Over 50.3% of all searches on Google ended in zero clicks to any other content in 2019. This number jumped 65% in 2020. These are known as zero click searches. The pandemic only hastened an already building trend.
Why Should You Care About Zero Click Searches?
Google has recently revised its algorithms to give top priority to user experience. The search engine is increasingly presenting more information at the top of the page, which lets users get all they want without needing to click on to a website. This means that despite all your SEO efforts, searchers might not visit your website because they get their answer on the search engine results page.
We are all for enhanced user experience. At the same time, brands need to understand how to restructure their SEO strategies for zero-click searches. This is because the impact of zero-click searches are not the same for all sectors. For instance, if you are in an industry that competes directly with Google, such as a review platform or travel agency, you may be losing a greater share of traffic. For instance, in 2020, TripAdvisor, Expedia, and 32 other vacation rental sites accused the search engine giant of competition abuse.
Strategies to Make Zero-Click Searches Work for You
The first thing to check is that your content aligns with the searcher’s intent to rank high on the SERPs. Well, Google understands that people want quick facts, like sports scores, weather information, and time in different zones. So, it uses its licensing agreements and tools to provide such information directly on its SERPs. You can optimize a few strategies to align your content as well.
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Optimize and Claim Your Google My Business Page
Start by optimizing your profile in relevant listings sites, especially Google My Business. Update your opening hours, contact information, reviews, and photos to show up in zero-click searches. Google understands that people want to connect with businesses directly. Local searches result in 4 billion connections for businesses monthly on the search engine. It is important to optimize your business locally even if you provide services nationwide. Here at Semgeeks we are located in NJ but we offer our Search engine Optimization (SEO) services nationwide.
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Optimize Content for Featured Snippets
Answer boxes or short snippets of text appear on top of Google’s search results. These provide quick and specific answers to the searcher’s query. Revisit your landing pages and optimize the snippets if you have to. Depending on query intent, there are 4 types of snippets:
- Lists
- Tables
- Text
- Videos
Include your top-ranking keywords in this content. You can add them as a sub-headline to your content. The more factual and precise the answers are, the better the chances of Google pulling them in its search results.
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Optimize for SiteLinks
Create a clear navigational structure in your pages with descriptive anchor and alt tags. Add strong internal links to core pages. The visual space of your search results can be increased through SiteLinks.
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Social Media Pages Might Help You Appear in Knowledge Panels
Google’s knowledge panels help users get all information about a business in a condensed format. Your social media channels can push users to click on search elements you own. Google has to verify your social channels to display them. Schema markup can help here.
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Implement Schema
You can communicate what your content is all about to the search engine through schema mark-up. It is a code that can be added at the backend of your website. For instance, without a schema, Google won’t understand whether the numbers on your website are phone numbers, prices, or any other figures.
These were just drops in a whole ocean of strategies that can help you optimize for zero-click searches. Don’t forget to analyze your SEO efforts before moving on to more strategies like Voice Search Optimization. Contact Semgeeks today for an SEO Audit.
