One of Google’s many blessings is how quickly you can use it to settle debates or verify random facts. Wondering what the weather will bring tomorrow or how old a celebrity is? Sometimes, a Google search will display the answer at the very top of the search engine results page (SERP). You don’t even have to click any links.
Search engine optimisation (SEO) is improving your website’s rankings in Google, Yahoo, Bing or any other search engine you use through organic means. Elements of good SEO include the right keywords, good content, link building and fulfilling search intent. When done properly, SEO drives more traffic than any other marketing strategy. Companies that blog see 13 times more return on investment (ROI) than companies that don’t, and regularly updating your site with high-quality content is one of the most effective ways to stand out from the crowd.
Zero-click searches are becoming increasingly common, changing how users interact with brands and the digital landscape. But what does that mean for your brand?
As a full-service digital marketing agency in Brisbane, Anchor Digital has helped many purpose-driven brands achieve their aims. In this article, we introduce you to the concept of zero-click searches: what they are, whether or not they impact your SEO, and how you can change your strategy to benefit from zero-click results.
What Are Zero Click Searches?
A zero-click search is what happens when a user finds the information they’re looking for directly at the top of the search engine results page without clicking through any websites. Zero click results can take many forms, and no doubt you’ve already seen some of them at the top of the SERP: weather updates, currency conversions, basic maths problems, and short summaries of information.
Zero click searches come in several different forms that go by different names, and the most common examples you’re likely to encounter include the following:
Featured snippet
A featured snippet provides a quick, concise answer to a user query with information drawn directly from your website, including page title and URL. Featured snippets can place not just text but videos and step-by-step instructions straight into the search results.
Direct answer box
A direct answer box is a box at the top of the search results in Google that provides a straightforward answer to a simple question without a link (for example, today’s date).
AI overview
As the name suggests, an AI overview is a brief AI-generated summary. It draws on information from several sources across the web to compile a short, easy-to-read synopsis.
Knowledge panel
When a web user searches for a person, place, organisation, or thing, an information box appears on the right-hand side of the search results. The knowledge panel has a brief summary of simple information, such as a brief description, images, links, and other factoids.
Local pack
Also known as a map pack, a local pack is a feature that appears when a user makes a location-based search. It shows a map of local businesses that meet the user’s description and useful information like each business’s opening hours and address.
How Zero Click Searches Impact SEO?
About 25.6% of desktop and 17.3% of mobile searches result in zero clicks. Zero click searches have positives and negatives for your brand. While they can boost your brand on the SERP and expose you to new audiences, they can also reduce the amount of traffic to your site by placing the information at the top of the search engine.
What this means for SEO is that when you’re deciding if you should target a keyword, you should see if it triggers search features. For instance, if you’re using a keyword research tool and notice a keyword brings up a lot of search features (reviews, images, etc.), it may not be the best one to target for clicks. But here’s the good part: You can adjust your SEO approach to make zero-click searches work for you.
Adjust Your SEO Strategy to Benefit from Zero Click Searches
Here are some methods for making the most of zero-click results for the benefit of your business.
Choose your keywords well
Some so-called zero-click results, like the local pack and featured snippets, actually have the potential to trigger clicks. If users like what they see, it can motivate them to visit your website to learn more. This is why it’s best to choose keywords that trigger results like the local pack or featured snippets rather than alternatives like direct answer boxes and knowledge panels that are dead ends, as far as clicks go.
Target featured snippets
Ranking for a featured snippet pushes the competition down and makes your content appear more credible to Google. To target a featured snippet, turn the user's question into your headline and provide the answer in the copy.
Answer user questions
Your content should address the users’ search intent—their reason for the search. To find out what this is, use a keyword tool to determine what questions users are asking regarding your keyword.
Make content trustworthy and easy to understand
Google prioritises helpful, reliable, people-first content that’s easy to read and understand. The framework of experience, expertise, authoritativeness and trustworthiness (E-E-A-T) is worth following to boost your brand credibility and trustworthiness. Short sentences, paragraphs, bullet points and clear subheadings are stylistic conventions that make content easier to read and more pleasing to search engines.
Use schema markup
Schema markup (aka structured data) is code you can add to your webpage to make it easier for search engines to crawl and understand. The right structured data can help your page stand out in search results.
Use local SEO
Local SEO is an approach to search engine optimisation that increases your business’s visibility in local search results. To start the process of improving your local rankings, add important information like physical address, opening hours and contact details to your Google Business Profile.
Effective SEO Strategies with Anchor Digital
Whether you want to adjust your SEO strategy to benefit from zero-click searches or you just need a new approach to SEO in general, Anchor Digital can help.
As digital marketing experts in Brisbane, our SEO marketing services incorporate up-to-speed knowledge of recent developments with a deep understanding of timeless principles and digital behavioural patterns. We take a multi-faceted, common-sense approach to optimising your website for SEO and refine our approach with focused, intentional testing.
When used in tandem, SEO and pay-per-click advertising (PPC) makes for an effective approach, and our PPC management services help you reach the top of Google. PPC is a strategy that can double every dollar spent, but you need the right ingredients to make your PPC campaign a success: the right keywords, ad copy, bidding strategies and more. We offer a dedicated account manager who provides strategic planning, testing, and tracking for your campaign. With a full transparency approach and no lock-in contracts, we help you rank on key PPC platforms like Google Ads, Facebook PPC and Bing.
If you’re ready to make the most of zero-click searches or just want to revive your SEO strategy in general, contact the Anchor team.
