Keyword Research Statistics 2023 – 80 Mind-Blowing Statistics

In need of keyword research statistics for the coming year? Well, search engines–whether traditional platforms like Google or modern variations such as YouTube or SnapChat–remain a key driver of company sales online.

That’s thanks to 93% of online activities spurred by search engines, which in turn create more than 300% of website traffic and an $80 billion annual SEO industry in the US alone.

With the new year just a month and a half away, here are valuable keyword research statistics that show the future of SEO.

1. Long-tail keywords comprised 70% of online searches in 2019

As per Experian, 18.5% of online searches involved the use of fat-head keywords, 11.5% chunky middle keywords, and 70% long-tail keywords. Fat head keywords include the Top 100 to the Top 10K keywords that involved 10,000 to millions of monthly searches. Combined, fat head and chunky middle keywords account for 30% of total web searches often used by businesses. This leaves a big data base of keywords that are out for grabs to help better SEO optimization and improved website traffic.

2. An increase of 200% is seen in searches for “where to buy” and “near me” in the past two years ending March 2019

Data released from a research done by Google entitled, “2019 Research Review: Insights We Uncovered in 2019 That Will Take You Into 2020,” showed a 200% increase in occasions people were using the platform to find the things they need within their vicinity through their mobile phones using the keywords “where to buy” and “near me.”

This behavior is a strong indication that people use the internet to shop for products online before going in-store, as well as, a means to discover new products and stores in their area they can conveniently go to for their needs. Using these keywords in the title, headings, meta description, and captions when selling products or providing services in the company’s website would be a good boos to site traffic and sales leads.

3. 53% of shoppers research online before a purchase

Speaking of online purchases, Google adds that 53% of shoppers conduct research online before they make a purchase–whether this is in-store afterward. Shoppers want to make sure they make the best decision on which product to buy.

4. An average of 75.5% of marketers use keyword research in creating content for consumers and businesses

The Content Marketing Institute reported that marketers of business-to-business companies employ 78% of keyword research for online content preparation. While business-to-consumers companies employ 73% of keyword research in preparing content for the web. This is mostly done (87% of B2B) to address customers’ need for information than for the company’s goal for sales or promotions.

5. “Cricbuzz”, “Weather”, and “Facebook” are the top three keywords searched in Google in 2022

““Facebook” received 144,000,000 volume searches in the US and globally as per Ahrefs. This was succeeded by “Weather” with a search volume of 179,000,000 and “Cricbuzz” of 213,000,000. The other keywords in the top 10 used in Google include “YouTube”, “Amazon”, “Translate”, “Whatsapp Web”, “Clima”, “Sarkari Result”, and “Yandex”.

An interesting keyword used this year among the top 100 searches in Google is “Restaurants Near Me”, which ranked 99th for a volume of 23,600,000.

On the other hand, Semrush reported that “Facebook” is the top keyword researched with 203,900,000 volume as of August 2022.

6. “How Many Ounces In A Cup” Ranked #1 among questions most searched in Google this 2022

“How Many Ounces In A Cup” garnered a search volume of 3,860,000. This was followed by “How Many Centimeters Is In An Inch,” with almost half the search volume of the former at 1,960,000. This is slightly lower than that of “Cuando Cobro” at 1,910,000. An interesting question at rank 6 in Google’s top 100 most used questions is “Where is My Refund.” This is something any business can make use of in their SEO keywords, ensuring relevant content on it is integrated into their website.

7. Keyword research is implemented on a broader scale involving four types of intent

According to ThatWare Founder Dr. Tuhin Banik, the four kinds of search intent–informational, navigational, commercial, and transactional–are implemented by users on a broader scale. Integrating this into a buyer’s purchasing journey is important by modifying the keyword strategy to satisfy the different search intents.

8. “COVID 19” topped worldwide searches in 2020 with a 3,650% growth in March compared to previous months

Statista released a report last December 2, 2022 that the leading search keyword globally in March 2020 was “COVID 19,” which grew by 3,650% month-on-month. While “Coronavirus tips” ranked next with a 2,650% month-on-month growth in search volume.Many search engine optimizers (SEOs) were eager to capitalize on this uptick by incorporating coronavirus-related keyword searches into their campaigns. How intriguing is that?

9. Only 15% of Google queries have ever been used. What?!

Google reported in April 25, 2017 that only 15% of searches made online daily are new. Search Engine Land explained this meant that despite the trillions of searches processed by Google annually, 15% of it have never been searched before. Google first announced this data in 2013 and reaffirmed in during the launching of its Project Owl in 2017. Thus, don’t assume there are no more unfilled niches in your keyword list. Every day brings a new crop of good search keywords your rivals haven’t yet exploited.

10. 3.8 billion (95%) keywords are searched less than 10x monthly in the United States in 2021

In a November 25, 2021 report of Ahrefs on long-tail keywords, data showed that 94.74% or 95% of the total searches made in the United States–entailing 3,814,523,865 keywords–were searched less than 10 times in a month. This shows that there are many untapped keywords businesses can use to enhance their website traffic through SEO.

11. 34.35% of organic traffic is experienced by websites that come out as the #1 result in Google searches

In a study released by Poll The People in May 2022, one of the summary key findings showed that websites who rank #1 in search engine results get 34.35% of the organic traffic in their website. This study was conducted on more than 8 million Google organic search clicks. Poll The People explained that the organic traffic generated for top 1 search results was due to online users’ behavior of instinctively clicking on what comes out at the top of the list when using Google.

12. Websites that rank #2 in Google search results get 17% of organic traffic, which doubles when they jump to the #1 spot

Poll The People emphasized that little efforts in improving Search Engine Optimization through keyword integration in the headline or adding backlinks do great wonders in pushing a webpage to the #1 spot from #2. This jump, as of May 2022, doubles the organic traffic of the webpage from 16.96%, rounded off to 17%, to 34%.

13. Website traffic will increase 10x for those who hit the #1 spot coming from #8

According to Poll The People, jumping from one rank to the other is not linear but exponential. This means that a website that came out as #8 in Google’s search results can jump to the #1 spot and enjoy 10 times the organic traffic it did before (May 2022). This means that from getting a mere 3.47% of organic site traffic with 286,118 impressions at the #8 spot, the website will enjoy 34.35% organic site traffic with 2,834,806 impressions.

14. Websites will experience a 143% increase in their organic traffic if they jump to the #10 spot from #11

May 2022 data show that websites on the 2nd page of Google search results, especially those that get the #11 spot, experience the biggest increase in their organic site traffic if they jump to the #10 spot, which is in the first place. This translates to 1.11% site traffic or 91,978 impressions at the #11 spot to having 2.71% site traffic with 223,320 impressions at the #10 spot. Poll The People advises that adding internal links and optimizing meta descriptions help a lot to get to the first page of Google’s search results.

15. The combined organic traffic of the #2 to #5 spots is equivalent to the #1 spot

Interestingly, data shows that websites that get the #2 spot get 16.96%, rounded off to 17%, organic traffic with 1,399,502 impressions. While websites at the #3, #4, and #5 spots get 11.42%, 7.73%, and 6.19% organic traffic, respectively, from Google search results as of May 2022. This translates to 942,706 impressions for spot #3, 638,106 impressions for spot #4, and 510,721 impressions for spot #5. If you add all of their percentage for site traffic and impressions, one would end up getting that experienced by the #1 spot which is 34.35% and 2,834,806, respectively.

16. Mental health searches in the world increased by 2000% in four years as of March 2023

Semrush released a report underscoring the appalling increase in mental health searches online across the globe from April 19 to March 2023. This increase is parallel to the increase in mental health cases in the world, heightened by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The top three long-tail keywords for the period were “Do I have bipolar test,” “Early signs of bipolar in young adults,” and “What is the main cause of bipolar disorder.” The data particularly showed that “Do I have bipolar test” increased by more than 2,000%, “What is the main cause of bipolar disorder” by 875%, and “Early signs of bipolar in young adults” by 7,000% over the 4 years.

17. The top 10 keywords in the United States for mental health disorders totaled 1,299.5 million searches as of March 2023.

Semrush revealed that the top 10 keywords for mental health disorders by search in the United States totaled 1,299.5 million over 4 years from April 2019 to March 2023. Bipolar disorder top the list garnering 367,000 searches for the period.

This was followed chronologically by the keywords “post-traumatic stress disorder” (286k), “anxiety disorder” (217k), “generalized anxiety disorder” (139k), “major depressive disorder” (71.9k), “social anxiety disorder” (71.9k), “panic disorder” (48k), “seasonal affective disorder” (46.2k), “disruptive mood dysregulation disorder” (38.4k), and “bipolar II disorder” (14.1k).

18. “What are the symptoms of anxiety” was the top mental health-related long-tail keyword in the United States as of March 2023

According to Semrush, the top 5 long-tail keywords in the mental health category in the United States from April 2019 to March 2023 were “What are the symptoms of anxiety” (256k), “What are the symptoms of depression” (234k), “What are the symptoms of PTSD” (133k), “What are the symptoms of schizophrenia” (112k), and “What are the symptoms of bipolar disorder” (91k).

19. 35.36% of the global searches for mental health-related keywords come from the United States

The United States topped globally with the most mental health searches from April 2022 to March 2023. The country generated 200k searches out of the 565.60k searches in the world or 35.36% of the top 10 countries with the most mental health searches for the period.

20. The Philippines ranked 2nd in the world with the most mental health searches by country, comprising 14.64% as of March 2023.

A total of 82.8k searches on mental health-related keywords came from the Philippines from April 2022 to March 2023. This comprises 14.64% of the total global searches for the top 10 countries with the most mental health searches for the period, which totaled 565.60k.

21. Gaia.com generated the most web traffic at 1.67 million as a meditation resource as of March 2023

Global monthly average searches for January 2020 to March 2023 showed that Gaia.com was the most popular meditation resource with 1.67 million for the period as against calm.com with 1.07 million. The other websites that topped the list globally for the keyword research on “meditation” were headspace.com with 938k searches followed by yogajournal.com (664k), mindful.org (551k), soundstrue.com (354k), tricycle.org (304k), insighttimer.com (277k), zenhabits.net (277k), and mindbody.i0 (252k).

22. Google remains the search engine of choice globally, comprising 85.53% market share

Statista reported last May 10, 2023 that Google remains the market leader of desktop search engines for March 2015 to March 2023. Bing ranks second (2nd) globally with an 8.23% market share. While Yahoo ranks third (3rd) with a 2.44% market share. This data reveals that it is still wise to optimize your website’s content following Google’s criteria to get higher organic website traffic from keyword searches from around the world.

23. “YouTube” and “Amazon” were the most searched keywords in the Top 100 Google Searches In The United States as of July 2023

Exploding Topics reported that the keyword “YouTube” and “Amazon” attained the same #1 ranking in the United States for the Top 100 Google Searches as of July 2023. Both keywords generated 151 million of search volume in the United States. This was followed by the keyword “Facebook,” which garnered 101 million search volumes in the said country for the period.

24. “YouTube,” “Facebook,” and “Google” were the most searched keywords globally as of July 2023

Similarly, the keyword “YouTube” topped global searches with a 1.2 billion volume as of July 2023. While “Facebook” took the second (2nd) spot as the most searched keyword, garnering a 806.7 million volume. The third most searched keyword is “Google” with a 461.7 million volume out of the Top 100 Google Searches Globally.

25. “OnlyFans,” “Discord,” and “TikTok” were the top three trending keywords when it comes to social media platforms as of July 2023.

Exploding Topics conducted a study of what were the trending searches out of Google’s Top 100 Searches Globally and discovered that “OnlyFans,” “Discord,” and “Tiktok” were the top three social media platforms buzzing online as of July 2023. Accordingly, OnlyFans had more than 99x growth in a 5-year search. They discovered that, for the 5-year period, OnlyFans had a 13.6 million search volume in the United States and a 33.9 million search volume globally.

26. “Canva” ranked #29 among Google’s Top 100 Searches Globally with 74.6 million global search volume as of July 2023

Popular online graphic design platform Canva garnered 74.6 million global search volume as of July 2023, making hold the 29th spot in Google’s Top 100 Searches Globally. Exploding topics reported that when it comes to online graphic design platforms, Canva tops the market with an exploding 5-year search growth of 1,029%. This translates to a search volume of 9.1 million in the United States and 74.6 million in the world. It comes as no surprise with this easy-to-use platform has 250,000 pre-made templates and a drag-and-drop interface.

27. “Facebook Marketplace” ranked 60th in Google’s Top 100 US Searches with 7.48 M Search Volume as of July 2023

“Facebook Marketplace” may not have made it to Google’s Top 100 Global Searches, but it did get listed as one of those that hit the 60th spot for Google’s Top 100 US Searches. Along with “Facebook Marketplace”, there were 13 other keywords that hit a 7.48 million search volume in the United States as of July 2023. These were “Premier League,” “CVS,” “FedEx Tracking,” “MLB,” “AOL Mail,” “TikTok,” “Chase,” “Old Navy,” “Google Drive,” “Google Classroom,” “Ikea,” “Outlook,” “Capital One,” and “Southwest Airlines.”

But when it comes to online platforms for selling, Facebook Marketplace is trending with a 494% growth in being searched on where to purchase products on a peer-to-peer setup. That’s thanks to the platform’s 3 billion active users every month. It has resulted in the platform garnering a search volume of 7.5 million in the United States and 11.9 million in the world from 2019 to 2023.

28. The top 50,000 domains in the United States experienced an overall 3% year-on-year decline in search traffic last 2022

According to Semrush data, search traffic for the top 50,000 domains in the United States increased by 18% on December 31, 2022. This was 3% lower than the 21% overall search traffic these websites experienced in 2021. Examples of these domains are “YouTube” with only 7.5% of search traffic and “Wikipedia” with almost 76% by the end of 2022.

29. “Popular Product” created a buzz in 2022 with an increase of 17% year-on-year for searches.

Semrush reported that the Electronics and Media industries were the leading business niches for searches in 2022. As such, the keywords “popular products” gained a 17% increase year-on-year for searches online. It is also interesting to note that 25% of mobile searches were spurred by searches for the keyword “popular product.” For companies engaged in manufacturing and retail, using these as your keywords this 2023 and beyond would prove profitable for your online business, especially if your products fall in the Electronics and Media industries.

30. 90% of the search market belongs to Google as of April 2023

CNBC reported that Google already holds 90% of the search market share, which they intend to make better. By better, Inc.TopTech explained, would involve a radical change using A.I. that allows Google Search to already display the answer based on the information typed in by the online user.

This new Google Search feature was announced and demonstrated by Google last May 2023 though no rollout day was given yet. Inc.TopTech projected that this will bring disaster to the search advertising business. Although, this would provide website owners the opportunity to implement great and optimized content to be picked up by the announced upcoming search A.I. Technology.

Accordingly, this change in Google Search is borne from the declining ad revenues that even prompted Google in January 2023 to lay off 6% (12,000) of its workforce and make other extreme cuts in its operations.

31. “Coronavirus cases” and “Coronavirus update” were the top 2 search terms related to the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States as of June 2020.

Search Engine Land highlighted in a 2021 report that the top 5 coronavirus-related search terms or keywords in the United States for January 2020 to June 2020 were “coronavirus cases,” “coronavirus update,” “coronavirus symptoms,” “thank you coronavirus helpers,” and “symptoms.” The top two among this list was “coronavirus cases” with 100 and 88 searches, accordingly.

32. There was a 98% year-on-year decrease in the global interest for “COVID 19” searches as of March 2021

From a trending rate of 100 in March 15-21, 2020, global interest for “COVID 19” dropped to a trending rate of 2 in March 14-21, 2021. This shows a 98% decrease year-on-year for the said keyword as people have acquired more information on the virus a year after the pandemic. This number even declined two years later to a trending rate of less that 1 (<1) in July 23-29,2023.

33. In 2020, Google rewrites meta descriptions 62.635% on average for fat-head and long-tail keywords

A study published by Ahrefs on October 2020 highlighted that Google rewrites meta descriptions by 59.65% if they contain fat-head keywords and by 65.62% for long-tail keywords. This is 62.635% of the time on average based on 192,656 webpages in the top 10 (those in the first page) Google search results. Ahrefs explains that if the meta description hardcoded into a webpage does not seem relevant when to the long-tail keyword used in it, Google rewrites it using their own snippet.

34. Google Keyword Planner is only 45.22% accurate as of November 2021

In an Ahrefs study involving 72,635 random keywords within a range of 1,000 to 10,000 search volume , data showed Google Keyword Planner (GKP) overestimates 91.45% of search volumes. That’s 54.28% drastically overestimated search volumes out of the 72,635 keywords used. This means that GKP is only 45.55% roughly accurate of the time.

Ahrefs explained that there is a discrepancy in the data due to the process GKP uses, which groups keywords. You can easily see the discrepancy from the number of impressions generated in a month by using Google Search Console and compare it to Google Keyword Planner. Of the two, GSC is more reliable.

35. Google Search Console “hides” 46.08% of keywords that bring traffic to a website

Ahrefs released in November 2022 an interesting study involving Google Search Console “hiding” some keywords from clicks leading to a website. Their study entitled, “Almost Half of GSC Clicks Go to Hidden Terms,” involved 146,7641 websites involving a total of 9 billion clicks. These hidden keywords end as “missing clicks” from the data presented by GSC on a monthly basis. Ahrefs underscored that 95% to 100% of the clicks go missing in the GSC report experienced by almost 16,000 websites monthly.

36. Websites with 10 million to 100 million traffic lose the most data at 65%.

Ahrefs checked which kinds of website experience the most missing clicks from their Google Search Console report for keywords based on their traffic. They discovered that those that have 10 million to 100 million traffic miss out 90% clicks.

37. There’s a 142.857% increase in the number of searches Google processes in a day for the last decade.

Internet Live Stats reported that Goolge processes 3.5 billion searches daily or 1.2 trilion searches annually worldwide based on a 40,000 search query released by Google in 2012. This dramatically increased a decade after by 142.857% in 2022 resulting to 8.5 billion daily searches as per Oberlo. This was based on a 99,000 per second searches Google processes last 2022.

38. Only 0.63% of people click on the top 11 to 20 spots of Google’s search results.

According to Backlinko, roughly 0.63% of people click on the second page of Google search results that display the top 11 to 20 spots. The study is based on a study of 4 million Google search results in 2022. People rarely go to the second page because if they couldn’t find what they are looking for, they would rather change their search query than go to the second page of the results.

39. Search Engine Optimization generates 53% more revenue from organic traffic than other channels

BrightEdge Research released a comprehensive report in 2019 on revenues generated by various channels from organic traffic. The research showed that organic traffic was mostly generated by search engine optimization at 53%. SEO was remarkably higher compared to the 1% organic traffic generated by social media platforms, 23% paid search, and 23% from other sources.

40. Business to Business and Technology companies benefit more revenue from organic search than other channels at an average of 55.75%.

In a comparative analysis of various business niches, Business to Business companies get an average of 52.7% of their website’s revenue from organic search. Technology companies, on the other hand, get a 58.8% share in revenue from organic search. Combined, this makes 55.75% on average, which is still higher than those experienced by businesses in the Travel & Hospitality (40.6%), Retail & Ecommerce (36.4%), and Media and Entertainment (34.7%).

41. Organic traffic CTR is higher for the #1 spot in Google’s organic search results by 27.6% on average.

Up Inc. reported on February 13, 2023 a breakdown of organic click-through rates in Google search results by position, emphasizing that the #1 spot gets 10 times more click-throughs than spots #2 to #10. Accordingly, spot #1 gets an average of 27.6%, #2 gets 15.8%, #3 gets 11.0%, #4 gets 8.4%, and #5 gets 6.3%.

While spots #6 to #10 get 4.9%, 3.9%, 3.3%, 2.7%, and 2.4%, respectively. The data comes from a Backlinko study involving 12,166,560 search queries and 1,312,881 webpages from Google’s 4 million search results lifted from Semrush’s database early this 2023.

42. Long-tail keywords registered 1.7x higher CTRS in organic Google search results pages

Using one consistent keyword with longer words, also known as long-tail keywords, prove to be more beneficial in getting clicks from organic Google search results. Research data released on May 2023 showed keywords with 10 to 15 words long received 2.62 times more clicks than one-word keywords. Overall, long-tail keywords get 1.76 times more clickthroughs compared to really short keywords in Google’s organic search results page.

43. URLs rich with keywords get a similarity index of as much as 100%

Backlinko’s research emphasized that URLs abundant with keywords get higher similarity rates and have a correlation with higher click through rates by as much as 80% out of 6.3% of URLs. This means that URLs are one of the effective tools to get higher click through rates.

44. Long-tail keywords with 4 words showed the highest click through rates (31.8%) among its class.

May 2023 data from Backlinko showed that long-tail keywords tend to have higher click through rates overall. But among long-tail keywords, those with four words showed the highest click through rate at 31.8%. Long-tail keywords with 5-9 words showed a click through rate of 31.0%, 10-15 words showed 29.2%, and 3 words showed 27.7%. While keywords with two words only had 21.9% clicks and one words 16.5% clicks.

45. Organic and paid search make up 68% of of all website traffic that can be tracked in 2019.

BrightEdge data showed that website traffic is dominated by a combination of organic and paid search, which registered 68% in 2019 for trackable websites. But comparing the two, organic search increased in 2019 by an average of 53.3% across industries.

46. Organic search generated the most revenue across industries in 2019 by an average of 44.6%.

Comparing various channels, organic search showed the highest average share of revenue at 44.6% as against paid search, social search, and other searches. The average paid search share of revenue in 2019 in the Retail & Ecommerce, Media & Entertainment, B2B, Technology, and Travel & Hospitality industries registered 27.6%. This makes paid search rank second to organic search, followed by other searches at 26.2% on average and social search at 0.9% on average.

47. There is a 1% decrease in the number of people who use Google once a day to look for information online in 2019.

Based on data from Moz, 15% of people perform one or more searches in a day on Google back in 2016. This number decreased to 14% in 2019, a three-year difference with a 1% decline. The number of times a person frequents Google to search for something accordingly decreases by age. Thus, people who search 1 to 3 times a day through Google are aged 60 years old and above.

48. GenZs use Google for searches 80% more than other age groups in 2019.

Moz revealed that people aged 13 to 21 years of age, classified as GenZs, use Google more than thrice in a day, comprising 80% of those who use the platform. While 60% of Baby Boomers, or those aged 57 to 75 years old, use Google more than three times a day.

49. 77% of people who do online searches use Google more than three times a day in 2019.

In 2019, 77% of online users go to Google to search more than thrice daily. While 14% use Google once to thrice daily for information they need. Others, on the other hand, use Google 5 to 10 times a week, comprising 7% of online users.

50. 47% of online users never click on paid ads in Google search results as of 2019.

In a comparison of ad clicks and organic results, 47% of 1,400 respondents surveyed by Path Interactive in 2019 said they never or rarely click on ads that show on Google search results. While 25% click on organic results more than paid searches, 19% don’t mind which result to click. People who click on ads more on organic results and those who never or rarely click on organic results both comprise 4% on onine users of Google. Only 1% of Google users do not know what to click on from search results.

51. 49.2% of online users notice there is incorrect information displayed on Google’s search results page as of 2019.

Asked if online users ever noticed Google displaying information that is incorrect in the search results, 49.2% said they have. While 41.7% said they never noticed it and 9.0% stated they often notice such types of search results in Google.

52. 25.6% of desktop searches produce zero or no clicks as of October 2022.

Semrush released a new study that showed a quarter or 25.6% of searches made in Google result in zero or no clicks from desktop users. On the bright side, 45.1% result in organic clicks, 17.9% lead to Google keywords, 9.7% end up as Google clicks, and 1.8% go to paid clicks.

53. 17.3% of Google searches done using mobile gadgets result in no or zero clicks as of October 2022.

A small percentage or 17.3% of online searches on Google through a mobile gadget end up with no or zero clicks. This was based on a study released by Semrush in October 2022. The rest of the data showed that 43.1% of Google searches using a mobile gadget turn out as organic clicks. While 29.3% lead to Google keywords, 10.3% to Google clicks, and somewhat 0.02% to paid clicks.

54. Zero-click searches have been increasing at an annual average of 46.67% in the last four years as of 1Q 2019

Analyzing various data from Search Engine Land and SparkToro from 2016 to 2019, zero-click searches have been increasing annually at an average of 46.67% quarter-on-quarter. Zero clicks for the first quarter of 2016 showed a combined average of 43.50% for desktop (55.10%) and mobile (31.90%).

A similar trend is seen for the same period in 2017 and 2018 when zero-click searches registered a combined average of 45.75% (58.0% desktop, 33.5% mobile) and 47.50% (61.2% desktop and 33.8% mobile), respectively. While zero-click searches for the first quarter of 2019 were 49.96% of all Google searches. This data clearly shows the rising incidents of zero-click searches on both desktop and mobile, as well.

55. In 2020, a 29.70% year-on-year increase is seen with zero-click searches.

Search Engine Land reported on March 2021 that zero-click searches were recorded at 64.8% between January and December 2020. Comparing data to the previous year, zero-click searches only registered 49.96% for the first quarter of 2019. This shows that 2020 data increased by 29.70% to that of 2019’s first quarter and by 50% to that of June 2019’s.

56. Mobile zero clicks declined by more than 70% over the last two years ending 2022.

Google searches ending as no or zero clicks may be increasing annually but a different trend could be seen if viewed from the perspective of how people do their searches. Mobile searches have been recorded to end up with 77.2% zero clicks in 2020 and 17.3% zero clicks in 2022. This shows a 77.59% decline in the last two years, which is good.

Learning what percentage of zero clicks occur in Google searches is a most helpful guide in a business’ SEO marketing. The decrease in clicks in Google searches proportionately affects a website’s organic traffic in the same direction. This means as mobile or desktop clicks decrease, so does organic website traffic.

57. Desktop zero-click searches declined by 44.94% over a two-year period ending in 2022

Google searches made through a desktop computer have been seen to decline by 44.94% from 2020 to 2022. Data show that desktop zero-clicks in 2020 were at 46.5% and became 25.6% in 2022. This declining rate could be attributed to the shift in people using their mobile phones for the Internet more than their desktops. But surprisingly, mobile zero-click searches were also seen to decline over the same period. Zero-click searches were previously increasing before the pandemic began, registering 55.1% in 2016, 58.0% in 2017, and 61.2% in 2018.

58. Organic CTR accounted for 33.59% of all Google searches in 2020.

Despite zero-click searches dominating most of Google searches for several years, organic click-through rates (CTR) were far higher than paid ones. Comparing data gathered by SparkToro from more than 100 million SimilarWeb users in 2020, 33.59% of all searches resulted in organic click-through rates and only 1.59% ended as paid CTR. A similar trend is seen in 2022 as mentioned in the previous number (#48-#49).

59. The gap between zero-click searches and organic CTRs in 2019 was only at 1.61%.

Though the same ratio could be seen between organic and paid CTRs in the first quarter of 2019, there was only a small difference (1.61%) between zero-click searches and organic CTRs. Zero-click searches were 48.96% of all Google searches for the first quarter of 2019 based on more than 1 billion searches on more than 10 million US mobile and desktop devices. While organic clicks registered 47.35% of Google searches, which comprised 41.45% of clicks leading to non-Google sites and 5.90% of clicks leading to Google sites.

60. 75% of the top 10 Google search results, on average, contain keywords in their titles

Backlinko conducted a study in 2020 to see the correlation between keywords and search engine ranking. Their study showed that 65% to 85% of the first page of Google’s search results, or an average of 75%, have titles with relevant keywords. This means optimizing your title with your keyword works in increasing the visibility of your website to online users.

Interestingly, Backlinko discovered that increasing your ranking on the first page of Google’s search results has no correlation to a keyword-optimized title. Using other SEO techniques such as on-page optimization, backlinks, and others helps to increase a website’s ranking once it has landed on the first page of Google’s search results.

61. H1 tags that match the keyword by 75% on average come out in Google’s search results.

Backlinko’s study also revealed that H1 Tags with matching keywords, especially those that contain 60% to 80% of it, end up on Google’s first-page search results. However, this similarly has no correlation to a website’s ranking in the listing.

62. “On sale” and “near me” mobile searches increased by 250% year-on-year as of March 2019

Instances of “near me” searches using a mobile phone–whether it be “tires on sale near me,” “houses on sale near me,” “auto parts store open near me,” “store open near me,” and “grocery store open near me” have grown by 250% from March 2017 to March 2019.

63. Financial mobile queries such as “insurance near me” and “bank near me” have grown at an average of 80% over the last two years ending June 2019.

Google reported on June 2019 that mobile searches for “bank near me” increased by more than 60% from 2017 to 2019. While mobile searches for “insurance near me” have grown by more than 100% for the same period.

64. Financial planning-related searches and “the best credit cards” have a parallel increase of 70% over the past two years ending December 2018.

People are becoming wiser with money and want to be on top of their finances. This is what the data from online searches have shown from December 2016 to December 2018 on Google. The keywords “high yield” was seen to double in number during the period while a parallel growth for financial planning and the “best credit cards” (including “best way to pay off credit card debt” and “best credit cards for young adults”) increased by 70% over that two-year period.

65. Mobile searches for “best” and “right now” increased by 125% as of March 2019

According to Google, people’s behavior is moving toward time-saving activities that give immediate rewards. This conclusion was derived from the more than 125% increase in online searches using the keywords “best” and “right now” from March 2017 to March 2019. Words used in combo with these search keywords are “best online sales right now,” “best SUV lease deals right now,” and “best stocks to invest in right now,” among others.

66. Using more than 1 keyword decreases a website’s ranking as #1 in Google search by 70% and more for a 10K-search volume.

Analyzing an Ahrefs study conducted in 2017, more keywords used in a single page for a monthly 10,000 volume search turn out to increase the probability of getting the top position in Google search results’ first page. Data showed that when there is only one keyword used there was an 84.4% possibility of landing the 1st spot. But this plunged to a 10.1% probability when 2 keywords were used, 2.7% with 3 keywords, and 1.1% with 4 keywords. While 5-9 keywords showed a 1.1% probability, 10-99 keywords a 0.3%, and using more than 100 keywords ended up with a 0.004% probability.

67. Using more than 1 keyword decreases a website’s ranking as #1 in Google search by 17.1% and more for a 1K-search volume.

Interestingly, the numbers change drastically for searches with a monthly 1,000 keyword volume. Data from Ahrefs show that using 1 keyword in a website gives a 35.6% probability of being ranked #1 while using 2 keywords causes it to 18.5%. This reflects a 17.1% decline from the possibility of being ranked #1 in Google search results.

While using 3 keywords decreases the probability of being ranked #1 to 13.2%. The more keywords used, the lesser the chance of being ranked #1. Specifically, 4 keywords give only a 9.1% probability of being ranked #1, 5-9 keywords with 16.5%, 10-99 keywords with 7.0%, and 100 and more keywords with 0.1%.

68. Local searches make up 46% of instances people use Google.

If you’ve noticed, the keywords statistics mentioned in the previous numbers indicate a reality that people prefer to shop or transact with businesses in their area. This is why 46% of the searches conducted on Google for 2022 were done by people looking for local establishments. Google emphasized that this shows how important it is to use local SEO keywords. A fact based on their research shows 88% of consumers visit a store in-person within 24 hours of doing a local search on Google.

69. Google continuously dominates the search engine market by 90.68% year-on-year in June 2023

In a study conducted by Similar Web on search engines’ market share over the last 12 months beginning July 2022, Google showed dominance with a 90.68% chunk. Bing, the second top search engine, had a big gap as it only encompassed 3.23% of the market. Yahoo had a 3.17% market share, Naver with 0.48%, DuckDuckGo with 0.35%, and other search engines combined had 2.09%. This means SEO efforts for keyword research among companies must continuously focus on Google and it’s changing algorithms for better website visibility, click-throughs, overall traffic, and financial returns.

70. Turkey ranks #1 in Google usage worldwide with a 99.42% market share.

Out of Google’s 90.68% market share globally as of June 2023, Turkey topped the world in its usage of the platform for searching for information online. Turkey, which has a population of 85.2 million as of December 31, 2022, showed 99.42% usage of Google as an internet search platform. The country surpassed the United States, which only had 90.30% usage of the platform.

71. African countries dominated the Top 10 Countries of Google usage with a combined average market share of 98.51%

African countries, particularly Congo, Nigeria, Algeria, Tanzania, and Uganda; were among the top users of Google in the world for their search engine needs as of June 2023. The Democratic Republic of Congo had a 98.99% market share, making it the second top country in the world for Google usage. Nigeria followed with a 98.60% market share (#4), Algeria with 98.54% (#5), Tanzania with 98.37% (#6), and Uganda with 97.90% (#10). The combined average market share of these African countries was 98.5075%.

72. Japan had the least usage of Google globally with only 71.77% market share.

With a global rank of #97, Japan was the country that least used Google as a search engine with a 71.77% market share year-on-year as of June 2023. But local usage of Google as a search platform in Japan remained dominant. Yahoo only shared 23.59% of search engine usage followed by Bing with 4.26%. While DuckDuckGo has a 0.09% market share, Ecosia.Org with 0.02% and other search engines combined had a total of 0.27%.

73. Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States were among the least countries for global Google Usage, with a combined average market share of 91.81%.

Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States were almost at the bottom of the list when it comes to Google usage as a search platform. With a combined market share of 91.81% year-on-year as of June 2023, Canada ranked #86 globally with a 92.61% market share. While the United Kingdom surpassed the United States in Google usage with a market share of 92.53%, making it #87 in the world. The United States ranked #92 with a 90.30% market share.

74. The Netherlands ranked #77 in Google usage worldwide.

Google’s market share in the Netherlands was at 93.78% year-on-year as of June 2023, as per Similar Web. While data provided by StatCounter GlobalStats as of July 2023 showed Google’s market share in the Netherlands year-on-year at 93.41%. Based on this data, there was a decline of 0.37% in Google usage in the country. Notwithstanding, Google still dominates the search engine landscape in the Netherlands where Bing only has a 3.34% market share as of July 2023. This is followed by DuckDuckGo with 1.12%, Yahoo! with 0.92%, Yandez with 0.75%, and Ecosia with 0.34%

75. “Moriah Mills” was a top trending keyword on Google globally from May 2023 to June 2023

According to Similar Web, the top five trending keywords worldwide as of June 2023 were “Moria Mills,” “US politics,” “Sport,” “Things You’re Watching,” and “Amazon Prime Day.” Moria Mills’ created 334,425 traffic at Twitter.com from May 2023 to June 2023. Search volume in Google generated globally was 151,374 in May and jumped by 9,588.27% in June 2023 with 7,463,773.

76. The “Trump Indictment” garnered a lot of buzz online, ranking #4 among the top global trending keywords on Google as of June 2023.

US politics was the second top trending keyword in the world according to the SimilarWeb. That’s thanks to the “trump indictment” having a search volume of 87,529 in May 2023, which jumped by 5,437.25% come June 2023 with a 1,753,735 search volume. “Trump indictment” generated 754,031 traffic for CNN.Com, which highly covered the issue during the period. While the related keyword “affirmative action” garnered 304,752 traffic for NYTimes.Com, which similarly covered the issue. “Affirmative action” had a search volume of 170,252 in May 2023 and a 1,334,708 search volume in June 2023, reflecting a 7,885.58% increase.

77. “Pride Month” was the top trending keyword in June 2023 in the United States.

As per SimilarWeb, the top trending keyword in the United States last June 2023 was “Pride Month” generating a combined search volume of 131,405 out of 8,712 keywords. Combined search volume because the top five keywords in the United States for the period were “Pride Month,” “When Is Pride Month,” “Gay Pride Month,” “What Month Is Pride Month,” and “What Is Pride Month.” Topping the said keywords was “Pride Month” itself with a search volume of 89,143 alone. While “When Is Pride Month” followed with a 25,085 search volume. “Gay Pride Month” had 9,123 search volume, “What Month Is Pride Month” had 4,436 search volume, and “What Is Pride Month” had 3,618 search volume.

78. “Where Is My Refund” is the top searched question in the United States as of June 2023.

As per Semrush, “Where Is My Refund” topped Google’s 100 Most searched questions in the United States as of June 2023. “Where Is My Refund” garnered a search volume of 15,500,000 followed by “Is Rihanna Pregnant” with 5,600,000 search volume. “What Time Is The Superbowl” ranked #3 with 1,700,000 search volume in June 2023. This data comes from 24.9 billion keywords harvested by Semrush from Google for the said period.

79. “Weather” is the most searched keyword in Google throughout the United Kingdom as of June 2023.

Based on data provided by SimilarWeb, “Weather” garnered a monthly search volume of 22.97 million on Google for June 2023. 99.99% of the total traffic “Weather” created for the period was organic and 0.01% of it was paid. “BBC News,” on the other hand, ranked second with a monthly search volume of 15.66 million and 34.01 million total traffic. While “Youtube,” “Facebook,” and “Pornhub” entered the top five most searched keyword on Google with 15.41 million, 14.23 million, and 10.00 million search volumes, respectively.

80. 17% of the top global search terms on Google for June 2023 was out of the need for information.

SimilarWeb pointed out that the search intent of users for using Google, based on the top 100 global search keywords or terms, was 17% informational. Majority of the intent of users or 54% were navigational. While 29% had a mixed intent for using the search engine platform last June 2023.

Conclusion

Keyword research statistics offer great insights to businesses in formulating their search engine optimization strategies and advertising campaigns. Thus, it would always benefit a company to keep abreast of the current trends in keyword research.

Sources Used:

• Incrementors
• Google
• Ahrefs
• Semrush
• Dr. Tuhin Banik
• Startup Bonsai
• Delante
• Poll The People
• Semrush
• Statista
• Exploding Topics
• Inc.TopTech
• CNBC
• Ahref
• Search Engine Land
• Google Trends
• Internet Live Stats
• Oberlo
• BrightEdge Research
• Moz
• SparkToro
• Backlinko
• Think With Google
• Embryo
• Similar Web
• StatCounter

FAQs

How does keyword research work?

Companies use keyword research to identify what words or search terms their target audience use on Google. Knowing what these words help companies devise what content they should focus on and often use in their website and online marketing campaigns.

What tools to use for keyword research in 2023?

Since long-tail keywords (more than four words) are most used online, particularly in Google, ShoutMeLoud recommends using several online tools for an easy marketing win in 2023. These tools are SemRush, KWFinder, Lowfruits, Answer The Public, Google’s Auto Suggestion Tool, and Google’s Auto Suggest. While HiDigital recommends Keywords Everywhere, Keyword Surfer, Answer The Public, and Keyword Sheeter as robust tools for your general keyword research. I use Ahrefs and am fine with it. You might want to try it, too.