Newsletters From:

SparkToro | Audience Research at Your Fingertips

Our mission is to make it easy to discover the websites, blogs, podcasts, social accounts, and publications that reach your audience.

2+ Followers

Audience Research Newsletter: 1% of Google Search clicks go to ads

07-08-2024

View this email in your browser

Eagle-eyed readers will notice this newsletter is a few days late. Happy belated July 4th!

-Amanda Natividad, VP Marketing

πŸ€“ 3 Audience Research Tips

Instantly improve one aspect of your marketing strategy:

Tip #1: Learn from the latest Zero-Click Search study...


We analyzed Google Search results over the past year. Here’s what we found:
  • 59% of Google searches end without a click.
  • Of the searches that do end with a click, almost 30% goes to a Google-owned property.
  • Google is sending less traffic to the open web.
  • 1% of clicks go to a paid ad.
>> Much, much more in Rand Fishkin's 2024 Zero-Click Search study.
 

Tip #2: If not SEO, invest your marketing dollars in this...


SEO isn't "dead." You just can't be over reliant on search traffic.

More and more people are searching on Google. But 59% of searches end without a click. Google is sending fewer referrals, but the overall amount of traffic is stable β€” due to the sheer volume of searches.

So where else should you make your marketing investments? Here are three ideas:

Invest in YouTube: Of the Google searches that end with a click, almost 30% go to a Google-owned property. Like YouTube. Consider if a video strategy aligns with your business goals, then invest accordingly.

Invest in discovery on other platforms: Treat a popular online marketplace and as your top-of-funnel channel. For ecommerce, this might be Amazon or Etsy. For writers, this might be Substack or Beehiiv. For service providers, this might be Udemy or Maven.

Invest in a social media-first strategy: It's not a new playbook, but it's one that still works. Build a following on a social media platform by publishing content with standalone value, or zero-click content. As you gain traction, nudge people toward your offering.

It's more important than ever to do your marketing where your audience already is.

Tip #3: Find "competitors" in LinkedIn, and do audience research.


In B2B? Check this out: LinkedIn has a tab in the "Analytics" section of your company page called "Competitors." When you open it, they'll suggest other LinkedIn pages that have significant audience overlap with your brand. The data there isn't great, but taking those suggested competitors and using their websites in SparkToro searches can be a goldmine!

We found several sites we'd never have otherwise thought to analyze (because they're not direct competitors, just sites that overlap with our audience). Take a look:

πŸ“œ Hone your storytelling chops


Let's transform your marketing strategy with the power of storytelling. Our friend Jay Acunzo joins us at our next SparkToro Office Hours to share his proven frameworks for effective storytelling and explain what makes stories truly successful, all tailored specifically for the B2B landscape. Register so you can join live + receive the recording.
Save your spot!

πŸͺ 3 Tidbits & Articles

These are all worth a click:

(1) Is Reddit taking itself out of Google?! No, they're just showing Google something different from what the rest of us see.

(2) Speaking of blocking crawlers, search engines, and AI scrapers, looks like Cloudflare's getting in on the action. (FWIW, we at SparkToro wouldn't recommend this for most businesses; you probably want your content crawled by AIs, especially the ones that are, or might get, popular.)

(3) Threads passed 175 million monthly active users (MAUs) in June. It's on track to surpass Twitter in MAUs in 2-3 years at the current growth rate.

πŸ‘―β€β™€οΈ 3 Social Media Posts

From Twitter/X and Threads.
Want to share this with a friend? Invite them to sign up for this 2x monthly newsletter.

Thanks for reading!
Copyright Β© 2024 SparkToro, All rights reserved.
You are receiving this email because you signed up for the free Audience Research newsletter on https://sparktoro.com/audience-research-newsletter

Our mailing address is:
SparkToro
17300 SE 270th PL #7866
Covington, WA 98042

Add us to your address book


Want to change how you receive these emails?
You can or .