featured snippet (the most common) has 41 words. So, try to keep it short, while giving the main information explicitly.
If you reach a featured snippet position at the top of the page, you will direct not less than 10% of the search traffic to your page. Some internet users will certainly click on your link even after reading your featured snippet.
4. Adopt Video NOW
The most consumed form of content on the web is video. It is more and more highlighted by Google in its results pages. A content strategy that aims to be sustainable and ambitious must include video in its content formats.
How To Optimize Your Existing Content On SERP?
Even if you follow industry advice, you may not have featured snippets, or at least not right away. So, make sure that the content of your website already present in classic search results is optimal. Here are a few things you can do:
- Optimize your SEO titles and meta descriptions for internet users and for Google.
- Make a list of all the keywords where you’re on the first page of Google. Test these keywords on Google and select those whose queries offer Featured Snippets.
- Refurbish those content pieces to include longtail keywords users are searching for and index them again.
- If your optimizations and content are relevant, and the Google Algorithm thinks it will make a good featured snippet for the user’s search query, it will elevate it.
Final Thoughts
Google is increasing its efforts to analyze the content on the web with one goal – to deliver the best possible information to the user according to their needs.
So, I will give you only one piece of advice.
Give priority to the quality of your content above all. This involves readable texts, supported by sources, images, videos, and whose information is targeted to the needs of your target Internet user.
