10 Google search statistics for businesses that want to expand their reach

Google is the reigning champion of search, with a whopping 92.01% share of the global search market as of February 2022 and more than 1 billion active monthly users.Not surprisingly, it is also the world’s most-visited website, according to Oberlo.

In the digital era, Google is often the first point of contact between a customer and a business, and it only makes sense for business owners to use the platform to teach their target audiences. Businesses can tap into Google’s search trends and statistics to keep their websites performing well.

Check out these Google insights to better understand search patterns and user behavior so you can optimize your site.

1. More than 9 in 10

global searches happen on Google

As previously stated, Google dominates global search with a 92.01% market share. The next-biggest search engines by market share are Bing at 2.96% and Yahoo at 1.51%, according to StatCounter data for February 2022.

These figures strongly suggest that businesses seeking to improve their reach should improve their positioning on Google search. Regardless of your target demographic or business location, your marketing strategy should prioritize boosting your site’s SEO ranking — its position on the search engine results page — on Google. 

2. There are 8.5 billion Google searches per day

Google processes over 99,000 searches every second, which translates to 8.5 billion searches every day. The average person searches Google three to four times daily, spending an average of 12:11 minutes per day on Google. 

Search experts say Google’s ability to provide quality and relevant results for users is what has made the company such a titan in the search engine industry. As its search statistics show, Google can open doors for businesses that maximize their site’s click-thru and conversion rates on Google.

3. Over 60%

of Google search traffic comes from mobile devices

More than 3 in 5 Google searches are performed on mobile devices. Based on the ever-increasing number of mobile users, this share will only grow larger. Therefore, mobile optimization of your site is key to your business’s future marketing success. 

4. Over 3 in 5 consumers use local information in ads

According to Google, over 60% of consumers have used local information in ads on Google. Leverage this to your advantage by targeting ads by location and by using location extensions, which allow you to show your business address, phone number or map marker with your ad text. 

People changed their search habits during the pandemic to limit time outside the home and seek out more information online before visiting a business. Accordingly, you should aim to rank for the keywords people use when searching for you locally, such as nearby, near me, open and now. 

5. 60% of pages on the first SERP are at least three years old

To provide searchers with relevant and up-to-date information, Google crawls hundreds of billions of webpages before showing and indexing them on its search engine results page. Recent data shows that around 60% of the pages ranking in Google’s Top 10 results are three or more years old.

Business websites that fail to rank on Google tend to have no backlinks, which are simply links from one site to another; or they may feature a topic that has insufficient traffic potential; or their page doesn’t match what users are looking for when they search the keywords; or the page isn’t yet indexed. The good news is that these problems can be fixed.

6. Only 17% of websites rank the same on desktop and mobile

Google data show that for organic searches, only 17% of websites have the same rank in desktop and mobile searches. Some of this variability may be due to businesses using different URLs for their mobile pages than for their desktop pages. To ensure that a high-ranking desktop site does not drop out as soon as customers view them on mobile, companies should optimize their sites and content for mobile.

7. Just 1 in 4 users go past the first SERP

Google finds that users click the first search result 28.5% of the time, and that rate drops dramatically after the first position. Some 75% of users do not scroll beyond the first page of search results. 

This highlights the fact that organic rankings matter, so if you rank higher, you increase your business’s visibility to users. Businesses should strive to be on the first page of Google SERPs, as visibility falls dramatically beyond that.

8. Search drives 300% more traffic than social media

Search engines are the No. 1 driver of traffic to sites, beating social media by more than 300%. If you want to get more traffic to your website or blog, you need to optimize your Google search ranking so users can easily find you.

9. Voice search is up 20%

Google data suggest voice search has increased by 20% as consumers grow increasingly comfortable with the technology’s ability to save time, and more than 100 languages are now supported by Google’s voice search tool. Businesses can incorporate content that resonates with voice searches to provide users with relevant information and improve their Google rankings.

10. Google images comprise 1 in 5 internet searches

Google Images make up 22.6% of all internet searches and 62.6% of all searches on Google Web Search. Businesses should invest in visual or video content as it is a preferred choice of searchers. For instance, if you embed a video into your blog post, it will have a higher chance of ranking on the first Google SERP.