Almost 30% of people are having to redo their Google searches, either by refining or extending queries, according to research published earlier this month by SEMRush, an online marketing software company.
SEMRush took data from 20,000 anonymous users who made 455,368 unique searches. It then looked at how long it took them to make a subsequent action. For over 70% of users, it took less than 15 seconds to make a secondary click, meaning they most likely found the website or answer they were looking for. Almost 30% of users, however, were refining, redoing or extending their searches in some way, suggesting that answers weren’t effectively percolating to the top.
Keyword changes happening more often on mobile, at 29.3% versus 17.9% on desktop, SEMRush found. It suggests people in need of quick information might be looking for answers on Google rather than clicking through to a website.
On desktop, the study also found that 25.6% of results were “zero clicks.” This means a person didn’t click on a link after making a query. It could mean they refined their search, or that they found the answer they were looking for without clicking on a link to a website. The latter could spell trouble for the billions of sites that rely on traffic to bring in ad sales — while less clicks is better for people looking for quick answers, it’s detrimental to the many news and information sites creating that content.
Google didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
Complaints over Search’s faltering reliability continue to come up in online discussions and articles. From Reddit threads to pieces in The Atlantic, people say they’re fighting a battle against websites trying to game Google’s search engine optimization and the company’s own system of filtering results. Search also remains Google’s most valuable product, with it controlling over 92% of online search market share, helping the company drive ad revenue.
Some users say they’re now using short-form video platform TikTok to find the answers they’re looking for instead of Google. It might be why Google is integrating more TikTok-like features in Search, and why it spent $100 million to buy an AI avatar startup.
Alphabet, Google’s parent company, reported $69 billion in revenue this past quarter, with $39.5 billion coming from “Google Search and Other.” Even then, Google’s earnings came short of analyst estimates.
