SEO is not dead. 210 people search for that exact phrase every month. The reality is that SEO is still very much alive and we have the statistics to prove it.
Sure, Panda and Penguin have made it very difficult to cheat the system, but each of these algorithm updates have moved SEO from a manipulative marketing practice to an art form that combines branding, content creation, IT, and content promotion to drive highly qualified visitors to your website.

Whether trying to understand if SEO is right for your business, or trying to sell SEO to a potential client, these SEO stats for 2017 should be enough to convince anyone that SEO is essential to their business, while also providing some good benchmarks when building your company’s SEO strategy.

SEO Stats Everyone Should Know

• 93% of online experiences begin with a search engine. Click to Tweet this!
• Google currently holds 80.5% of total search engine market share (up from 65.5% in January 2016). Click to Tweet this!
• 57% of B2B marketers stated that SEO generates more leads than any other marketing initiative. Click to Tweet this!
• 81% of people perform some type of online research before making a large purchase. Click to Tweet this!
• 47% of consumers view 3-5 pieces of content created by a company before talking to a salesman from that company. Click to Tweet this!
• 72% of online marketers describe content creation as their most effective SEO tactic. Click to Tweet this!
• 75% of people never scroll past the first page of search engines. Click to Tweet this!
• 61% of internet users do research on a product online before making a purchase. Click to Tweet this!
• The average first page result on Google consists of 1,890 words. Click to Tweet this!
• Unfortunately, great content will get lost in second page of Google without proper promotion. Learn how to use a Twitter Leapfrog Method to simplify your content promotion efforts.
• Leads from search engines have a 14.6% close rate, while outbound leads (ex. cold-calling, direct mail, ect.) have a 1.7% close rate. Click to Tweet this!
• 70-80% of people ignore paid search results, choosing to only click on organic listings. Click to Tweet this!
• Bounce rates increase by 50% if your website takes 2 seconds extra to load. Click to Tweet this!
• Conversions fall by 12% for every extra second that it takes your website to load. Click to Tweet this!
• Voice search currently accounts for 10% of total searches. Click to Tweet this!

Local SEO Stats for 2017

Outranking national brands in search results was once nearly impossible in the world of SEO. Fortunately, Google gave local businesses a way to compete with the big guys in 2014.

In July 2014, Google rolled out the first version of their Pigeon update, which gave local businesses the ability to compete for search rankings on a local level. In short, Google began to give a ranking boost to businesses in close proximity to the searcher in location-specific searches (ex. “pizza near me”, “Denver contractors”, etc.).

Pigeon invited local businesses to the world of search engines, and those who were paying attention made out like bandits.

6 Local SEO Stats

• 72% of consumers who perform a local search visit a store within 5 miles of their current location. Click to Tweet this!
• 61% of mobile searchers are more likely to contact a local business if they have a mobile-friendly site. Click to Tweet this!
• 88% of consumers trust online reviews as much as they trust personal recommendations. Click to Tweet this!
• 86% of people look up the location of a business on Google Maps. Click to Tweet this!
• 78% of location-based mobile searches result in an offline purchase. Click to Tweet this!
• 18% of location-based mobile searches result in a sale within one day. Click to Tweet this!

Mobile SEO Statistics for 2017

If you thought that mobile-friendly sites were “unnecessary”, I think it’s safe to say that Mobilegeddon proved you wrong.

On April 21, 2015, Google rolled out an algorithm update that hurt the search rankings of non-mobile-friendly sites in mobile search results. In other words, if your website ranked first in Google for “Denver pizza shop” when searching from your phone, but was a pain in the ass to navigate through on your phone, then it wasn’t going to stay there for long.

Mobile search rankings are more important than ever, and will only grow increasingly important over time.

• As of 2015, more searches are done every day on mobile devices than desktops. Click to Tweet this!
• 87% of people who own a smartphone use a search engine at least once a day. Click to Tweet this!
• Mobile e-commerce revenue is projected to grow to 50% of total e-commerce revenue by the end of 2017. Click to Tweet this!
• The average person spends 4.7 hours on their phone every day. Click to Tweet this!
• 40% of mobile website visitors will leave the site if it takes more than 3 seconds to load. Click to Tweet this!

In Conclusion:

• SEO is essential to your business’ success.
• In most cases, writing long-form content is better than writing 500-word blog articles.
• If your website isn’t mobile friendly, it’s probably time for a new website.
• Every local business needs to have a website that is optimized for local search results.

I hope you found this helpful! For those looking to stay up to date with new insights and marketing strategies in the changing digital landscape, sign up to be the first to receive our monthly updates, and come follow us on Facebook and Twitter.

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About the Author

Pat Ahern is the director of traffic generation at Junto, a hyper-efficient traffic generation and web development service. Pat loves rock climbing, craft beer and helping startups grow.