The Ultimate List of SEO Statistics For 2025

Every marketer knows “what matters” in SEO. Keywords, backlinks, page speed, on-site optimization, every marketer has their own theory on how to rank their website on the first result page.

However, the ones that can rank their website on top of the first result page know that SEO has transformed into an art form.

Mind you! The earlier ranking factors matter even today. But they are not necessarily the way to appear on the first page.

Regular updates in algorithms like Panda, Penguin, and Hummingbird have made it impossible to cheat the system using long-form content and building links. Low-quality content, poor quality external links, thin content, or any small issue can yield noticeable and ruinous results.

Come explore the 29 eye-opening SEO statistics and learn the recent benchmarks to improve your SEO strategy. Learn what the search engines demand to rank your website on the first page of search results and get more traffic.

General SEO Statistics

1. Google’s search algorithm uses over 200 factors to rank websites.

(Backlinko)

However, not all the factors are proven to be true. Some remain controversial — whether Google considers it or not. At the same time, some factors are just speculations from the SEO experts.

And while it is crucial to take into account all the factors, ensure to follow a basic search engine optimization strategy to rank high on Google.

Note that Google accounts for 83.88% of the global search engine market, followed distantly by Bing, which occupies 8.88% of the search engine market share.

Yahoo! and Yandex are other leading search engines, occupying 2.55% and 1.67% of the search engine market share.

2. #1 result in Google’s organic search results has a click-through rate of 31.7%.

(Backlinko)

Backlinko’s search engine statistics reveal that a page in the #10 spot receives 10x fewer clicks than a #1 page of search results.

Note that CTRs for spots 7-10 are almost the same. This means competing to rank higher at the bottom will not result in more organic search traffic.

At the same time, even moving 1 spot above on Google searches will increase the click-through rate by 30.8%.

But, as mentioned, it matters where you are moving from; for instance, the CTRs will significantly improve if you move from the #3 to #2 page of search results. However, moving from #8 to #7 doesn’t necessarily mean that the CTRs will improve.

Here are some essential search engine statistics from Backlinko to rank higher on Google searches:

• Title tags between 15 to 40 characters receive more clicks.
• A question in title tags receives 14.1% more clicks than the average title tag.
• Power words to the title tags increase the CTR by 13.9%.
• URLs with main keywords receive 45% more clicks.
• Positive or negative sentiments improve CTR by up to 7% on average.
• Meta descriptions have positive effects on the CTR.

Organic SEO Statistics

3. Updating existing content with new images and content can increase organic traffic by 111%.

(SafariDigital)

Content, no doubt, is the king in SEO. And the good thing is most marketers realize this. As much as 57% of professionals say their first SEO strategy is content marketing.

Social media marketing and backlinks are the 2nd and 3rd important factors of marketers’ SEO strategy.

If you think it is best to walk in the shoes of the industry professionals, place importance on content creation.

And the first thing to retain is the first organic search result, on average, on Google page 1 contains 1890 words. This means you should aim for detailed guides and lengthy landing pages.

However, publishing the content alone isn’t going to result in organic traffic. You will have to continuously update the published content with fresh images and revised content.

SafariDigital’s SEO statistics also suggest revising the title tag with an SEO-optimized title tag to increase page clicks. Its study reveals websites that replaced title tags with an SEO-optimized tag receive, on average, 107% more clicks than before.

4. 53.3% of all trackable website traffic comes from organic search results.

(BrightEdge)

Organic traffic from social media has remained the same since 2014 at 5%. Whereas Paid Search is growing continuously, accounting for over 15% of all trackable website traffic as of 2019.

The point to note, however, is despite the change in consumer behavior, SERP layout, and Local 3-Pack, organic search traffic continues to dominate the website traffic by a substantial margin.

In terms of results that drive revenue, organic search is the dominating channel, standing at 44%. It might be because the organic results play the most prominent role in the initial discovery process.

And it is the B2B (52.7%) and Technology (58.8%) segments that generate the most revenue from organic search results.

These two realms generate 2x more revenue from organic search results than other segments like retail and ecommerce (36.4%) and media (34.7%).

5. 90.63% of pages get no organic search traffic from Google, and being in 9.37% is extremely difficult.

(Ahrefs’s Website Traffic Study)

Of the millions of pages that get added to the web every day, Ahrefs SEO statistics highlight that only 1.8 million pages qualify for organic traffic. (According to Ahrefs standards).

However, less than 5.7% of the pages rank in Google’s top 10 search results.

Studying with a larger dataset, Ahrefs found that a whopping 90.63% of all web pages get zero traffic from Google.

And 5.29% of the pages receive anywhere between 1-10 page visits per month. That means only 4.08% of the pages receive more than 10-page visits per month.

Ahrefs also points out that there may be several reasons why the page is not getting ranked. But the most common reasons are:

• No backlinks — there is no concrete evidence that backlinks and rank are correlated. But getting ranked without “quality” backlinks is almost impossible.
• The content has no long-term traffic potential.
• The page doesn’t match search intent.
• The page isn’t indexed.

6. More than 50% of all browser-based searches on Google.com receive zero clicks.

(SparkToro)

SparkToro’s Google search statistics state that 45.25% of the browser-based searches on Google get organic clicks.

Moreover, Google sends almost 6% of all browser-based searches to Google-owned properties like YouTube, Google Maps, Google’s blog, Google Images, and its subdomains.

The organic search results are getting down the fold continuously. Still, on the first page, 8.7 of all desktop Google search results and 8.5 of all mobile search results are organic results (on average).

Mobile SEO Statistics

7. Ranking #1 on mobile receives 6.74% clicks on average, vs. ranking #1 on the desktop gets 8.17% clicks.

(SEOClarity)

SEOClarity mobile SEO statistics highlight that average click-through rates declined significantly in 2021 compared to 2020.

For context, SEOClarity’s 2020 report highlighted that ranking #1 on mobile search results received 27.7% clicks on average, vs. ranking #1 on the desktop received 19.3% clicks.

Today, ranking #1 on mobile gets you only 6.74% of the clicks. And for the websites that rank #2 on mobile search results — the CTR drops to 3.41% (vs. 3.82% on the desktop for rank #2).

Needless to say, position #10 on mobile devices receives the least CTR with just 0.48% of the clicks. Still, ranking #10 on mobile results receives more clicks than the desktop #10 position clicks (0.44%).

Overall, the click-through rate regression as internet users move from #1 position to #10 decreases steadily on both mobile devices and desktops. Still, the CTR starting from #3 to #10 is more for mobile devices than desktops.

This means ranking in the lower position — on the first page — is better for organic traffic on mobile than desktops.

8. Organic clicks on mobile devices are 50% lower than on desktops (33% vs. 66%).

(Sparktoro)

Sparktoro’s search engine optimization statistics reveal getting clicks on mobile devices is extremely difficult if you aim for organic traffic.

This is attributable to Google’s priority to only extremely rich results on mobile devices. It works like an “answer engine” instead of a “search result list.”

When it comes to the paid CTR — there is not a huge difference. Still, mobile paid CTR is lower than desktop paid CTR (3.12% vs. 3.82%).

9. 58.99% of all website traffic comes from mobile devices.

(Statista)

And why is this important? Well, nearly 50% of users access the internet via mobile devices. And the number is likely to grow to 75% by 2025.

Not only this, on average, users spend almost 5-6 hours daily on their mobile devices. (Although latest internet statistics 92.5% of the time, internet users engage with only apps and games).

Still, Statista reports that 56% of American smartphone users have discovered a local business via mobile searches.

10. Mobile search queries for “stores open now” and “food open now” have increased by 2.1x since 2017, while queries for “where to buy/find/get” have increased by 1.3x.

(Think with Google)

Nearly 30% of all mobile searches worldwide are location-based queries.

Think with Google reports that 76% of internet users who discover a local business via mobile searches are likely to visit the physical store within 24 hours. Importantly — 28% of mobile searches result in purchases.

Voice Search Statistics

11. 76.8 is the mean Ahrefs DA rating of a Google Home Result to rank higher in voice search results.

(Backlinko)

Voice search is becoming more popular than typing. Some 71% of smartphone users say they prefer voice searches for searching.

eMarketer’s voice search statistics report that 135.6 million smartphone users in the US use voice search features (more than 40% of the US population).

And the voice search trends are more common among adults. Be it shopping, research, cooking tips, or other search queries, 52% of US users use their smart speakers to carry out voice searches.

Not only this, eMarketer estimates that 33.2 million US consumers are likely to shop online via voice searches.

This clearly suggests that appearing in voice search answers should be a key priority of the marketers.

“Hey, Google, how to rank higher in voice search results?”

Backlinko’s voice search statistics highlight that there are numerous search engine optimization tactics that affect the voice search results ranking:

• On average, the voice search answers page loads in less than 4.6 seconds.
• Google prefers ranking the answers of 29 words for voice searches.
• High-level social media engagement is crucial. On average, pages that rank in voice searches have 1500+ Facebook shares and 44 Tweets.
• Simple, easy-to-digest website content is important if you want to appear in voice search results, preferably written at a 9th-grade level.
• Appearing on the first page is crucial for voice search. 75% of voice search answers rank among the first three Google search results.

As evident, marketers need not do anything new for voice search as long as they focus on all the aspects of search engine optimization.

Still, there are some things to consider to rank higher in voice search results, for instance, investing in quality social media management tools to manage multiple accounts across different platforms conveniently.

Google Searcher Behavior Index

12. Natural results next to featured snippets receive 2x more clicks than a featured snippet at the #1 position (on average).

(Ahrefs)

Ahrefs’ search engine statistics state that 12.29% of all queries have featured snippets in their search results.

Doesn’t sound much?

Well, Google alone processes over 8.5 billion search queries per day, indicating how large the 12.29% number is.

Nevertheless, what’s interesting is featured snippets do not receive more clicks even at the #1 position.

Ahrefs’ study concludes, on average featured snippets in the search results at the #1 position receives only 8.36% of the clicks.

However, the next natural receives as many as 19.6% clicks on average.

At the same time, the natural result above the featured snippets receives as much as 26% of all the clicks.

Equally important to note, the presence of featured snippets reduces the number of clicks on the search results. It is no surprise, given the featured snippets’ goal is to present an instant answer to the users.

Moreover, the same SEO statistics report that 99.58% of all the featured snippets that appear on Google search results already rank on page 1 or top 10.

13. A searcher makes 3.4 queries on average per day; however, less than 15% of US internet users make more than one search per day.

(Moz)

Moz’s SEO statistics reveal that an average Google search session lasts for less than a minute. Moreover, less than 1% of Google searchers click to go to Google Maps.

Moreover, Knowledge Graphs show up in up to 35% of Google searches. However, only 0.5% of Google searches click on Knowledge Graphs.

Video SEO statistics reveal that 6.9% of all Google search results feature videos from YouTube. Still, videos from other sources like Vimeo might also be present, but that happens in rare cases.

Even when it comes to videos, 2022 YouTube statistics indicate that 68.2% of all videos on the first page of YouTube are HD videos, and most are an average length of 14 to 15 minutes.

Furthermore, 9% of all Google search results have a shopping-related result. And some 0.55% of them receive user clicks.

Local SEO Statistics

14. 80% of local SEO marketers (up from 70% in 2019) are buying ads on Google aside from focusing on organic tactics.

(Search Engine Land)

SEJ’s SEO statistics Some 18% of local SEO marketers are looking to increase their link-building budget this year.

15% of them want to invest more in local content development. Moreover, 13% say they want to increase their budget for on-site optimization.

And although only 18% of local marketers are increasing their link-building budget, at least 71% have a local link-building strategy in place. However, some 28% say they do not have a link strategy in place.

Asked about the local link-building strategy they are following, 38% say they are working on content development. Some 10% say they “directly ask” other websites for backlinks.

Moreover, when it comes to highly competitive businesses like automotive, legal services, and real estate — 13% of businesses say they are focusing on review management.

13% of highly competitive local industries say on-site local search optimization is their top priority this year. An equal number (13%) of highly competitive local industries say local content development is their top priority.

At the same time, 11% say “link strategy” is first on their list, whereas 10% say “Technical analysis for ranking/traffic/conversions is the priority this year.

Moreover, 9% are focusing on website design. It is important to note that 80% of consumers say the look of the online store impacts their purchasing decision, meaning local marketers must focus on their website design.

15. 90% of internet users will purchase the item within a week after the local search.

(Rio SEO)

However, the real question is how many Google searchers search for local businesses?

RioSEO’s local SEO statistics state that some 63% of local users search for a local business every day. And at least half of the local search results are related to finding information about retail stores.

Furthermore, Google Search is the most used search engine to conduct local searches, with over 83% of consumers using the channel to find information about a local business and local searches.

Some 55% use Google Image for local searches, making it the second-most used search engine for local searches. Apple Maps, Yahoo!, Bing, and Yelp are also used, but they are nowhere as popular as Google properties.

That is to say, consumers make local purchasing decisions quickly, and most of them use Google properties.

This means online presence is no longer an option; it is a necessity. Plus, you will have to adapt to ever-evolving consumer behavior and make it easy for the consumers to connect with you locally.

For instance, Google My Business is a great way to increase business visibility across Google Search, Google Maps, and Google Shopping so that users can discover the business via local searches.

Not only this but building an online store will also help you to sell to global consumers and grow your business quickly.

Plus, the attention should be on social media platforms and networking sites.

Social media marketing statistics highlight that 63% of local marketers firmly believe that social media is an important aspect of their business.

Similarly, platforms like Yelp — which appears on the first page in any Google searches related to city and business category — should also be a priority.

16. 45% of global shoppers buy online and collect the item in-store.

(Think With Google)

All the traditional industries like automotive, finances, groceries, and so on are transforming with digital.

At least 67% of US consumers say they first begin with a search for a product and then purchase the item. As indicated earlier, most consumers click on the first page of search results.

And this is a no-brainer that ranking #1 on the first page on Google searches isn’t achievable via local SEO efforts.

So, start focusing on the digital marketing strategies and invest thoroughly in local SEO to appear on top ranking pages on both mobile and desktop results.

SEO Statistics: SEO Professionals and Businesses

17. 57% of SEO (up from 53% in 2021) professionals say “word of mouth” is the most common way to attract new clients.

(BrightLocal)

While SEO marketers can retain clients by delivering value, attracting new clients has always been a challenge.

Asked how they attracted new clients in 2022, as much as 57% of local SEO marketers say reference from other clients was the most influential factor.

Interestingly, LinkedIn has become one of the top channels (for the first time) to attract new clients. Some 26% (up from 17% in 2021) say they have connected with a client via LinkedIn. In comparison, only 24% of SEO marketers say they have connected with a client via Facebook.

Moreover, 14% of SEO marketers say they attracted a new client via email marketing.

BrightLocal suggests SEO businesses — not equipped with email marketing tools — should take example from these marketers and consider investing in a decent mass email service, or at least a free email service, to connect with new prospects.

At the same time, 12% of SEO marketers say they have connected with a client via webinars and online seminars.

18. 75% of SEO businesses (up from 42% in 2021) use WordPress to power their website.

(BrightLocal)

38% of local marketers (up from 33% in 2021) have attracted a new client via content marketing. Moreover, compared to last year, more local businesses have invested in a website this year.

This means that even local businesses understand the value of having a website to connect with a client.

It is a good thing that creating a website does not cost a lot of money. Today, there are many out-of-the-box website-building solutions to start a blog and connect with new clients.

Coming to other popular content management systems used by SEO businesses, 5% say they use Google Business profile websites (down from 9% in 2021).

At the same time:

• 3% of SEO marketers (down from 8% in 2021) say they use Wix.
• GoDaddy Website Builder popularity has also plummeted among SEO marketers, with only 2% of them using it compared to 6% in 2021.
• No SEO business uses Squarespace and Weebly anymore; some 6% and 4% of marketers were using it in 2021.
• Whereas 16% trust some other CMS platforms instead of the more typical website builder software.

SEO and Business Statistics

19. 75% of marketers feel their SEO tactics are “extremely” or “very effective” in achieving their marketing goals.

(State of Inbound)

Some 69% say they have invested in SEO in 2021, up from 64% in 2020.

This means that marketers are understanding that SEO is not a choice anymore, it is a necessity to survive.

Be that as it may, as much as 83% of marketers say their optimized website is helping them reach their marketing goals.

Asked about the SEO tactics, some 71% say they are making use of “strategic keywords.”

At least 50% are focusing on “localization” and for some 48% of them — “mobile optimization” is also a priority.

Coming to how the marketers measure their SEO success — some 53% say keyword ranking — how top they rank — is the indication. Nearly 52% consider organic website and mobile search traffic growth as an indication of SEO success.

Some 49% say “increased time spent on page” is the indication that their SEO campaigns were successful.

20. 46% of businesses track between 1 to 3 metrics to measure SEO success, and 40% track up to 6 to 10 metrics.

(Databox)

Just over 10% of businesses track more than 11 search engine optimization (SEO) metrics. And that is an invitation to chaos unless you know what you are doing.

Businesses should focus on tracking search engine optimization insights that meet business goals. Moreover, Databox’s SEO statistics recommend marketers design the dashboard according to the audience.

For instance, if experts will be in charge of the dashboard —including detailed reports sounds reasonable. However, for upper management levels, it is good to focus on crucial aspects like search engine optimization budget and revenue growth.

Nearly 45% of SEO marketers say they measure the ROI of their SEO campaigns based on sales. 33% based on leads generated, whereas 9% measure the ROI based on rank and traffic.

Equally important to note is that more than 35% of businesses track their SEO performance weekly.

21. Google Analytics and Google Search Console are the most popular tools among businesses, with over 80% of them using these two SEO services.

(Databox)

Ahrefs (60%), SEMrush (55%), and Moz (30%) are other leading SEO services used by industry professionals to pull data and prepare an SEO report.

Note that most of these professionals prepare their SEO reports based on organic traffic, keyword ranking, and conversion metrics only.

However, Databox recommends including other crucial metrics like organic visibility, new backlinks, and referring domains to ensure that the SEO practices drive the website in the right direction.

The same report also suggests using industry-standard SEO services to track SEO performance like a professional — ability to spot issues and opportunities — and react promptly.

The good thing is marketers understand this.

According to Databox’s SEO statistics, as much as 80% of marketers use paid SEO services and tools.

Does free mean bad? No, but it means incompetent.

Often you will have to combine several free tools to pull all the essential data mentioned above to track SEO campaign performance. A paid tool, on the other hand, will deliver all the data you need from one dashboard.

Still, most marketers also use free SEO services like Google Analytics with paid tools like Ahrefs and SEMrush.

22. It takes up to three to six months for an SEO strategy to deliver positive results.

(Databox)

However, the time for SEO success varies drastically depending on several factors.

For instance, the SEO budget, content quality, domain authority, competition, targeting the long-tail keywords, and more factors decide how the time for the website to climb up the ranks on Google search results.

Databox’s SEO statistics highlight expertise, authority, and how quickly you can build trust — these three are the most critical elements that can help you climb up the rank faster.

23. 38% of marketers say on-page search engine optimization brings the quickest wins and results.

(Databox)

Databox survey of SEO marketers indicates that on-page search engine optimization delivers the quickest results.

Some 30% of marketers say they have focused on various SEO strategies to attain quick results.

At the same time, technical search engine optimization and off-page SEO were also cited as the quickest way to get successful SEO results, voted as effective SEO strategy by some 19.5% and 11.8% of marketers respectively.

24. Search engine optimization experts prefer writing for people (79%) instead of search engines (21%).

(Databox)

Asked about the most important factor for having an SEO-friendly website, almost all the marketers cited “content is the king” and is “at least important” if not “most important.”

Next to content, keywords, external links, and other critical factors were cited for having an SEO-friendly website.

At the same time, search engine optimization (SEO) experts recommend writing long-form content to cover different angles of the topic.

But Databox’s SEO report recommends marketers avoid fluffing in the name of long-form content and always give importance to quality.

Note that as much as 83% of consumers expect brands to produce content that entertains, provides solutions, and creates experiences.

SEO and Marketing Statistics

25. SEO professionals spend most of their time on keyboard research (36.3%) and (33.4%).

(SEJ)

As much as 61% of marketers say growing SEO and organic search is their top inbound marketing priority.

Even when it comes to allocating budget for digital marketing strategies, paid media (25.8%), content marketing (25.1%), and SEO (25%) all will get the “Most” of

the digital marketing budget in 2022.

But how much time do SEO marketers spend on each activity? Here’s the responses shown in SEJ’s search engine marketing stats:

SEO Challenges and Threats Statistics

26. 37% of SEO professionals identify “budget cuts” as their greatest challenge.

(SEJ)

Only 5% of SEO professionals say they did not experience any issues at all.

Some 37.6% identify budget cuts by their clients as one of their biggest challenges. Nevertheless, some 40% of SEO professionals have also indicated their clients have increased SEO budgets in 2021.

According to SEJ, this is attributable to the ecommerce boom — more ecommerce profits mean clients were willing to invest more in SEO. The latest ecommerce statistics indicate that the ecommerce market grew by 27.1% during the pandemic.

Nevertheless, some 4% of SEO professionals say their clients have cut their SEO budgets entirely.

34.8% of professionals identified “SEO strategy issues” as one of the top challenges. Plus, 32.9% of SEO professionals identified “inadequate resources” as the third-most pressing challenge.

Here are all the top challenges identified by SEO professionals in 2021:

At the same time, here are responses given by professionals when asked about the biggest threats to search engine optimization in the next two years:

SEO Spending Statistics

27. The most common salary bracket in the SEO industry is US$ 50,000 to US$ 74,000.

(Search Engine Journal)

More than 1 in 5 SEO professionals in the US make anywhere between US$ 50,000 to US$ 74,000 annually.

Some 18.3% of SEO professionals claim they make less than US$ 34,000 per year. A little more than — 18.6% of SEO experts make between US$ 34,000 to US$ 49,000 annually.

14.6% of SEO experts make between US$ 75,000 to US$ 99,000 per annum. Some 10.4% make anywhere from US$ 100K to US$ 150K annually in the US.

And a small percentage of SEO professionals, 3.7% of SEO experts, make between US$ 150K to US$ 200K annually. Plus, 3.1% of SEO experts make more than US$ 200K annually. Of which 17% have 20+ years of experience in the field.

28. Male SEO professionals make 27%, 32%, and 16% more than female SEO professionals in the US, Canada, and the UK, respectively.

(BrightLocal)

The average salaries of SEO professionals in the USA (US$ 95,000), the UK (£47,000), and Canada (C$ 102,000) vary drastically.

Compared to the previous year’s data (2021), the average salary in the US increased (from US$ 90K to US$ 95K in 2022).

Even in the UK, the average salary in 2022 has gone up to £47,000 from £45,000 in 2021. However, the average pay in Canada has declined by $5,267 between 2021 and 2022 (from C$ 107K to C$ 102K).

But the most important thing is that the persistent pay gap between men and women continues to hurt even the SEO industry.

BrightLocal’s SEO industry statistics also indicate male SEO professionals make some US$ 20K more than female counterparts in the US and Canada. Plus, the pay gap between male and female SEO professionals in the UK is about £7,500 (about US$ 9,000).

Furthermore, only 38% of male and female SEO marketers say they are “extremely satisfied” or “very satisfied” with their salaries.

More than half (58%) of male and 44% of female SEO marketers say they are “somewhat satisfied” with their salaries.

29. 58% of SEO professionals (up from 51% in 2021) charge a monthly fee based on deliverables in 2022.

(BrightLocal)

Some 51% of SEO (up from 37% in 2021) marketers charge their clients per project. 30% of them charge per hour.

Moreover, the average hourly rates charged by SEO marketers have gone up in the US (from US$ 128 in 2021 to US$ 132 in 2022) and the UK (from £60 to £64).

At the same time, the average hourly rates charged by Canadian search engine optimization experts have declined (from C$ 136 in 2021 to C$ 120 in 2022).

What These Search Engine Optimization Statistics Mean For Your Business?

With years passing, Google is continuously improving its user experience. As a result, users trust Google more and rely on it more than ever; today, most online experiences begin on Google.

Google dominates the global search market and it has shifted its priority from desktop-first to mobile-first. And the only way to get on the first page and constantly rank higher in the users search queries is to focus on search engine optimization.

The SEO statistics mentioned indicate that the basics of search engine optimization — website’s code, content, backlinks, authority, and social media exposure — are not difficult to abide by.

But you must have a very deep understanding of these topics. Importantly, continue to learn about the changing faces of search engine optimization.

Sources

1. State of SEO, SEJ
2. Ahrefs
3. BrightLocal
4. eMarketer
5. Backlinko Voice Search
6. HubSpot — State of Inbound
7. Databox — Time Taken to Show SEO Results
8. Databox — SEO Friendly Website
9. Databox — Word Count
10. Moz
11. Ahrefs’s Search Traffic Study
12. SEOClarity
13. BrightEdge
14. SafariDigital
15. Statista’s mobile searches
16. ThinkWithGoogle

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