I get asked this question from time to time: “how much is SEO worth?”

And I love answering to it. You know why? Because the SEO industry is worth $80 billion. 

This means that companies globally spend about $80 billion per year for SEO services. Of all the marketing channels, SEO has the highest ROI (return on investment). When I started my career in SEO back in 2012, I had no idea I was getting into such a huge industry.

Then I realised that all businesses, regardless of their industry, benefit from having an SEO strategy. 

This is because Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a marketing process that combines content creation, branding, and digital marketing to drive traffic to your website. 

Are you still wondering whether SEO is right for your business? If yes, keep reading. If anything, the SEO value is not going to diminish anytime soon. In our digital age, both B2B and B2C companies are seeing massive benefits to strategic SEO campaigns.

 And this article will show WHY this is happening.

Since SEO is constantly evolving, these statistics will enable you to have all the data you need to build an SEO strategy for your business. 

So, let’s get right to it.

Want hands-on help growing your business organically? Send me a message and we can have a free consultation to see if SEO is something you desperately need.

100 Incredible SEO ROI Statistics

1. Over 60% of online experiences start with a search engine.
2. The average one-page article on Google contains 1,447 words.
3. The first five organic results receive over 65% of all clicks.
4. The number one result on Google gets more than 30% of all clicks.
5. Over 90% of search traffic goes to the first search results page.
6. According to more than 60% of B2B marketers, SEO and organic traffic are more successful at generating more leads than any other marketing strategy.
7. SEO leads have a close rate of over 14%.
8. The top-listed page in a Google search has an average click-through rate of over 30%.
9. 75% of people never go past the first search engine page.
10. 0.78% of Google searchers click on the second-page results.
11. 70% of digital marketers prefer SEO to PPC for sales generation.
12. Over 60% of people carry out some online research before purchasing online.
13. Search engine leads have a 14.6% close rate, while outbound leads have a 1.7% close rate.
14. Websites that take two or five seconds to load will increase bounce rates by 9% and 38%, respectively.
15. Over 55% of the world’s web traffic comes from Google organic search.
16. Google search, Maps, and Images are responsible for over 90% of global traffic.
17. For every additional second it takes for a website to load, the conversion rate reduces by 4.42%.
18. Approximately 60% of the top 10 ranked pages on Google results are three or more years old.
19. Over 15% of all annual Google search results are new.
20. The typical internet user will search on Google four times a day.
21. The number of websites globally is estimated to be approximately 1.72 billion.
22. SEO drives over 1,000% more traffic than organic social media.
23. Over 65% of search queries contain at least four words.
24. Long-tail keyword searches have a 5% higher click-through rate than generic searches.
25. Over 12% of search query result pages have featured snippets.
26. Website content is responsible for only 25% of search engine optimization

27. The median SEO professional salary is approximately $60.5K yearly.
28. Over 40% of businesses use SEO.
29. Over 30% of small to medium-sized businesses have optimized websites.
30. Most (88%) SEO professionals charge less than $150/hr.
31. The average SEO per-project cost is approximately $1,000.
32. Businesses spend approximately $79 billion on SEO services.
33. Small businesses in the US spend an average of $497.16 monthly on SEO services.
34. Over 70% of SEO professionals charge a monthly retainer fee.
35. On average, SEO professionals in the global market charge 130.74% more than those in the local market.
36. Higher education, sales and marketing, and solar energy are the top 3 industries with the top average dwell time.
37. SEO professionals with more than two years of experience charge over 35% more hourly and over 102% for monthly retainers than their inexperienced colleagues.

7 Search Engine Usage Statistics

38. Google presently has more than 90% of the total search engine market, followed by Bing (2%), Yahoo! (1%), Baidu (1%), and others.
39. Over 50% of product searches occur on Amazon.com.
40. YouTube processes 3 billion searches monthly.
41. Over 1 billion people use Google monthly.
42. Google processes over 85,000 searches every second.
43. Over 80% of videos that rank on Google also rank on YouTube.
44. Google uses more than 200 algorithm factors for ranking websites.

10 Local SEO Statistics

45. Over 25% of local searches result in a purchase within one day.
46. 46% of all Google searches are for local businesses or services.
47. More than 75% of people who search for a local business on their mobile phone visit the business within 24 hours.
48. 79% of consumers trust online reviews as much as private recommendations.
49. Over 85% of people use Google Maps to look up the location of a local business.
50. 25% of small business websites don’t have an H1 tag.
51. Over 90% of city and business category search queries have a Yelp page in the top results.
52. Over 40% of global shoppers buy online and pick up in-store.
53. Mobile queries for “Where to buy, “near me,” “store open near me,” and “on-sale” have increased by over 250% since 2017.
54. Over 50% of all local searches are direction-related.

Search Ranking Statistics

55. Over 90% of pages get no organic search traffic from Google.
56. The average bounce rate for top-ranking pages is approximately 50%.
57. Direct website visit is a major search ranking factor.
58. The average first-page websites have a loading speed of fewer than 2 seconds.
59. On-page SEO factors like keyword optimizations are among the least important ranking factor.
60. 25% of top-ranking pages don’t have a meta description.
61. Google only shows meta descriptions in search results 37% of the time.
62. The average top-ranking page ranks in the top search results for other significant keywords.

Voice Search Statistics

63. Over 35% of US internet users conduct searches using voice.
64. HTTPS websites are responsible for about 70% of voice search results.
65. Voice search results contain an average of 29 words.
66. The average page on Google voice search results contains 2,312 words.
67. Websites with solid link authority rank well in voice search.
68. The average Google voice search result receives 44 Tweets and 1,199 Facebook shares.
69. Voice search results typically load in 4.6 seconds.
70. 9^Th grade is the average reading level for voice search results.
71. Mobile voice searches are three times more likely for local searches than text searches.
72. Over 25% of the global population uses voice search on mobile devices.
73. Voice searches account for 20% of mobile queries.
74. Over 50% of people use voice search while driving.
75. Over 45% use voice search to perform general web searches.

6 SEO Content ROI Statistics

76. Updating old blog posts with new content and republishing can increase organic traffic by approximately 106%.
77. Paid guest posts cost an average of $77.80.
78. Long blog articles receive over 70% more backlinks than short articles.
79. Companies that have blogs receive over 90% more backlinks to their site.
80. Search traffic is over 100% higher for blog posts with videos than those without.
81. Over 45% of users interact with over three pieces of content before reaching out to a business.

Image and Video Search Statistics

82. HD videos make up over 60% of the first page YouTube results.
83. Over 60% of all Google searches have video results.
84. Images are responsible for over 25% of search queries on Google.
85. Videos that bring in new subscribers rank higher on YouTube.
86. Video results are 53 times more likely to make it to Google’s first page.
87. 49% of marketers increase their revenue faster with video in their strategy.
88. Over 60% of Gen Z and Millennial users want visual search.

7 Link Building Statistics

89. Over 60% of pages don’t have backlinks.
90. The number one ranking pages have over 3.8 times more backlinks than those in the second to tenth positions.
91. Backlinks are responsible for 30% of the overall Google pass score.
92. On average, paid backlinks cost $361.44.
93. The average click-through rate for video results is 41% higher than text-based search results.
94. Posts with videos earn more backlinks and get an increase in search traffic.
95. Over 70% of domains have reciprocal links.

Keyword Statistics and Survey Results

96. Over 35% of marketers think keyword research is the most challenging aspect of SEO.
97. URLs with keywords have over 40% click-through rate.
98. Over 25% of keywords with more than 10k monthly searches have at least three words.
99. About 8% of searches are worded as a question.

E-commerce SEO Statistics

100. Search engines are responsible for driving traffic to e-commerce websites.
101. Over 40% of consumers go to a search engine to start online shopping.

Mobile SEO Statistics

102. More than 50% of people discover new businesses during a mobile search.
103. Over 60% of mobile searchers are more susceptible to contacting a local business if they have a mobile-friendly website.
104. 30% of all mobile searches are location-related.
105. 53% of mobile site visitors will leave a site if it takes more than 3 seconds to load.
106. Over 50% of internet users access the internet with only their mobile phones.
107. Mobile accounts for over 55% of all Google searches.
108. The organic click-through rate is approximately 50% less than a desktop.
109. Over 80% of smartphone owners use a search engine daily.
110. Over 50% of customers avoid business with low-quality mobile websites.

What is your SEO Return on Investment?

The impressive numbers on this list show, without a shadow of a doubt, that SEO is the only marketing left.

If these statistics are from 2021 and 2022, can you imagine what the future holds?

We live in exciting times.

Blogs continue to thrive because they are the only inbound marketing form that can generate leads and sales. 

Sources

• Ahrefs
• HubSpot
• Databox.com
• Search Engine Land
• Webfx.com
• Google
• Statista.com
• Backlinko.com
• Thrivemyway.com