Of course, it’s no news that Google is at all times ready to go the extra mile to make sure its users enjoy the best experience possible. After all, that’s what every good business should be striving to do. The Google algorithm has become smarter and more sophisticated; it now has the ability to understand the intention behind every search query.
It then delivers the exact information that searchers are looking for without requiring them to navigate away from the search page. This kind of search is called zero-click because it doesn’t require a user to click a webpage link.
However, while this might look like a great innovation for Google, business leaders everywhere are beginning to question if SEO is really necessary again.
Zero-click searches are not the end of SEO, but they are changing how businesses optimize their content for search. You just need to understand how it works so you can use it to get the best results for your business. So, in this post, we will be showing you how to work with zero-click searches without compromising on conversion rates.
Understanding Zero-click Searches
As explained above, a zero-click search occurs when Google is able to deliver the content a web user wants directly on the search engine results page, or SERP, without having the user navigate away from the SERP by clicking one of the links in the result.
According to SparkToro, 34.4 percent of desktop searches result in no click, and as much as 62.5 percent of mobile searches are zero-click. Zero-click SERPs are not necessarily new, but they have risen in popularity in recent years as a greater percentage of web traffic has come from mobile devices rather than traditional desktop or laptop computers.
A spike in reliance on voice search, through virtual assistants like Alexa, Siri, and Cortana, has also driven zero-click SERPs. In both cases, users benefit significantly from short practical answers to specific questions.
Some types of searches that almost always produce zero-click SERPs include:
- Definitions: When users are looking for the basic meaning of certain words or phrases.
- Calculations: When users are trying to calculate different metrics, such as measurements, currency, time, and more.
- Maps: When users search for a place or region.
Additional zero-click resources include featured snippets, in which a larger portion of a webpage’s text will appear in the search results, and knowledge graphs, which are multimedia results that offer extensive information about a query.
Maintaining the Goals of SEO
Different businesses have different goals for search engine optimization, but generally, it is often done to boost the visibility of a business’ web assets and increase conversions on the business’ websites.
Fortunately, neither of these goals is eliminated by zero-click SERPs. Even if a web user is not navigating away from the search results page, businesses can successfully engage with web users and drive conversions — if they are willing to work with zero-click results.
Ultimately, zero-click SEO and traditional SEO have an identical primary strategy: take up as much space near the top of the first page of search results as possible. In the past, that meant ranking as high as possible in search results, and today, it means having content appear in a featured snippet or some other zero-click result.
So, How Do You Optimize for Featured Snippets
Advice for optimizing for featured snippets is not remarkably different from the most common advice for general SEO: understand the interests and needs of the target audience and produce high-quality, valuable content.
Google consistently rewards websites that focus on user experience, so generating content that answers common user questions pertaining to a business, its products, its industry, and more is a good plan for maintaining good visibility even with zero clicks.
Of course, there are a few more advanced tactics that businesses might use to ensure their appearance in featured snippets. Generally, it is a good idea for businesses interested in more sophisticated zero-click SEO to obtain high-quality SEO services from an experienced Phoenix firm.
SEO professionals have the tools and training to research keywords with greater accuracy and craft the most relevant content for you. This type of content usually stands a better chance of doing well, hence helping you achieve your goals.
Final Note
Google is constantly changing to meet the needs of its users, which means that businesses will always need to alter their SEO strategies to keep up. Zero-click searches are not the end of SEO, but they should encourage businesses to consider how they might need to update their SEO practices in the future.