Source: StatCounter
Google owns 91.85% of the market share in web search. It roughly accounts for 4.71 billion internet users out of 5.18 billion internet users who use Google.
Despite the rise of AI chatbots and claims it will replace Google, it’s hard to break a habit people had 25 years to form.
People still turn to Google when they want to look up a product or get a quick answer to a question.
To turn this incoming traffic into leads and sales, you need the most updated Google search statistics for 2023.
Google Search Statistics Highlights 2023
The search engine second to Google in traffic is Bing, which only has 3.02% of the market share. It was lower in 2022 and only increased this year with the introduction of Bing Chat.
Yandex is the third most popular search engine at 1.49%.
Regardless of the nature of your business or target audience, optimizing your search strategy for Google makes sense. However, it wouldn’t hurt to take Bing into consideration due to the more business nature of its traffic.
Overall, though, Google wins over Bing in the following ways:
- The Google Search index is over 100,000,000 gigabytes in size. It stores 100 of billions of web pages.
- 68% of people use a search engine when they connect to the internet for the first time. Google is at least the number 1 choice for 90% of the traffic.
- 84% have admitted to using Google at least 3 times every day.
- People click on autocomplete suggestions 23% of the time when searching on Google.
- 15% of Google searches are new, which means 1.35 billion new queries are made per day.
- It takes users 14.6 seconds to click on a link after the first result.
- Google has a bounce rate of 27.68%, according to Similar Web.
Google is the most visited website in the world. It receives 86.3 billion visits per month. The biggest website after Google is Facebook, with 17.4 billion views per month.
Source: Similarweb
It would be too bold to claim search accounts for every visit to Google. People jump over to Google to eventually click on Gmail, Google Drive, Google Ads, etc.
Not to mention, Google owns the most popular video platform in the world.
How Many Google Searches Per Day?
According to Internet Live Stats, Google received 3.5 billion searches per day in 2012.
At a growth rate of 10% per year, Google searches per day in 2021 was 8.5 billion.
The search numbers for 2023 are unknown, but we can assume it passed 9 billion some time ago.
To put this into perspective, 9 billion amounts to 3.2 trillion searches in a single year. Or 27 billion Google searches per month.
For an ordinary person, this means they look up something 3 to 4 times on Google every day.
It even speaks to Google’s efficiency that users get the answer in a relatively small amount of searches. But this also confirms people don’t do a deep dive for every search or bother going to the second page of the search pages (SERPs).
In fact, after analyzing 4 million Google search results, we have confirmation only 0.63% go to the second page.
If the first page does not have the answer, user might simply change the query to get better results.
Additionally, Google received 65% zero-click searches in 2020. This means users got the answer from the overview on the result page and didn’t click any link to get the full picture.
With the introduction of search generative experience (SGE), we can expect zero-click searches to increase even more in 2024.
For now, the ones ranking at the top of SERPs have 10 times more chance of getting a click over their competitor. Organic results also have a click-through rate of 28.5%, while paid search gets 2%.
Your goal should be to get to the top of the page by organic means.
How many Google searches per second?
Keeping the older data in mind, we know Google processed 40,000 searches per second in 2012. This turned into 90,000 queries every second by the time 2021 rolled around.
Again, 2023 search numbers remain a mystery. But one can guess the queries have gone well over 100,000.
Relying on the same estimate, 600,000 searches happen per minute.
This is the scope of the web traffic small businesses can target. Even if a business shows up for 5,000 of these searches, it could lead to massive growth.
While you would need to target keywords tailored to your business, you need an idea of the keyword trends to understand what kind of traffic you can expect.
Google Search Traffic Breakdown 2023
A breakdown of Google Search traffic by country, device, and tools may help you get a better picture.
Google Search Traffic By Country
It doesn’t matter what part of the world you are in, Google is the most used search engine.
Except maybe South Korea, where Naver dominates the market.
Source: Statista
- 95.7% of Google’s search traffic comes from India.
- Brazil contributes the second most to Google at 90.8%.
- Spain takes up 90.38% and Italy 89.2%.
- 63% of the Google searches in the US happen on the phone.
The US is actually the 11th country in the world to use Google search.
Yet, the paid-per-click value of the US far surpasses that of any other country.
In countries like India, Google also provides search answers in a mix of local languages.
If you are solely creating content in English for Google, you are missing out on a huge search traffic.
Google Search Traffic By Device
Your site needs to be friendly across all devices.
While it’s true 92.3% of internet users access the web on their phone, mobile users also leave the site faster.
Mobile users have a bounce rate of 52.9%, while desktop users have marginally more patience- 44%.
An explanation for this could be the structure of the site. If the site isn’t optimized for mobile, the users may find it hard to navigate.
Other times, it could be a matter of preference.
The user may like the desktop version even when a site is fast to browse on a phone. So, they open it on their laptop instead.
If the site isn’t optimized for desktops, it will cause users to leave it, too.
There’s also a large number of tablet users who need a mix of mobile and desktop optimization.
Source: Statista
- Google contributes to 59% of all search traffic from mobile.
- Google Lens sources 91% of its search results from mobile-friendly sites.
- Only 17% of sites have mastered ranking for mobile and desktop.
The same site can have a different ranking for mobile than for desktop. Primary reason? Changes in the URL and site structure.
Google Lens Search Statistics: Google Search Statistics
Manual search is by far the only way Google receives queries.
Especially with the introduction of Google Lens in 2017, people have used the feature to identify objects and translate words they don’t understand while traveling.
From Google’s own admission, Google Lens receives 8 billion queries per month.
Google Lens is capable of recognizing a billion items and translating 100 languages. It’s abilities are being upgraded with each customer data it collects
It’s hard to figure out how to optimize for it, but it would be smart to use proper titles for the images you upload.
Google Voice Search Statistics: Google Search Statistics
If you give people the option to go hands-free, they will.
Take a look at the US. Almost 50% of Americans use the voice search feature every day.
Considering many are traveling by car, this is an extremely convenient feature in the Google app. And so, more than 34% of US consumers do a voice search every week.
However, most queries from voice searches are basic requests such as music recommendations or weather forecasts.
It seems people reserve typing for when they have an urgent question.
This doesn’t apply to visually impaired people, who prefer voice search to bypass the inconvenience of texting.
- Globally, over 20% of searches on the Google app are done by voice.
- 27% of people use their mobile for voice search.
- Google Assistant is built into more than 300,000 smart home devices.
- Google Assistant can answer 93.7% of all search queries.
- 80% of the time, Google Assistant picks out of the top 3 search results to answer your queries.
- Over 40% of voice search results read the featured snippet out loud.
According to predictions, the global voice and speech recognition market is growing at a CAGR of 17.2% since 2019. By 2025, the market is expected to have a valuation of $26.8 billion.
Google Search Keywords Statistics 2023: Google Search Statistics
Source: Ahrefs
Most marketing campaigns for Google start with keyword research. Some stats about the search pattern of users could offer valuable insights.
- 8% of searches are questions.
- Hidden terms in Google Search Console get 46.08% of clicks.
- 82% of shoppers add a “near me” to their search.
- 28% of “near me” search results in a purchase.
- Google Map searches for “shopping near me” have increased by 100% year after year.
- 99% of Americans use search to find local businesses.
- According to Ahrefs, only 94.74% of keywords get 10 searches per month.
- Conversely, 0.0008% of keywords own over 100,000 monthly searches.
In other words, despite the volume of searches occurring every year, a particularly small percentage owns the majority of the traffic.
Of course, these statistics are for long-tail keywords.
Short-tail keywords receive way more monthly searches per month, as you would find in the most searched term on Google section.
Google Search Business Statistics 2023
Source: Companies Marketcap
Google (Alphabet) is the 4th largest company in the world, with a market cap of $1.631 trillion. No other search engine comes close to it.
Of course, the entirety of the profit and market reach isn’t from search.
Google’s suite of productivity tools, e-commerce facilities, and entertainment avenues play a huge role.
But the crossover of all these markets happens on Google search.
For a small business owner, grabbing the attention of even 1% of these searchers can have a huge impact on your brand.
81% of internet users go to Google to find a product or service. In fact, Google also doubles as a review platform covering all industries.
Of course, people still turn to Tripadvisor for hotel reviews and Yelp for food place recommendations.
But Google covers every other industry, and most of the review reading happens on the My Business page, which shows up on searches.
If you aren’t getting some of these impressions from searches, you likely need to increase your efforts and optimize heavily.
- An average business shows up 1009 times per month on search. This means you get 33 times per day to make a strong impression on the searchers.
- Out of the 1000 searches, local businesses show up 34% of the time.
- 49% of businesses are viewed 1000 times on search.
- At 7.5%, Medical services have the highest listing on Google My Business.
- Amazon actually receives twice the product searchers than Google.
- 84% of business searches are discovery ones. Only 16% search with the intention of finding a business they already know.
- 87% of consumers search on Google to research local businesses.
5% of the searchers who find your business on Google My Business will take some kind of action. This can be anything from a website click to a call asking for directions to your local shop.
However, if you are a car dealer, you have the highest chance of getting a call or a website click from Google My Business. Yet, the hotels are the ones who get the most views on the search and Google Maps.
In addition to optimizing your website, you need to polish your business listing. Customers will only click on your website when potential customers see positive reviews and an active business page.
Now, if you don’t want much to do with organic ranking, you can turn to Google Adwords to get paid clicks.
The search word with the highest CPC is insurance at $54.91. If you are in the business, it’s quite a lot to spend to get customers. But a high CPC is also indicative of the demand the term generates, which is a positive sign.
Loans is the second most expensive term, costing advertisers $44.28 per click. Mortgage takes the third place at $47.12.
Considering the 10th most organic question globally in 2023 is how much a person needs to afford a house, this isn’t surprising.
Overall, paid ads seem to work for specific types of financial businesses.
Speaking of words with high significance, let’s look at the words which dominate Google searches.
Most Searched Terms on Google 2023
Source: Similarweb
YouTube is the most searched word on Google globally in 2023.
Oddly, YouTube seems to be the second or third most searched word in countries like the US or UK, where “weather” is of utmost importance.
The UK also still follows BBC News updates religiously, as it is the second most searched term there.
If we go by search trends in both countries, either social media or sports seem to be where people naturally gravitate.
However, one word did break through the norm. It was “Wordle”- the most organically popular game and word in 2022.
The word is still a neat high #31 in 2023, even if much of its novelty has worn off.
- ChatGPT entered the race in 2022 at #64. In 2023, it is at number 20. As the year is still in progress, ChatGPT’s ranking also appears to go up and down. It hits new spikes and then loses traffic quickly.
- 4 out of the top 10 Google searches direct you to a site owned by Google – YouTube, Gmail, Google Translate, and Gmail.
- Amazon, by far, owns the e-commerce space at #5. Its next competitor is Ebay, at number 35. Interestingly, Shein is at 49.
- NBA topped the sports list at 11 with a 102.50 monthly search volume.
But if these are the most searched terms, what are the burning questions people wanted answers to in 2023?
What is The Most Searched Question on Google 2023
According to Mondovo, the most searched question on Google in 2023 is “What is my IP?” It has a search volume of 3.35 million per month.
We can’t call it surprising. We all have the unfortunate experience of a faulty internet connection or a service provider who refuses to answer things straight.
However, the second most asked question is unexpected. 1.83 million searches per month have the keywords “What time is it.”
The third most asked question is on how to vote, and the fourth space is dedicated to how to tie a tie.
The word “What” itself receives 2.05 million monthly traffic. Most people actually search for the term to go to WhatsApp.
Similarweb’s report on most searched questions focuses on organic questions and gives us a deeper look into user behavior.
Source: Similarweb
For example, the second most top organic search is “what to watch.” While you might think people like Netflix, the search leader for the term is YouTube.
The third most searched organic term is “how to delete Instagram account,” while “how to delete Facebook account” holds the sixth spot.
More than anything, this speaks to the social media fatigue everyone is experiencing to some level.
People might also have had enough of the platforms introducing new features and changing the user interface without letting us get used to the old one.
ChatGPT, again, features at 12 with the most popular question- What is ChatGPT? However, the bulk of the fascination seems to be over, and searchers are concentrating on how to use it.
Final Thoughts
49% of US adults claim they are interested in search results powered by AI. Another 31% remain skeptical.
After the introduction of SGE, it is possible Google search statistics will look a little different next year.
There is also the possibility of much not changing, as featured snipped has been here long enough to have the same effect as SGE.
At present, your best marketing strategy for Google search is to follow Google’s helpful content guidelines and keep your website responsive.