We come across many websites that perform well in terms of impressions and position in the search engine results page, but do not produce the volume of visits one would expect.
One of the current challenges is the introduction of Google My Business and no-click searches.
What Are No-Click Searches?
No-click Google searches are where someone types in a search term into Google and then find out the information that they need without having to click through to a single website.
Over half of all Google searches result in being no-click searches. The majority of these no-click searches come through on mobile devices such as smartphones rather than from desktop.
What causes users to make a Google search and then not click on the results?
There are two main causes for no-click searches:
- Improvements in Search Engine Results Pages
- An increase in mobile searches
Why does this happen?
Well, the primary reason that this happens is that the search engine results page returns all of the information needed to answer the search query.
For example, you may have searched for opening times for a restaurant that you’d like to go to. This information may appear in a boxed-off section on Google, such as in the Local Pack or Featured Snippets sections.
Responses to commonly asked questions may come in the format of a list, block of text, video, or a chart.
Why Does Google Make No-Click Searches Possible?
As a business owner, you may ask yourself why Google would make the search engine results page display the answers to queries so that people won’t need to click through to the site? Especially considering search engines are there to help websites get seen.
Google knows that people want to find accurate information instantly. To help those users get a quick answer to those straightforward questions, Google will find and return the relevant information and display it in the search engine results page. It all revolves around the fact that Google wants the user to have a good search experience.
What are the Three Types of No Click Searches?
The three types of no-click searches include direction-orientated, database-orientated, and dictionary- orientated searches.
- Direction-oriented searches include results relating to locations and places. This type of search will often return local businesses and will often have tags such as “near me.”
- Database-oriented searches will return results for dates and times, currency conversions, math, or other small pieces of information.
- Dictionary-oriented searches are items such as names, or encyclopedia, dictionary, or thesaurus responses.
While click-throughs are an essential metric that businesses should look at improving in their business, don’t get blindsided in your attempts to improve search rankings and forget that you should be in the business of attracting customers, not clicks.
Given the high percentage of people that prefer to find their information out through the SERP rather than clicking through, you must appeal to this type of user. After all, even though these users are not website visitors, they are still your customers.
To do this, you will need to create and optimize your website content so that all of the relevant information appears in the SERP without the need for users to click through to your site.
One of the best ways that local businesses can do this is through Google My Business optimization.