SEO for ‘zero-click’ searches

Google wants to keep its visitors on its site for as long as possible. It does this by displaying answers directly in the search results. This means visitors don’t have to click through to find answers to their questions. We call these ‘zero-click’ searches, and research shows that over 65% of search queries do not result in a click-through. Another interesting fact is that 30% click through on an organic search result and around 5% on an advert.

'Zero-click' results stand out particularly clearly in the search results. These are the so-called rich snippets. For example, if you’re looking for football match results, Google returns the following result:

Rich snippet for football results

If you click on “More about this match”, you’ll see all the statistics on yellow cards, red cards, fouls, line-ups, group standings, etc. Google collects all this data from various websites and displays it in its search results. You always have the option to click through, but Google already provides the key information.

Google My Business

The first step for an organisation to improve its organic rankings is to set up a Google My Business listing. It takes between 30 minutes and an hour to set this up properly, but Google users will immediately see the address details, opening hours, contact details, photos and other practical information.

A Google Business listing summarises the key information and provides interesting, relevant links.

In the Netherlands, virtually all businesses have a Google Business Profile, but it is important to claim that listing and add further details to it. Business listings also appear in searches for services and include a rich snippet in the form of a map with data from Google Maps, so as to show the nearest business.

Structured data for rich snippets

As mentioned, Google extracts data from other websites and displays it in rich snippets. Structured data is the key here. By adding comprehensive structured data to every web page on your site, you increase the likelihood that Google will use data from your website to populate rich snippets. Of course, various factors play a part in this, but we’re all familiar with them.

SEO for zero-click searches is still relatively unknown amongst business owners, but just think of the opportunities this presents. We see this development as a an addition to our existing SEO services.