The burgeoning field of digital marketing poses a single, overriding query in its undiscriminating search for answers: What are the search engine optimization (SEO) impacts of zero-click search results?
For businesses that live or die by their online strategies, the very idea of a search result that requires no click threatens SEO’s very foundation. If the user is getting what he or she needs right on the search results page, then why not save an additional half-second of precious time? Understanding the implications of this trend is vital for attempting to optimize any near-future SEO efforts.
Often found in the featured snippet or answer box, zero-click search results are a way for Google to give the user a quick, straightforward answer to their question. Some people still operate under the assumption that Google gets its ad revenue from the number of searches performed. In reality, the search engine’s parent company, Alphabet Inc., gets most of its money from the clicks that users make on the ads that appear with the search results. About half of all Google searches now end up giving the user the answer without them needing to click anything. When that happens, everyone loses, but skipping on clicks isn’t the same as skipping on a subway to save time. It’s very possible to force Google to pay less attention to content that doesn’t attempt to answer a question in a way that could have the user say “A-ha! Now I get it!”
What effect do zero-click search results have on SEO?
The effect can be both beneficial and detrimental, based on how companies decide to deal with them. On the sunny side, zero-click results can elevate brands through featured snippets. If a business has the honor of obtaining a featured snippet, it can enjoy increased visibility, heightened brand awareness, and even transforming its brand image into something more authoritative and steps toward being an expert in its field. Snippets and Knowledge Panels are kind of like Google’s way of giving you a gold star! But, on the flip side, if users are getting answers directly from Google, what’s to stop click-through rates from declining? And, if businesses haven’t optimized for these new SERPs, who’s even being seen?
To counter the difficulties posed by zero-click search results, companies need to turn to their SEO strategies and adjust them accordingly.
Here are a few suggestions:
- Work on getting your content into featured snippets and, if you’re able, make it your business to dominate that space.
- If you’re not familiar with featured snippets, they’re those little boxes Google gives you after the search query, where Google essentially reads your content and gives you a concise answer to the question. That means you want to have concise answers to the types of questions your target audience is asking.
- Follow that up with this: Use structured data. This is HTML-like coding that helps Google understand the context of your web page. Knowing the context helps Google serve your page up more readily when certain types of queries are asked.
The world of search results with no accompanying clicks has, for some time, been the up-and-coming landscape of SEO.
Not all who venture into this domain survive to tell the tale, but some companies—big and small—have made the adaptation. Neil Patel is a successful online entrepreneur who runs a popular blog. If you visited his blog and read some of his posts, you’d find that they are not only well written, but they’re also extremely clear and to the point in terms of what they are trying to convey. Asked for a verdict on Patel’s blog, many an online marketer would tell you it is one of the very best.
In the future, companies will have to deal with the growing popularity of zero-click searches.
This is not the type of search where the user clicks through to another website. Instead, it’s a search where the user is looking for a direct answer to their query, and the result is presented to them right there on the screen. A recent SEMrush report states that 65% of users prefer to stay on the search results page rather than click through to a website. Because of this, businesses need to have an SEO strategy that specifically targets zero-click opportunities. They need to create content that has a good chance of being displayed as a direct answer to a user search query. But some still contend that zero-click searches are a bad thing, primarily because they decrease website traffic.
In conclusion, it is of the utmost importance for today’s businesses to grasp the effects of zero-click search results on SEO.
We are living in an era when clickless searches are on the rise. Despite this change, businesses can continue to succeed by developing and implementing strategies to optimize their digital presences for these types of search results and by improving the overall quality of their content.
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