How To Optimise Your SEO For Zero Click Searches
Devising an SEO strategy can be complicated and time intensive when you are solely competing against your competitors, but it is becoming increasingly harder to get organic traffic to your website as you are now also competing against Google.
What is a zero click search?
A zero click search is when someone searches something on Google and then doesn’t click through to a website. For example if someone searches “who is the prime minister of New Zealand?” the searcher gets the information they want directly from the SERP and doesn’t click through to a website. The latest research shows that nearly 50% of all clicks are becoming zero click searches, spelling trouble for websites and the need to adopt your SEO strategy for this new way of user searching.
Why are there so many zero click searches?
Google is constantly trying to improve its service for its users. What this means is it wants to give the most relevant information as easily as possible when someone is looking for information or a product. Because of this, Google will often present the answer to a question, or place the product someone is looking for directly in SERP, therefore taking away the need for a user to pick a website to collect the information they are looking for. As Google continues to improve its service, expect the percentage of zero click searches to continually rise.
Is this a bad thing?
It is a bad thing if the sole purpose of your digital strategy is to generate website traffic. It’s likely that over time your traffic from organic non-brand terms will decrease due to zero click search increasing. If the purpose of your website is to provide value however, it’s not a bad thing at all and instead is a positive for business in the long term.
What should you do to set yourself up for success?
Reassess what terms and information your current SEO and content strategy is tailored for. Look for terms that when optimised for, will generate traffic to your website and ultimately revenue.
Have a focus on brand and become an authority on areas that provide value for your customers, this will increase long term brand sentiment and in-turn life time value of your customer down the track.
Wrap all your content in schema. What this will do is increase the likelihood that your website is what shows in position zero (also known as structured snippets). There are multiple types of schema so its key you attach the right type of schema to the relevant content you are writing.
Summary
As Google continues to grow and improve its service, the percentage of zero-click searches will continue to rise. Businesses should be aware of this and strive to produce content that aligns with their goals and the evolvement of zero-search clicks. Businesses should have a clear focus on brand, structured snippets and a clear focus on what terms and keywords they are trying to optimise for. Being on top of zero click searches will help sustain business longevity and drive you past your competition.
