These slides were presented at the SEMrush webinar "5 Hours of SEO | What 1,200 Domains Tell Us about Zero-Click Searches, SERP Features, and Getting Traffic". ideo replay and transcript are available at https://www.semrush.com/webinars/5-hours-of-seo-or-what-1-200-domains-tell-us-about-zero-click-searches-serp-features-and-getting-traffic/

1. www.kevin-indig.com
What 1,200 Domains Tell
Us about Zero-Click
Searches, SERP Features,
and Getting Traffic
A journey through 100,000 keywords and 1,200 domains

2. KEVIN INDIG
www.kevin-indig.com
Tech Bound
VP SEO & CONTENT

3. KEVIN INDIG
• 3/14 - SEO Campixx - keynote, Berlin, Germany
• 4/17 - Brighton SEO, Brighton, England
• 5/15 - TTT, Miami, FL
• 6/13 - Elite Camp, Estonia
• 7/12 - UnGagged, NYC
• 11/13 - CMSEO, Chang Mai, Thailand
Let’s hang out! ✌

5. KEVIN INDIG
“[…] three fundamental shifts in how we think about
Search:
The shift from answers to journeys: […]
The shift from queries to providing a queryless way to
get to information: […]
And the shift from text to a more visual way of finding
information: […]”
(Sundar Pichai, 2018, Google Blog)

6. https://www.kevin-indig.com/a-new-google-from-search-to-discovery-engine/

7. https://www.blog.google/products/search/helping-you-along-your-search-journeys/

8. KEVIN INDIG
Knowledge
Graph
Topic Layer
Events Names Books BrandsPlaces
Politics Evergreen Trends Ideas News

9. KEVIN INDIG
"We are moving from a company that helps you
find answers to a company that helps you get
things done."
(Sundar Pichai, Google I/O 2019)

10. KEVIN INDIG
1,200 domains
Mobile + Desktop
Jan 2018 – Nov 2019
SEMrush Traffic Analytics tool

11. KEVIN INDIG
Traffic Winners and Losers

12. KEVIN INDIG
Entertainment + education grow, technology + references shrink
Arts and
Entertainment
26%
Computers
Electronics and
Technology
26%
Reference
Materials
14%
Science and
Education
3%
Traffic 2018
Arts and Entertainment
Business and Consumer Services
Community and Society
Computers Electronics and Technology
E commerce and Shopping
Finance
Food and Drink
Gambling
Games
Health
Heavy Industry and Engineering
Hobbies and Leisure
Home and Garden
Jobs and Career
Law and Government
Lifestyle
News and Media
Arts and
Entertainment
29%
Computers
Electronics and
Technology
22%
Reference
Materials
13%
Science and
Education
5%
Traffic 2019
Arts and Entertainment
Business and Consumer Services
Community and Society
Computers Electronics and Technology
E commerce and Shopping
Finance
Food and Drink
Gambling
Games
Health
Heavy Industry and Engineering
Hobbies and Leisure
Home and Garden
Jobs and Career
Law and Government
Lifestyle
News and Media

13. KEVIN INDIG
Traffic winners from 2018 to 2019
Industry absolute relative
Education 555m 25%
Science 146m 25%
Accommodation 119m 29%
Health 96m 7%
Classifieds 68m 5%

14. KEVIN INDIG
Booking: +49% desktop traffic 2018 vs. 2019
-
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
50
2018-01-012018-02-012018-03-012018-04-012018-05-012018-06-012018-07-012018-08-012018-09-012018-10-012018-11-012018-12-012019-01-012019-02-012019-03-012019-04-012019-05-012019-06-012019-07-012019-08-012019-09-012019-10-012019-11-01
Millions
Booking.com desktop traffic
booking.com

15. KEVIN INDIG
Booking: organic traffic trend positive but >55% direct traffic

16. KEVIN INDIG
Build that brand. Maximize every click.

17. KEVIN INDIG
Online education grows rapidly (17% YoY)
-
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
2019-04-01
2019-05-01
2019-06-01
2019-07-01
2019-08-01
2019-09-01
2019-10-01
2019-11-01
Millions
Mobile traffic of the biggest course sites
coursera.org coursehero.com chegg.com udemy.com
-
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
2018-01-012018-03-012018-05-012018-07-012018-09-012018-11-012019-01-012019-03-012019-05-012019-07-012019-09-012019-11-01
Millions
Desktop traffic of the biggest course sites
coursera.org coursehero.com chegg.com udemy.com

18. KEVIN INDIG
Rise of research: research sites grow 67% YoY
-
10
20
30
40
50
60
2018-01-012018-02-012018-03-012018-04-012018-05-012018-06-012018-07-012018-08-012018-09-012018-10-012018-11-012018-12-012019-01-012019-02-012019-03-012019-04-012019-05-012019-06-012019-07-012019-08-012019-09-012019-10-012019-11-01
Millions
Chart Title
jstor.org researchgate.net academia.edu

19. KEVIN INDIG
Health is a mobile game and Mayoclinic is winning
-
10
20
30
40
50
60
2018-01-012018-02-012018-03-012018-04-012018-05-012018-06-012018-07-012018-08-012018-09-012018-10-012018-11-012018-12-012019-01-012019-02-012019-03-012019-04-012019-05-012019-06-012019-07-012019-08-012019-09-012019-10-012019-11-01
Millions
Mayoclinic vs. Clevelandclinic on mobile and desktop
mayoclinic.org clevelandclinic.org mayoclinic.org mobile clevelandclinic.org mobile

20. KEVIN INDIG
Healthline grew 28% mobile, 21% desktop to 100M/month
-
5
10
15
20
25
2018-01-012018-02-012018-03-012018-04-012018-05-012018-06-012018-07-012018-08-012018-09-012018-10-012018-11-012018-12-012019-01-012019-02-012019-03-012019-04-012019-05-012019-06-012019-07-012019-08-012019-09-012019-10-012019-11-01
Millions
Desktop organic traffic to health sites
webmd.com psychologytoday.com medicalnewstoday.com healthline.com

21. KEVIN INDIG
Traffic loser industries 2018 -> 2019
Industry absolute relative
Search Engines -4,672m -51%
Dictionaries -2,903m -19%
Social Networks -2,271m -16%
TV -1,868m -7%
Marketplace -680m -14%

22. KEVIN INDIG
Traffic loser domains 2018-2019
Domain Absolute Relative
google.com -792,518,170 -57%
wikipedia.org -269,924,086 -21%
reddit.com -122,653,977 -18%
youtube.com -83,816,936 -6%
imdb.com -60,882,716 -26%
wordpress.com -54,344,652 -29%
twitter.com -49,920,917 -18%
pinterest.com -33,589,960 -28%
yahoo.com -33,162,131 -26%
facebook.com -33,118,866 -18%

23. KEVIN INDIG
Wikipedia lost a lot of Featured Snippets in the last 3 years
Featured Snippets

24. KEVIN INDIG
Google massively ramped up carousels in the last 12 months
(+58% from Sep – Oct 19)
Carousels

25. KEVIN INDIG
How much traffic can IMDB get with all these SERP features?
Knowledge panels

26. KEVIN INDIG
Dictionaries and thesauruses have a hard time (simple answers)
Knowledge panels

27. KEVIN INDIG
Amazon is lost -12% desktop traffic YoY
-
50
100
150
200
250
300
350
400
2018-01-012018-02-012018-03-012018-04-012018-05-012018-06-012018-07-012018-08-012018-09-012018-10-012018-11-012018-12-012019-01-012019-02-012019-03-012019-04-012019-05-012019-06-012019-07-012019-08-012019-09-012019-10-012019-11-01
Millions
Amazon international desktop traffic

28. KEVIN INDIG
… but doesn’t have to worry about Alibaba and Walmart ;-)
-
20
40
60
80
100
120
140
160
180
200
2018-01-012018-02-012018-03-012018-04-012018-05-012018-06-012018-07-012018-08-012018-09-012018-10-012018-11-012018-12-012019-01-012019-02-012019-03-012019-04-012019-05-012019-06-012019-07-012019-08-012019-09-012019-10-012019-11-01
Millions
Amazon vs. walmart vs. alibaba US desktop traffic (Amazon on 2nd y-axis)
alibaba.com walmart.com amazon.com

29. KEVIN INDIG
Google lost desktop traffic in most countries (Jan18–Nov19)
2018 vs 2019
google.ru +16%
google.pl +30%
google.fr -19%
google.it -6%
google.se +5%
google.es -28%
google.ca -40%
google.de -7%
google.com -57%0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
2018-01-01
2018-02-01
2018-03-01
2018-04-01
2018-05-01
2018-06-01
2018-07-01
2018-08-01
2018-09-01
2018-10-01
2018-11-01
2018-12-01
2019-01-01
2019-02-01
2019-03-01
2019-04-01
2019-05-01
2019-06-01
2019-07-01
2019-08-01
2019-09-01
2019-10-01
2019-11-01
Non-US Google traffic per country 2018 -2019
google.ru google.pl google.fr google.it google.se google.es google.ca google.de

30. KEVIN INDIG
Google rakes in +20% quarterly revenue YoY more reliably than
anything else.
3.872
4.827 5.367 5.701 5.523
6.674 6.82
8.44 9.026
10.58
11.81
10.28
13.11
15.71 15.96
18.1 17.73
21.33 21.5
26.06 26.01
32.32 32.66
39.28
36.34
40.5
Q2
Q4
Q2
Q4
Q2
Q4
Q2
Q4
Q2
Q4
Q2
Q4
Q2
Q4
Q2
Q4
Q2
Q4
Q2
Q4
Q2
Q4
Q2
Q4
Q2
2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019
Google: quarterly revenue (in billions)

31. KEVIN INDIG
Google is under immense pressure to grow stock price with
declining traffic
-
500
1,000
1,500
2,000
2,500
3,000
3,500
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3
2018 2019
Millions
Billions
Google quarterly traffic vs. revenue
Revenue Desktop Traffic

32. KEVIN INDIG
The second biggest search engine after Google is Baidu
7,951
48 19
449
3,414
48 35
365
google.com bing.com duckduckgo.com baidu.com
Visitorsinmillions
Search engines 2018 vs. 2019
2018 2019

33. KEVIN INDIG
Search engine mobile traffic outweighs desktop by a lot
3,377
336
133 185
2,331
34 26
261
google.com bing.com duckduckgo.com baidu.com
Visitorsinmillions
Search Engine Desktop vs. Mobile traffic (apr-nov 2019)
Mobile Desktop

34. KEVIN INDIG
Mobile traffic is ~2x as big as desktop
68% 66%
71% 72% 71% 73%
67% 64%
32% 34%
29% 28% 29% 27%
33% 36%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
2019-04-01 2019-05-01 2019-06-01 2019-07-01 2019-08-01 2019-09-01 2019-10-01 2019-11-01
Relative destop vs. mobile traffic 04/19-11/19
Mobile traffic Desktop traffic

35. KEVIN INDIG
Desktop traffic decreased over the last 2 years
-
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
2018-01-012018-02-012018-03-012018-04-012018-05-012018-06-012018-07-012018-08-012018-09-012018-10-012018-11-012018-12-012019-01-012019-02-012019-03-012019-04-012019-05-012019-06-012019-07-012019-08-012019-09-012019-10-012019-11-01
Billions
Desktop traffic of the largest industries from 01/2018 to 12/2019
Arts and Entertainment Business and Consumer Services Community and Society
Computers Electronics and Technology E commerce and Shopping Finance
Food and Drink Gambling Games
Health Heavy Industry and Engineering Hobbies and Leisure
Home and Garden Jobs and Career Law and Government
Lifestyle News and Media Pets and Animals
Reference Materials Science and Education Sports
Travel and Tourism Vehicles Adult

36. KEVIN INDIG
Takeaways from the 2019 SEMrush traffic analysis
1. Google is losing traffic
2. Sites are dependent on SERP features
3. 2x as much mobile as desktop traffic
4. Desktop traffic declines across the board

37. KEVIN INDIG
Google = winner-takes-it-all

38. KEVIN INDIG
No attention for organic results

39. KEVIN INDIG
No mobile impressions when SERP Features are present

40. KEVIN INDIG
No more
Featured
Snippet
deduping

41. KEVIN INDIG
1/24: little impact, average CTR still 43%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
CTRafter1/24
CTR before 1/24
Desktop CTR before and after 1/24 for
queries with unchanged ranking positions
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
CTRafter1/24
CTR before 1/24
Mobile CTR before and after 1/24 for queries
with unchanged ranking positions
https://www.kevin-indig.com/a-case-study-of-2000-featured-snippets-about-deduplicating/

42. KEVIN INDIG
Network effect: use traffic to get more traffic
Traffic Revenue
Content
Links

43. KEVIN INDIG
Google = search engine destination

44. KEVIN INDIG
What seems increasingly troubling for Wall Street
analysts is Google. […] analysts said: “In our view,
the most concerning trend is the reduced efficiency
of SEO (search engine optimization) marketing as
Google pushes ‘free’ links’ further down the page.
In particular, Google is favoring its own ‘Hotel
Finder’ platform, along with other paid links, all of
which are capturing more real estate on page one
of the search results.

45. KEVIN INDIG
[…] TripAdvisor is facing
aggressive competition
from Google. CEO Steve
Kaufer said the search
giant's pushing its own
hotel products in search
results has become
TripAdvisor's "most
significant challenge,"
siphoning off quality
traffic.

46. KEVIN INDIG

47. KEVIN INDIG

48. KEVIN INDIG
SERP Mazes = clicking on the image thumbnails leads you to
another SERP
KEVIN INDIG
SERP Mazes = clicking on the image thumbnails leads you to
another SERP

49. KEVIN INDIG
Competition is just a swipe away

50. KEVIN INDIG
Google is now the destination for sports scores and news

51. KEVIN INDIG
The mobile experience is even worse – for websites

52. KEVIN INDIG
Premier sports leagues lost a lot desktop traffic…
-12%
-27%
-11%
9%
-30% -20% -10% 0% 10% 20%
nhl.com
nfl.com
nba.com
premierleague.com
Desktop traffic of major sports leagues 2018
vs 2019
-
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
2019-04-01
2019-05-01
2019-06-01
2019-07-01
2019-08-01
2019-09-01
2019-10-01
2019-11-01
Millions
Mobile traffic of premier sports leagues Apri -
Nov 2019
nhl.com nfl.com nba.com premierleague.com

53. KEVIN INDIG
Cameos = a destination for people searches

54. KEVIN INDIG
“Movies”
Buy tickets

55. KEVIN INDIG
“what to watch”
Find inspiration

56. KEVIN INDIG
“what to watch”
+reviews
+ where to watch it

57. KEVIN INDIG

58. KEVIN INDIG
“what to make for
breakfast”
query refinement

59. KEVIN INDIG
“what to make for
breakfast”
recipe in SERPs

60. KEVIN INDIG
What can we do?

61. KEVIN INDIG
Mobile = source of truth

62. KEVIN INDIG
Even brand keywords have major CTR differences on devices
21.3% 7.1%

63. KEVIN INDIG
If you had algorithm issues in the past 12 months…
1. Google Analytics
2. Segment mobile and desktop organic traffic
3. Compare dips and spikes

64. KEVIN INDIG
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
16
18
20
22
24
26
28
30
32
34
36
38
40
42
44
46
48
50
G2 traffic by device
Organic Desktop Traffic Organic Mobile Traffic Organic Traffic
Dips in organic traffic -> from mobile or desktop or both?

65. KEVIN INDIG
Better KPIs

66. KEVIN INDIG
Build your custom click-curve…

67. KEVIN INDIG
… and measure Share of Voice
CTR x SV
Kategorie SV
= SoV

68. KEVIN INDIG
Add a SERP Feature Factor
*SERP-Feature Faktor
= SoV
SF* x CTR x SV
Kategorie SV

69. KEVIN INDIG
Be Discovered

70. KEVIN INDIG
Discover = push
Search = pull

71. KEVIN INDIG
Google ranks Discover content
algorithmically based on content quality
and the strength of the match between
page content and user interests.
The two best ways to boost the ranking
and performance of your Discover content
are (1) to post content that you think users
would find interesting and (2) to use high-
quality images in your content.
https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/9046777?hl=en

72. KEVIN INDIG
Conde Nast: Discover drives more traffic than Google Search
“Google Discover drove more traffic to Vogue’s
international editions than Google Search did”
(Sarah Marshall)
“Up to 20% of U.S. sites’ Google traffic come from
Discover over the past few months”
(John Shehata)
https://digiday.com/media/publishers-see-mobile-traffic-spikes-google-discover/

73. KEVIN INDIG
Export Discover from Search Console and compare to organic
mobile traffic

74. KEVIN INDIG
Discover can bring more daily traffic than regular search

75. KEVIN INDIG
Go all in on SERP
Features

76. KEVIN INDIG
Write for PAAs
alsoasked.com

77. KEVIN INDIG
Use the Pyramid Tactic to write for Featured Snippets
Answer
Context
Background
https://moz.com/blog/writing-content-for-featured-snippets

78. KEVIN INDIG
Use Q&A schema, but manage your expectations

79. KEVIN INDIG
Use Q&A schema, but manage your expectations

80. KEVIN INDIG
Reviews - M.A.D. (market, answer, drive)

81. KEVIN INDIG
Structure your content around entities (entityexplorer.com)

82. KEVIN INDIG
Be seen, be heard

83. KEVIN INDIG
Video + Audio = shortcuts like image search back in the day

84. KEVIN INDIG
Long-term, I think videos will replace Featured Snippets

85. KEVIN INDIG
Even Spotify is indexed…

86. KEVIN INDIG
… and ranks with minimal content

87. KEVIN INDIG
Don’t forget Google Podcasts!

88. KEVIN INDIG
Keep going

89. KEVIN INDIG
Search is still the biggest + cheapest source of traffic – by far
https://www.parse.ly/resources/data-studies/referrer-dashboard

90. KEVIN INDIG Source: Alex Internet, https://try.alexa.com/resources/website-traffic-sources

91. KEVIN INDIG
You can’t win a game if you
don’t know how it’s played

92. KEVIN INDIG
You can’t win a game if you
don’t know how it’s played
NOW YOU KNOW

93. KEVIN INDIG
Thank you 🙏
@Kevin_Indig
www.kevin-indig.com
Tech Bound

94. KEVIN INDIG
Q&A