{ "title": "Clienvora SEO and marketing statistics dataset", "version": "1.3.0", "updated": "2026-10-17", "postCount": 2085, "platformCount": 10, "count": 177, "note": "Prices are amounts mentioned in public discussions, not quoted market rates. Study design describes how each figure was produced.", "statistics": [ { "id": "backlinko-pos1-ctr", "category": "seo-outcomes", "categoryName": "SEO Outcomes & ROI", "value": "27.6%", "claim": "average click-through rate of the number-one organic result in Google", "type": "Outcome", "studyDesign": "Observational", "confidence": "high", "source": "Backlinko", "sourceUrl": "https://backlinko.com/google-ctr-stats", "year": 2025, "sample": "~4 million search results", "numerator": "", "denominator": "", "methodology": "Click-through rate modeling across roughly 4 million Google results, updated in Backlinko's 2025 CTR study." }, { "id": "backlinko-top3-share", "category": "seo-outcomes", "categoryName": "SEO Outcomes & ROI", "value": "54.4%", "claim": "share of all organic clicks that go to the top three results combined", "type": "Outcome", "studyDesign": "Observational", "confidence": "high", "source": "Backlinko", "sourceUrl": "https://backlinko.com/google-ctr-stats", "year": 2025, "sample": "~4 million search results", "numerator": "", "denominator": "", "methodology": "Distribution of clicks across ranking positions in Backlinko's 2025 click-through rate study." }, { "id": "backlinko-page2", "category": "seo-outcomes", "categoryName": "SEO Outcomes & ROI", "value": "0.63%", "claim": "of searchers click a result on the second page of Google", "type": "Outcome", "studyDesign": "Observational", "confidence": "high", "source": "Backlinko", "sourceUrl": "https://backlinko.com/google-ctr-stats", "year": 2025, "sample": "~4 million search results", "numerator": 63, "denominator": 10000, "methodology": "Click share measured for results ranked 11 and below in the same 2025 study." }, { "id": "backlinko-two-to-one", "category": "seo-outcomes", "categoryName": "SEO Outcomes & ROI", "value": "74.5%", "claim": "more clicks a page earns when it moves from position two to position one", "type": "Outcome", "studyDesign": "Observational", "confidence": "high", "source": "Backlinko", "sourceUrl": "https://backlinko.com/google-ctr-stats", "year": 2025, "sample": "~4 million search results", "numerator": "", "denominator": "", "methodology": "Relative click-through difference between position two and position one across the study sample." }, { "id": "ahrefs-zero-traffic", "category": "seo-outcomes", "categoryName": "SEO Outcomes & ROI", "value": "96.55%", "claim": "of all pages on the web get zero traffic from Google search", "type": "Outcome", "studyDesign": "Observational", "confidence": "high", "source": "Ahrefs", "sourceUrl": "https://ahrefs.com/blog/search-traffic-study/", "year": 2026, "sample": "14 billion-page index", "numerator": 13273500000, "denominator": 14000000000, "methodology": "Traffic estimate for every page in Ahrefs' 14-billion-page index; zero means no organic visits in the measured window." }, { "id": "ahrefs-page1-clicks", "category": "seo-outcomes", "categoryName": "SEO Outcomes & ROI", "value": "96.6%", "claim": "of all Google search clicks land on page one of the results", "type": "Outcome", "studyDesign": "Observational", "confidence": "high", "source": "Ahrefs", "sourceUrl": "https://ahrefs.com/blog/search-traffic-study/", "year": 2026, "sample": "click distribution study", "numerator": 966, "denominator": 1000, "methodology": "Share of total search clicks captured by page-one results in Ahrefs' click distribution analysis." }, { "id": "terakeet-roi", "category": "seo-outcomes", "categoryName": "SEO Outcomes & ROI", "value": "748%", "claim": "modeled three-year return on investment from SEO, or $7.48 back for every $1 spent", "type": "Outcome", "studyDesign": "Modeled estimate", "confidence": "medium", "source": "Terakeet via Search Engine Journal", "sourceUrl": "https://terakeet.com/blog/compounding-value-organic-search/", "year": 2026, "sample": "agency ROI analysis", "numerator": "", "denominator": "", "methodology": "Modeled three-year ROI across client engagements published by Terakeet and covered by Search Engine Journal. It is a modeled figure from one agency portfolio, not an audited industry average." }, { "id": "terakeet-close-rate", "category": "seo-outcomes", "categoryName": "SEO Outcomes & ROI", "value": "14.6% vs 1.7%", "claim": "close rate of SEO leads versus outbound leads", "type": "Outcome", "studyDesign": "Observational", "confidence": "medium", "source": "Terakeet via Search Engine Journal", "sourceUrl": "https://terakeet.com/blog/compounding-value-organic-search/", "year": 2026, "sample": "lead quality analysis", "numerator": "", "denominator": "", "methodology": "Lead close rates compared across inbound organic and outbound channels in Terakeet's published analysis." }, { "id": "firstpagesage-conversion", "category": "seo-outcomes", "categoryName": "SEO Outcomes & ROI", "value": "2.4% vs 1.3% vs 0.7%", "claim": "conversion rate of organic search visitors versus paid search versus social traffic", "type": "Outcome", "studyDesign": "Modeled estimate", "confidence": "medium", "source": "First Page Sage", "sourceUrl": "https://firstpagesage.com/reports/digital-marketing-conversion-rate", "year": 2026, "sample": "channel conversion benchmark", "numerator": "", "denominator": "", "methodology": "Median conversion rates by acquisition channel compiled in First Page Sage's 2026 benchmark." }, { "id": "smartsites-visits", "category": "seo-outcomes", "categoryName": "SEO Outcomes & ROI", "value": "21.5%", "claim": "share of median website visits that come from organic search", "type": "Outcome", "studyDesign": "Observational", "confidence": "high", "source": "SmartSites", "sourceUrl": "https://www.smartsites.com/blog/seo-benchmarks-1160-websites/", "year": 2026, "sample": "1,160 sites, Oct 2025-Sep 2026", "numerator": "", "denominator": "", "methodology": "Median channel share of sessions across 1,160 client sites measured in GA4 over twelve months." }, { "id": "smartsites-top3", "category": "seo-outcomes", "categoryName": "SEO Outcomes & ROI", "value": "71%", "claim": "of a site's Google clicks come from its top-three rankings", "type": "Outcome", "studyDesign": "Observational", "confidence": "high", "source": "SmartSites", "sourceUrl": "https://www.smartsites.com/blog/seo-benchmarks-1160-websites/", "year": 2026, "sample": "686 sites", "numerator": "", "denominator": "", "methodology": "Click distribution from Search Console data across 686 sites with sufficient ranking coverage." }, { "id": "brightedge-traffic", "category": "seo-outcomes", "categoryName": "SEO Outcomes & ROI", "value": "1,000%+", "claim": "more traffic from SEO than from organic social media", "type": "Industry", "studyDesign": "Observational", "confidence": "medium", "source": "BrightEdge", "sourceUrl": "https://www.brightedge.com/resources/research-reports/channel_share", "year": 2026, "sample": "channel traffic study", "numerator": "", "denominator": "", "methodology": "Relative organic search versus social traffic comparison from BrightEdge's channel research." }, { "id": "ahrefs-new-pages", "category": "seo-outcomes", "categoryName": "SEO Outcomes & ROI", "value": "1.74%", "claim": "of new pages reach Google's top 10 within their first year", "type": "Outcome", "studyDesign": "Observational", "confidence": "high", "source": "Ahrefs", "sourceUrl": "https://ahrefs.com/blog/how-long-does-it-take-to-rank-in-google-and-how-old-are-top-ranking-pages/", "year": 2025, "sample": "millions of newly published pages", "numerator": 174, "denominator": 10000, "methodology": "Ranking-age cohort study tracking new pages from publication through their first twelve months." }, { "id": "smartsites-conversion-share", "category": "seo-outcomes", "categoryName": "SEO Outcomes & ROI", "value": "29%", "claim": "of median website conversions start with organic search", "type": "Outcome", "studyDesign": "Observational", "confidence": "high", "source": "SmartSites", "sourceUrl": "https://www.smartsites.com/blog/seo-benchmarks-1160-websites/", "year": 2026, "sample": "956 sites with 50 or more conversions, Oct 2025-Sep 2026", "numerator": "", "denominator": "", "methodology": "GA4 conversion attribution across the SmartSites benchmark panel; organic search supplies 21.5% of visits and a larger share of conversions." }, { "id": "crux-cwv-mobile", "category": "technical-seo", "categoryName": "Technical SEO & Site Health", "value": "49.1%", "claim": "of mobile websites pass all three Core Web Vitals thresholds in real field data", "type": "Outcome", "studyDesign": "Official record", "confidence": "high", "source": "Chrome UX Report via PageSpeed Matters", "sourceUrl": "https://www.pagespeedmatters.com/resources/data-studies/core-web-vitals-pass-rates", "year": 2026, "sample": "13.75 million origins, May 2026", "numerator": "", "denominator": "", "methodology": "Share of origins passing LCP, INP, and CLS simultaneously in the Chrome UX Report for May 2026." }, { "id": "ps-page1-cwv", "category": "technical-seo", "categoryName": "Technical SEO & Site Health", "value": "47.6% vs 44.2%", "claim": "Core Web Vitals pass rate of page-one results versus page-two results", "type": "Outcome", "studyDesign": "Observational", "confidence": "high", "source": "PageSpeed Matters", "sourceUrl": "https://www.pagespeedmatters.com/resources/data-studies/core-web-vitals-pass-rates", "year": 2026, "sample": "37,036 sites, 9,553 keywords, June 2026", "numerator": "", "denominator": "", "methodology": "Field-measured pass rates by SERP position; the gap widens to 46.7% versus 39.1% among the most competitive keywords." }, { "id": "ps-lcp-fail", "category": "technical-seo", "categoryName": "Technical SEO & Site Health", "value": "67%", "claim": "of ranking pages that fail Core Web Vitals fail on LCP, the worst of the three metrics", "type": "Outcome", "studyDesign": "Observational", "confidence": "high", "source": "PageSpeed Matters", "sourceUrl": "https://www.pagespeedmatters.com/resources/data-studies/core-web-vitals-pass-rates", "year": 2026, "sample": "ranking pages in 9,553 keyword SERPs, June 2026", "numerator": 67, "denominator": 100, "methodology": "Failure breakdown by metric across ranking pages: 67% LCP, 60% INP, 42% CLS." }, { "id": "ps-top20-medians", "category": "technical-seo", "categoryName": "Technical SEO & Site Health", "value": "2.1s / 152ms / 0.02", "claim": "median LCP, INP, and CLS of pages ranking in Google's top 20", "type": "Outcome", "studyDesign": "Observational", "confidence": "high", "source": "PageSpeed Matters", "sourceUrl": "https://www.pagespeedmatters.com/resources/data-studies/core-web-vitals-pass-rates", "year": 2026, "sample": "field data from top-20 ranking pages, June 2026", "numerator": "", "denominator": "", "methodology": "Median real-user field values for the three Core Web Vitals among top-20 ranking pages." }, { "id": "portent-one-vs-five", "category": "technical-seo", "categoryName": "Technical SEO & Site Health", "value": "3.05% vs 0.41%", "claim": "conversion rate of pages loading in one second versus five seconds", "type": "Outcome", "studyDesign": "Observational", "confidence": "high", "source": "Portent", "sourceUrl": "https://www.portent.com/blog/analytics/research-site-speed-hurting-everyones-revenue.htm", "year": 2026, "sample": "ecommerce conversion dataset", "numerator": "", "denominator": "", "methodology": "Conversion rate segmented by page load time in Portent's frequently updated speed study." }, { "id": "google-per-second", "category": "technical-seo", "categoryName": "Technical SEO & Site Health", "value": "~7%", "claim": "drop in conversion for every extra second of page load time", "type": "Outcome", "studyDesign": "Official record", "confidence": "high", "source": "Google and Portent", "sourceUrl": "https://www.portent.com/blog/analytics/research-site-speed-hurting-everyones-revenue.htm", "year": 2026, "sample": "speed-to-conversion research", "numerator": "", "denominator": "", "methodology": "Per-second conversion decay observed in Google and Portent speed research, widely replicated since 2017." }, { "id": "google-bounce-3s", "category": "technical-seo", "categoryName": "Technical SEO & Site Health", "value": "53%", "claim": "of mobile visitors leave a site that takes longer than three seconds to load", "type": "Outcome", "studyDesign": "Observational", "confidence": "high", "source": "Google Think with Google", "sourceUrl": "https://www.portent.com/blog/analytics/research-site-speed-hurting-everyones-revenue.htm", "year": 2026, "sample": "mobile site-visit study", "numerator": 53, "denominator": 100, "methodology": "Bounce probability measured against load-time thresholds on mobile visits in Google's published research." }, { "id": "portent-bounce-curve", "category": "technical-seo", "categoryName": "Technical SEO & Site Health", "value": "7% / 32% / 90%", "claim": "bounce rate at one second, three seconds, and five seconds of page load", "type": "Outcome", "studyDesign": "Observational", "confidence": "high", "source": "Portent", "sourceUrl": "https://www.portent.com/blog/analytics/research-site-speed-hurting-everyones-revenue.htm", "year": 2026, "sample": "ecommerce bounce dataset", "numerator": "", "denominator": "", "methodology": "Bounce rate bucketed by load time in Portent's speed dataset." }, { "id": "backlinko-load-time", "category": "technical-seo", "categoryName": "Technical SEO & Site Health", "value": "1.65s", "claim": "median load time of pages ranking in Google's top 10, with the top 3 loading in 1.4 seconds", "type": "Outcome", "studyDesign": "Observational", "confidence": "high", "source": "Backlinko", "sourceUrl": "https://www.portent.com/blog/analytics/research-site-speed-hurting-everyones-revenue.htm", "year": 2026, "sample": "top-10 ranking pages", "numerator": "", "denominator": "", "methodology": "Load-time measurement across a large sample of top-ranking pages in Backlinko's page speed study." }, { "id": "enterprise-index-gap", "category": "technical-seo", "categoryName": "Technical SEO & Site Health", "value": "26% vs 4%", "claim": "of pages on enterprise sites are not indexed, versus 4% on small sites", "type": "Outcome", "studyDesign": "Observational", "confidence": "medium", "source": "Screaming Frog and Botify", "sourceUrl": "https://www.botify.com/blog/enterprise-seo-methodology", "year": 2026, "sample": "enterprise crawl datasets", "numerator": "", "denominator": "", "methodology": "Index coverage comparison between large and small sites in joint crawl analyses." }, { "id": "semrush-site-audit", "category": "technical-seo", "categoryName": "Technical SEO & Site Health", "value": "52%", "claim": "of websites publish duplicate content with no canonical tag", "type": "Industry", "studyDesign": "Observational", "confidence": "high", "source": "SEMrush Site Audit", "sourceUrl": "https://www.semrush.com/blog/technical-seo-audit/", "year": 2026, "sample": "300,000+ sites", "numerator": 52, "denominator": 100, "methodology": "Issue prevalence across 300,000+ sites audited by SEMrush; 58% also have broken robots.txt rules and 35% internal 404 links." }, { "id": "oncrawl-wasted-crawl", "category": "technical-seo", "categoryName": "Technical SEO & Site Health", "value": "29%", "claim": "of Googlebot crawl hits go to pages that never appear in search results", "type": "Industry", "studyDesign": "Observational", "confidence": "medium", "source": "OnCrawl and Botify", "sourceUrl": "https://www.oncrawl.com/technical-seo/crawl-perimeter-handle-crawl-budget-reserves/", "year": 2026, "sample": "server log studies", "numerator": "", "denominator": "", "methodology": "Crawl budget analysis from server log files showing the share of hits on non-ranking URLs." }, { "id": "index-time", "category": "technical-seo", "categoryName": "Technical SEO & Site Health", "value": "4-7 days", "claim": "average time for new content to get indexed in Google", "type": "Industry", "studyDesign": "Observational", "confidence": "medium", "source": "Ahrefs Content Explorer", "sourceUrl": "https://ahrefs.com/blog/seo-statistics/", "year": 2026, "sample": "newly published page cohorts", "numerator": "", "denominator": "", "methodology": "Time from publication to first indexation observed across newly discovered pages in Content Explorer." }, { "id": "cms-cwv", "category": "technical-seo", "categoryName": "Technical SEO & Site Health", "value": "38.4% vs ~75%", "claim": "Core Web Vitals pass rate of WordPress sites versus Shopify sites", "type": "Industry", "studyDesign": "Observational", "confidence": "high", "source": "HTTP Archive via PageSpeed Matters", "sourceUrl": "https://www.pagespeedmatters.com/resources/data-studies/core-web-vitals-pass-rates", "year": 2026, "sample": "millions of sites by CMS", "numerator": "", "denominator": "", "methodology": "Pass rates by CMS across the HTTP Archive; Duda leads at 85%, WordPress trails all major platforms." }, { "id": "clienvora-technical-posts", "category": "technical-seo", "categoryName": "Technical SEO & Site Health", "value": "146 posts", "claim": "of our 2,085-post industry dataset cover technical SEO: crawling, indexing, and Core Web Vitals", "type": "First-party", "studyDesign": "Internal analysis", "confidence": "high", "source": "Clienvora dataset", "sourceUrl": "https://www.clienvora.com/stats/#methodology", "year": 2026, "sample": "2,085 posts, 10 platforms", "numerator": 146, "denominator": 2085, "methodology": "Keyword classification of our collected posts; technical SEO terms matched 146 posts in the current dataset." }, { "id": "abby-average-score", "category": "on-page-seo", "categoryName": "On-Page SEO", "value": "42.0/100", "claim": "average on-page SEO score of websites scanned in 2026, with the median at 40", "type": "Industry", "studyDesign": "Observational", "confidence": "high", "source": "Abby SEO", "sourceUrl": "https://www.abbyseo.com/research/onpage-seo-statistics", "year": 2026, "sample": "1,778,210 sites, Mar-Jun 2026", "numerator": "", "denominator": "", "methodology": "Automated on-page checks across 1,778,210 sites; 60% of sites score below 50." }, { "id": "abby-meta-description", "category": "on-page-seo", "categoryName": "On-Page SEO", "value": "50%", "claim": "of websites have no meta description, and only 18.1% fall in the recommended length", "type": "Industry", "studyDesign": "Observational", "confidence": "high", "source": "Abby SEO", "sourceUrl": "https://www.abbyseo.com/research/onpage-seo-statistics", "year": 2026, "sample": "1,778,210 sites, Mar-Jun 2026", "numerator": 50, "denominator": 100, "methodology": "Presence and length check of the meta description tag across the full scan." }, { "id": "abby-h1", "category": "on-page-seo", "categoryName": "On-Page SEO", "value": "44.3%", "claim": "of websites have no H1 heading on their pages", "type": "Industry", "studyDesign": "Observational", "confidence": "high", "source": "Abby SEO", "sourceUrl": "https://www.abbyseo.com/research/onpage-seo-statistics", "year": 2026, "sample": "1,778,210 sites, Mar-Jun 2026", "numerator": 443, "denominator": 1000, "methodology": "Heading tag presence checked across all scanned pages." }, { "id": "abby-open-graph", "category": "on-page-seo", "categoryName": "On-Page SEO", "value": "74%", "claim": "of websites are missing at least one Open Graph tag, the most-failed on-page check", "type": "Industry", "studyDesign": "Observational", "confidence": "high", "source": "Abby SEO", "sourceUrl": "https://www.abbyseo.com/research/onpage-seo-statistics", "year": 2026, "sample": "1,778,210 sites, Mar-Jun 2026", "numerator": 74, "denominator": 100, "methodology": "Open Graph tag completeness measured across the scan population." }, { "id": "abby-structured-data", "category": "on-page-seo", "categoryName": "On-Page SEO", "value": "61%", "claim": "of websites publish no structured data at all", "type": "Industry", "studyDesign": "Observational", "confidence": "high", "source": "Abby SEO", "sourceUrl": "https://www.abbyseo.com/research/onpage-seo-statistics", "year": 2026, "sample": "1,778,210 sites, Mar-Jun 2026", "numerator": 61, "denominator": 100, "methodology": "JSON-LD, Microdata, and RDFa presence checked on every scanned page." }, { "id": "visionary-depth-vs-length", "category": "on-page-seo", "categoryName": "On-Page SEO", "value": "0.62 vs 0.18", "claim": "ranking correlation of content depth versus raw word count, which is nearly dead as a signal", "type": "Outcome", "studyDesign": "Observational", "confidence": "high", "source": "Visionary ranking factor study", "sourceUrl": "https://visionary-marketing.co.uk/blog/seo-ranking-factor-study-2026", "year": 2026, "sample": "100,000 pages, 5,000 keywords, Feb-Mar 2026", "numerator": "", "denominator": "", "methodology": "Correlation of ranking position with depth coverage and word count across the full study panel." }, { "id": "visionary-decile-gain", "category": "on-page-seo", "categoryName": "On-Page SEO", "value": "+4.2 positions", "claim": "average rank gain of pages in the top decile of content depth", "type": "Outcome", "studyDesign": "Observational", "confidence": "high", "source": "Visionary ranking factor study", "sourceUrl": "https://visionary-marketing.co.uk/blog/seo-ranking-factor-study-2026", "year": 2026, "sample": "100,000 pages, Feb-Mar 2026", "numerator": "", "denominator": "", "methodology": "Rank comparison between the deepest-decile pages and the study median." }, { "id": "visionary-schema-gain", "category": "on-page-seo", "categoryName": "On-Page SEO", "value": "+12.2 positions", "claim": "average rank difference between pages with full schema markup and pages with none, measured as a correlation at similar authority", "type": "Outcome", "studyDesign": "Observational", "confidence": "high", "source": "Visionary ranking factor study", "sourceUrl": "https://visionary-marketing.co.uk/blog/seo-ranking-factor-study-2026", "year": 2026, "sample": "100,000 pages, Feb-Mar 2026", "numerator": "", "denominator": "", "methodology": "Schema-bearing pages compared with schema-free pages at similar authority. This is an observational comparison, so it shows an association and does not establish that schema markup caused the rank difference; schema correlation has tripled since 2018." }, { "id": "visionary-h2-questions", "category": "on-page-seo", "categoryName": "On-Page SEO", "value": "0.34", "claim": "correlation between ranking and H2 headings phrased as the questions users type", "type": "Outcome", "studyDesign": "Observational", "confidence": "high", "source": "Visionary ranking factor study", "sourceUrl": "https://visionary-marketing.co.uk/blog/seo-ranking-factor-study-2026", "year": 2026, "sample": "100,000 pages, Feb-Mar 2026", "numerator": "", "denominator": "", "methodology": "Question-form heading detection matched against ranking position across the study panel." }, { "id": "ovisy-cluster-linking", "category": "on-page-seo", "categoryName": "On-Page SEO", "value": "+94%", "claim": "ranking improvement measured from pillar-cluster cross-linking between related pages", "type": "Outcome", "studyDesign": "Observational", "confidence": "medium", "source": "Ovisy SEO Meta Study", "sourceUrl": "https://ovisy.hr/seo-meta-study", "year": 2026, "sample": "18 sites, 1,391 case studies screened", "numerator": "", "denominator": "", "methodology": "Controlled evidence screened from 1,391 case studies; 18 sites met the methodology bar for inclusion." }, { "id": "contentpulse-updates", "category": "on-page-seo", "categoryName": "On-Page SEO", "value": "+55%", "claim": "organic sessions gained by updating existing posts with fresh facts and expanded sections", "type": "Outcome", "studyDesign": "Controlled test", "confidence": "medium", "source": "ContentPulse controlled test", "sourceUrl": "https://contentpulse.io/resources/i-tracked-content-freshness-for-6-months-here-is-what-happened", "year": 2026, "sample": "40 pages, 2026", "numerator": "", "denominator": "", "methodology": "Before-and-after session comparison on 40 treated pages with untreated controls." }, { "id": "moz-title-chasing", "category": "on-page-seo", "categoryName": "On-Page SEO", "value": "-20%", "claim": "organic session loss from rewriting titles to chase higher-volume keywords", "type": "Outcome", "studyDesign": "Controlled test", "confidence": "high", "source": "Moz and SearchPilot", "sourceUrl": "https://moz.com/blog/title-tag-rewrite-case-study", "year": 2026, "sample": "controlled title rewrites", "numerator": "", "denominator": "", "methodology": "A/B title rewrites run by SearchPilot and reported by Moz; a companion test measured -11% from keyword-targeted rewrites." }, { "id": "ahrefs-title-rewrites", "category": "on-page-seo", "categoryName": "On-Page SEO", "value": "33.4%", "claim": "of title tags in Google's search results are rewritten by Google", "type": "Industry", "studyDesign": "Observational", "confidence": "high", "source": "Ahrefs", "sourceUrl": "https://ahrefs.com/blog/seo-statistics/", "year": 2026, "sample": "top-ranking title tags", "numerator": "", "denominator": "", "methodology": "Title tag comparison between on-page markup and the SERP display across a large ranking sample." }, { "id": "ahrefs-word-count", "category": "on-page-seo", "categoryName": "On-Page SEO", "value": "0.04", "claim": "correlation between word count and ranking; the average top-10 page holds 1,188 words", "type": "Outcome", "studyDesign": "Observational", "confidence": "high", "source": "Ahrefs", "sourceUrl": "https://ahrefs.com/blog/seo-statistics/", "year": 2026, "sample": "174,048 pages, Dec 2025", "numerator": "", "denominator": "", "methodology": "Spearman correlation of word count against ranking position across 174,048 pages." }, { "id": "brightlocal-local-search", "category": "local-seo", "categoryName": "Local SEO", "value": "84%", "claim": "of consumers searched for a local business in the past three months", "type": "Industry", "studyDesign": "Survey", "confidence": "high", "source": "BrightLocal Consumer Search Behavior", "sourceUrl": "https://www.brightlocal.com/research/consumer-search-behavior-speed/", "year": 2026, "sample": "consumer survey, 2026", "numerator": 84, "denominator": 100, "methodology": "Self-reported local search frequency from BrightLocal's annual consumer survey." }, { "id": "backlinko-pack-clicks", "category": "local-seo", "categoryName": "Local SEO", "value": "42%", "claim": "of clicks on local search results go to the Local Pack", "type": "Outcome", "studyDesign": "Observational", "confidence": "high", "source": "Backlinko", "sourceUrl": "https://backlinko.com/seo-stats", "year": 2026, "sample": "local SERP click study", "numerator": "", "denominator": "", "methodology": "Click distribution across Local Pack, ads, and organic listings on local SERPs." }, { "id": "brightlocal-pack-ctr", "category": "local-seo", "categoryName": "Local SEO", "value": "17.8% / 13.6% / 10.4%", "claim": "Local Pack click-through rates for positions one, two, and three", "type": "Outcome", "studyDesign": "Observational", "confidence": "high", "source": "BrightLocal Local Pack CTR study", "sourceUrl": "https://www.brightlocal.com/research/local-consumer-review-survey/", "year": 2026, "sample": "local SERP click dataset", "numerator": "", "denominator": "", "methodology": "Position-level click-through rates measured across local search result pages." }, { "id": "moz-local-pack", "category": "local-seo", "categoryName": "Local SEO", "value": "93%", "claim": "of local searches display a Local Pack in the results", "type": "Industry", "studyDesign": "Observational", "confidence": "high", "source": "Moz SERP Features", "sourceUrl": "https://hsinfo.moz.com/hubfs/Whitepapers%2c%20eBooks%2c%20Reports/STAT%20Whitepapers/The%20SERP%20in%202026%20%E2%80%94%C2%A0A%20data-driven%20feature%20analysis.pdf", "year": 2026, "sample": "SERP feature tracking", "numerator": 93, "denominator": 100, "methodology": "Local Pack presence rate tracked across local-intent query sets in Moz's SERP feature data." }, { "id": "google-gbp-complete", "category": "local-seo", "categoryName": "Local SEO", "value": "7x", "claim": "more clicks for a complete Google Business Profile versus an incomplete one", "type": "Outcome", "studyDesign": "Official record", "confidence": "high", "source": "Google", "sourceUrl": "https://support.google.com/business/answer/10515606", "year": 2026, "sample": "Google Business Profile data", "numerator": "", "denominator": "", "methodology": "Click comparison by profile completeness in Google's own Business Profile reporting." }, { "id": "whitespark-proximity", "category": "local-seo", "categoryName": "Local SEO", "value": "~55%", "claim": "of Local Pack ranking weight comes from proximity, the single largest factor", "type": "Industry", "studyDesign": "Survey", "confidence": "medium", "source": "Whitespark Local Search Ranking Factors", "sourceUrl": "https://whitespark.ca/local-search-ranking-factors/", "year": 2026, "sample": "practitioner survey", "numerator": "", "denominator": "", "methodology": "Weighted factor importance as reported by local search practitioners in the annual survey." }, { "id": "moz-nap-consistency", "category": "local-seo", "categoryName": "Local SEO", "value": "+23%", "claim": "more local rankings from consistent NAP citations across platforms", "type": "Outcome", "studyDesign": "Observational", "confidence": "medium", "source": "Moz and BrightLocal", "sourceUrl": "https://www.brightlocal.com/research/local-consumer-review-survey/", "year": 2026, "sample": "citation consistency studies", "numerator": "", "denominator": "", "methodology": "Ranking difference observed between businesses with consistent name, address, and phone data and those without." }, { "id": "brightlocal-reviews-read", "category": "local-seo", "categoryName": "Local SEO", "value": "97%", "claim": "of consumers read online reviews for local businesses", "type": "Industry", "studyDesign": "Survey", "confidence": "high", "source": "BrightLocal Local Consumer Review Survey", "sourceUrl": "https://www.brightlocal.com/research/local-consumer-review-survey/", "year": 2026, "sample": "1,002 US adults", "numerator": 97, "denominator": 100, "methodology": "Annual consumer review-survey response from 1,002 US adults." }, { "id": "brightlocal-star-floor", "category": "local-seo", "categoryName": "Local SEO", "value": "31%", "claim": "will only use a business rated 4.5 stars or higher, up from 17% a year earlier", "type": "Industry", "studyDesign": "Survey", "confidence": "high", "source": "BrightLocal Local Consumer Review Survey", "sourceUrl": "https://www.brightlocal.com/research/local-consumer-review-survey/", "year": 2026, "sample": "1,002 US adults", "numerator": 31, "denominator": 100, "methodology": "Minimum star-rating threshold reported by consumers; 68% now require 4+ stars, up from 55%." }, { "id": "brightlocal-ai-recommend", "category": "local-seo", "categoryName": "Local SEO", "value": "45%", "claim": "use AI tools like ChatGPT for local business recommendations, up from 6% in 2025", "type": "Industry", "studyDesign": "Survey", "confidence": "high", "source": "BrightLocal Local Consumer Review Survey", "sourceUrl": "https://www.brightlocal.com/research/local-consumer-review-survey/", "year": 2026, "sample": "1,002 US adults", "numerator": 45, "denominator": 100, "methodology": "Self-reported AI tool use for finding and evaluating local businesses, year-over-year comparison." }, { "id": "brightlocal-50-reviews", "category": "local-seo", "categoryName": "Local SEO", "value": "266%", "claim": "more likely to appear in the Local Pack with 50 or more reviews versus fewer than 10", "type": "Outcome", "studyDesign": "Observational", "confidence": "high", "source": "BrightLocal", "sourceUrl": "https://www.brightlocal.com/research/local-consumer-review-survey/", "year": 2026, "sample": "Local Pack appearance dataset", "numerator": "", "denominator": "", "methodology": "Local Pack appearance rate bucketed by review count across tracked business listings." }, { "id": "backlinko-near-me", "category": "local-seo", "categoryName": "Local SEO", "value": "76%", "claim": "of 'near me' mobile searches lead to a visit within 24 hours", "type": "Outcome", "studyDesign": "Observational", "confidence": "high", "source": "Backlinko", "sourceUrl": "https://backlinko.com/seo-stats", "year": 2026, "sample": "near-me search behavior study", "numerator": "", "denominator": "", "methodology": "Visit conversion window measured for mobile 'near me' queries; 78% convert offline." }, { "id": "synup-local-pack", "category": "local-seo", "categoryName": "Local SEO", "value": "91.4%", "claim": "of local results pages show a Local Pack", "type": "Industry", "studyDesign": "Observational", "confidence": "high", "source": "Synup local SERP study", "sourceUrl": "https://synup.com/research/local-serp-study", "year": 2026, "sample": "53,900 SERPs, Sep 2026", "numerator": "", "denominator": "", "methodology": "Local Pack presence measured across 53,900 local search result pages collected in September 2026." }, { "id": "synup-ai-overview", "category": "local-seo", "categoryName": "Local SEO", "value": "4% vs 75.4%", "claim": "AI Overview rate on 'near me' pages versus pages where the user states a specific need", "type": "Outcome", "studyDesign": "Observational", "confidence": "high", "source": "Synup local SERP study", "sourceUrl": "https://synup.com/research/local-serp-study", "year": 2026, "sample": "53,900 SERPs, Sep 2026", "numerator": "", "denominator": "", "methodology": "AI Overview trigger rate segmented by query style within the same local SERP dataset." }, { "id": "constructor-site-search", "category": "ecommerce-seo", "categoryName": "Ecommerce SEO", "value": "2.5x", "claim": "conversion rate of shoppers who use site search versus those who do not; 25% of traffic drives 57% of revenue", "type": "Outcome", "studyDesign": "Observational", "confidence": "high", "source": "Constructor", "sourceUrl": "https://info.constructor.com/beyond-relevance-report", "year": 2026, "sample": "609 million searches, 113 retail sites, 2024-2026", "numerator": "", "denominator": "", "methodology": "Site-search cohort conversion compared against non-searching sessions across 113 retail sites." }, { "id": "suff-category-first", "category": "ecommerce-seo", "categoryName": "Ecommerce SEO", "value": "~7 in 10", "claim": "product searches rank a category or listing page first, not a single product page", "type": "Outcome", "studyDesign": "Observational", "confidence": "medium", "source": "Suff Digital", "sourceUrl": "https://www.suffdigital.com/resources/data-studies/ecommerce-seo", "year": 2026, "sample": "US product searches, 2026", "numerator": "", "denominator": "", "methodology": "Page-type analysis of number-one results across US product search queries; single product pages win only about 6%." }, { "id": "suff-product-schema", "category": "ecommerce-seo", "categoryName": "Ecommerce SEO", "value": "73%", "claim": "of small-business product pages have no Product schema markup", "type": "Industry", "studyDesign": "Observational", "confidence": "high", "source": "Suff Digital", "sourceUrl": "https://www.suffdigital.com/resources/data-studies/product-schema-small-business-pages", "year": 2026, "sample": "US small-business ecommerce sites", "numerator": 73, "denominator": 100, "methodology": "Structured data presence checked on product pages across a US small-business sample; only 4.5% mark up ratings." }, { "id": "suff-thin-pages", "category": "ecommerce-seo", "categoryName": "Ecommerce SEO", "value": "57%", "claim": "of small-business product pages carry fewer than 300 words, with 25% under 150", "type": "Industry", "studyDesign": "Observational", "confidence": "high", "source": "Suff Digital", "sourceUrl": "https://www.suffdigital.com/resources/data-studies/product-schema-small-business-pages", "year": 2026, "sample": "US small-business ecommerce sites", "numerator": 57, "denominator": 100, "methodology": "Word count measured on product page templates across the sampled stores." }, { "id": "suff-shopify-share", "category": "ecommerce-seo", "categoryName": "Ecommerce SEO", "value": "44.8%", "claim": "of online stores ranking on Google's page one run Shopify, with WordPress at 10%", "type": "Industry", "studyDesign": "Observational", "confidence": "medium", "source": "Suff Digital", "sourceUrl": "https://www.suffdigital.com/resources/data-studies/ecommerce-seo", "year": 2026, "sample": "page-one online stores, 2026", "numerator": 448, "denominator": 1000, "methodology": "CMS detection across page-one ecommerce results in the study sample." }, { "id": "semrush-ecom-organic", "category": "ecommerce-seo", "categoryName": "Ecommerce SEO", "value": "33-43%", "claim": "share of ecommerce traffic that comes from organic search", "type": "Industry", "studyDesign": "Modeled estimate", "confidence": "medium", "source": "Semrush", "sourceUrl": "https://www.semrush.com/blog/ecommerce-seo/", "year": 2026, "sample": "ecommerce traffic channel studies", "numerator": "", "denominator": "", "methodology": "Organic channel share range across ecommerce channel studies; sites with 12-plus months of SEO reach 35-55%." }, { "id": "littledata-shopify-cvr", "category": "ecommerce-seo", "categoryName": "Ecommerce SEO", "value": "1.4%", "claim": "median conversion rate of Shopify stores, with the top 10% reaching 3.4%", "type": "Outcome", "studyDesign": "Observational", "confidence": "high", "source": "Littledata", "sourceUrl": "https://www.littledata.io/ecommerce-conversion-rate", "year": 2026, "sample": "421 Shopify stores, Sep 2026", "numerator": "", "denominator": "", "methodology": "Store-level conversion rate distribution across 421 connected Shopify stores." }, { "id": "spiegel-reviews", "category": "ecommerce-seo", "categoryName": "Ecommerce SEO", "value": "270%", "claim": "higher conversion on product pages showing five or more reviews versus none", "type": "Outcome", "studyDesign": "Observational", "confidence": "high", "source": "Spiegel Research Center", "sourceUrl": "https://spiegel.medill.northwestern.edu/how-online-reviews-influence-sales/", "year": 2026, "sample": "online retail review study", "numerator": "", "denominator": "", "methodology": "Conversion comparison by review presence and volume in Spiegel's review-impact research." }, { "id": "semrush-unique-descriptions", "category": "ecommerce-seo", "categoryName": "Ecommerce SEO", "value": "74%", "claim": "more organic keywords ranked per page with unique product descriptions versus manufacturer copy, an observed association", "type": "Outcome", "studyDesign": "Controlled test", "confidence": "high", "source": "Semrush", "sourceUrl": "https://www.semrush.com/blog/ecommerce-seo/", "year": 2026, "sample": "product page keyword study", "numerator": 74, "denominator": 100, "methodology": "Comparison of keyword counts between pages with unique descriptions and pages carrying manufacturer copy in Semrush's data; association, not a controlled test, so it does not prove unique descriptions alone cause the ranking difference." }, { "id": "baymard-cart-abandonment", "category": "ecommerce-seo", "categoryName": "Ecommerce SEO", "value": "70.22%", "claim": "average cart abandonment rate across ecommerce", "type": "Industry", "studyDesign": "Modeled estimate", "confidence": "high", "source": "Baymard Institute", "sourceUrl": "https://baymard.com/lists/cart-abandonment-rate", "year": 2026, "sample": "aggregation of 50 studies", "numerator": 7022, "denominator": 10000, "methodology": "Pooled average of cart abandonment rates across 50 published studies in Baymard's meta-analysis." }, { "id": "ecom-seo-roi", "category": "ecommerce-seo", "categoryName": "Ecommerce SEO", "value": "317%", "claim": "estimated 12-month return on investment from ecommerce SEO, combined from published figures", "type": "Outcome", "studyDesign": "Modeled estimate", "confidence": "medium", "source": "Ahrefs and Semrush composite", "sourceUrl": "https://ahrefs.com/blog/seo-statistics/", "year": 2026, "sample": "ROI composite estimates", "numerator": "", "denominator": "", "methodology": "Composite of published ecommerce SEO ROI figures from Ahrefs and Semrush datasets. The studies define cost, attribution, and time horizon differently, so treat this as an estimate and not an observed industry-wide return or a guarantee." }, { "id": "ahrefs-category-sessions", "category": "ecommerce-seo", "categoryName": "Ecommerce SEO", "value": "60-70%", "claim": "of ecommerce organic sessions land on category pages, not product pages", "type": "Outcome", "studyDesign": "Observational", "confidence": "high", "source": "Ahrefs crawl analysis", "sourceUrl": "https://ahrefs.com/blog/seo-statistics/", "year": 2026, "sample": "10,000+ sites", "numerator": "", "denominator": "", "methodology": "Organic landing-page distribution by template type across a crawl of more than 10,000 ecommerce sites." }, { "id": "schema-ctr-lift", "category": "ecommerce-seo", "categoryName": "Ecommerce SEO", "value": "15-30%", "claim": "organic click-through lift from Product, Offer, and Review schema markup", "type": "Outcome", "studyDesign": "Observational", "confidence": "medium", "source": "composite of published schema A/B studies", "sourceUrl": "https://visionary-marketing.co.uk/blog/seo-ranking-factor-study-2026", "year": 2026, "sample": "aggregated schema studies", "numerator": "", "denominator": "", "methodology": "Range drawn from several published schema A/B studies; results vary by industry and SERP feature availability." }, { "id": "conversionteam-page-types", "category": "ecommerce-seo", "categoryName": "Ecommerce SEO", "value": "4.7% vs 3.1%", "claim": "median conversion rate of product pages versus category pages", "type": "Outcome", "studyDesign": "Controlled test", "confidence": "high", "source": "ConversionTeam", "sourceUrl": "https://www.conversionteam.com/ecommerce-conversion-rates/", "year": 2026, "sample": "167 A/B tests, 2026", "numerator": "", "denominator": "", "methodology": "Median variant conversion by page type across 167 ecommerce A/B tests." }, { "id": "ahrefs-168-vs-12", "category": "link-building", "categoryName": "Link Building & Authority", "value": "168 vs 12", "claim": "average referring domains of the number-one ranking page versus a page-two result", "type": "Outcome", "studyDesign": "Observational", "confidence": "high", "source": "Ahrefs", "sourceUrl": "https://ahrefs.com/blog/seo-statistics/", "year": 2026, "sample": "ranking page link profiles", "numerator": "", "denominator": "", "methodology": "Referring domain averages by position; domain rating runs 78 at position one versus 42 on page two." }, { "id": "backlinko-38x", "category": "link-building", "categoryName": "Link Building & Authority", "value": "3.8x", "claim": "more backlinks the number-one result has versus pages ranked two through ten", "type": "Outcome", "studyDesign": "Observational", "confidence": "high", "source": "Backlinko", "sourceUrl": "https://backlinko.com/search-engine-ranking", "year": 2025, "sample": "11.8 million results", "numerator": "", "denominator": "", "methodology": "Backlink count comparison between position one and positions two through ten across 11.8 million results." }, { "id": "ahrefs-link-correlation", "category": "link-building", "categoryName": "Link Building & Authority", "value": "0.255", "claim": "correlation between referring domains and rankings, the strongest single factor measured", "type": "Outcome", "studyDesign": "Observational", "confidence": "high", "source": "Ahrefs", "sourceUrl": "https://ahrefs.com/blog/seo-statistics/", "year": 2025, "sample": "1 million SERPs", "numerator": "", "denominator": "", "methodology": "Spearman correlation of referring domain count against ranking position across 1 million keywords." }, { "id": "ahrefs-10x", "category": "link-building", "categoryName": "Link Building & Authority", "value": "10x", "claim": "better performance for pages with at least one backlink versus pages with none", "type": "Outcome", "studyDesign": "Observational", "confidence": "high", "source": "Ahrefs", "sourceUrl": "https://ahrefs.com/blog/seo-statistics/", "year": 2026, "sample": "indexed page cohorts", "numerator": "", "denominator": "", "methodology": "Traffic and ranking comparison between linked and unlinked pages in Ahrefs' index analysis." }, { "id": "ahrefs-22-percent", "category": "link-building", "categoryName": "Link Building & Authority", "value": "2.2%", "claim": "of published content earns links from more than one website", "type": "Outcome", "studyDesign": "Observational", "confidence": "high", "source": "Ahrefs Content Explorer", "sourceUrl": "https://ahrefs.com/blog/seo-statistics/", "year": 2026, "sample": "billions of indexed pages", "numerator": 22, "denominator": 1000, "methodology": "Backlink distribution across all indexed content; 97.8% of pages get zero or one linking domain." }, { "id": "ahrefs-dr-speed", "category": "link-building", "categoryName": "Link Building & Authority", "value": "2.7x", "claim": "faster ranking for new content on sites with DR 50+ versus sites under DR 30, observed across indexed content", "type": "Outcome", "studyDesign": "Controlled test", "confidence": "high", "source": "Ahrefs", "sourceUrl": "https://ahrefs.com/blog/seo-statistics/", "year": 2026, "sample": "new content ranking-speed study", "numerator": "", "denominator": "", "methodology": "Observed ranking-speed comparison across new content by site DR band in Ahrefs' data; a correlation, not a controlled experiment, so it does not prove that DR alone causes faster ranking." }, { "id": "ahrefs-dr-traffic", "category": "link-building", "categoryName": "Link Building & Authority", "value": "+27%", "claim": "organic traffic difference associated with each 10-point rise in domain rating, a correlation across sites", "type": "Outcome", "studyDesign": "Controlled test", "confidence": "high", "source": "Ahrefs", "sourceUrl": "https://ahrefs.com/blog/seo-statistics/", "year": 2026, "sample": "domain authority correlation study", "numerator": "", "denominator": "", "methodology": "Correlational study across sites in Ahrefs' index linking domain rating to organic traffic; association, not a controlled test, so it does not prove that raising DR causes the traffic gain." }, { "id": "ahrefs-78-percent", "category": "link-building", "categoryName": "Link Building & Authority", "value": "78%", "claim": "of all dofollow backlinks on the internet belong to the top 1% of sites", "type": "Industry", "studyDesign": "Observational", "confidence": "high", "source": "Ahrefs web index", "sourceUrl": "https://ahrefs.com/blog/seo-statistics/", "year": 2026, "sample": "full backlink index", "numerator": 78, "denominator": 100, "methodology": "Link distribution analysis across Ahrefs' live web index." }, { "id": "authority-pace", "category": "link-building", "categoryName": "Link Building & Authority", "value": "4.2x", "claim": "more ranking improvement from links spread over 12-plus months versus concentrated in three", "type": "Outcome", "studyDesign": "Observational", "confidence": "medium", "source": "Authority Hacker", "sourceUrl": "https://searchlab.nl/en/statistics/link-building-statistics-2026", "year": 2026, "sample": "link building campaign study", "numerator": "", "denominator": "", "methodology": "Ranking outcomes compared between paced and concentrated link acquisition schedules." }, { "id": "backlinko-outreach-rate", "category": "link-building", "categoryName": "Link Building & Authority", "value": "8.5%", "claim": "average response rate to cold link outreach, meaning 91.5% of emails get no reply", "type": "Industry", "studyDesign": "Observational", "confidence": "high", "source": "Backlinko", "sourceUrl": "https://backlinko.com/seo-stats", "year": 2026, "sample": "12 million outreach emails", "numerator": 1020000, "denominator": 12000000, "methodology": "Reply rate measured across 12 million cold outreach emails in Backlinko's link building study." }, { "id": "backlinko-personalization", "category": "link-building", "categoryName": "Link Building & Authority", "value": "18.2% vs 3.7%", "claim": "response rate of personalized one-to-one outreach versus generic bulk templates", "type": "Outcome", "studyDesign": "Controlled test", "confidence": "high", "source": "Backlinko and Authority Hacker", "sourceUrl": "https://backlinko.com/seo-stats", "year": 2026, "sample": "outreach experiments, 2025-2026", "numerator": "", "denominator": "", "methodology": "Controlled comparison of personalized and templated email campaigns." }, { "id": "backlinko-follow-ups", "category": "link-building", "categoryName": "Link Building & Authority", "value": "+65.8%", "claim": "more replies from sending follow-up emails instead of stopping at one", "type": "Outcome", "studyDesign": "Observational", "confidence": "high", "source": "Backlinko", "sourceUrl": "https://backlinko.com/seo-stats", "year": 2026, "sample": "12 million outreach emails", "numerator": "", "denominator": "", "methodology": "Reply lift from follow-up sequences; BuzzStream separately measures an 85% higher reply rate for multi-email sequences." }, { "id": "editorial-link-cost", "category": "link-building", "categoryName": "Link Building & Authority", "value": "$508.95", "claim": "average cost of one quality backlink", "type": "Industry", "studyDesign": "Survey", "confidence": "medium", "source": "Editorial.Link", "sourceUrl": "https://editorial.link/link-building-statistics/", "year": 2025, "sample": "518-professional survey", "numerator": "", "denominator": "", "methodology": "Self-reported average cost per acquired link from a survey of 518 link building professionals." }, { "id": "ahrefs-mentions-vs-links", "category": "link-building", "categoryName": "Link Building & Authority", "value": "0.664 vs 0.218", "claim": "correlation of AI Overview brand visibility with branded mentions versus backlinks, a three-to-one ratio", "type": "Outcome", "studyDesign": "Observational", "confidence": "high", "source": "Ahrefs", "sourceUrl": "https://ahrefs.com/blog/seo-statistics/", "year": 2025, "sample": "75,000 brands", "numerator": 75000, "denominator": 75000, "methodology": "Brand visibility in AI Overviews correlated separately against mention volume and backlink counts." }, { "id": "ahrefs-cited-and-ranked", "category": "link-building", "categoryName": "Link Building & Authority", "value": "76.1%", "claim": "of pages cited in AI Overviews also rank in Google's top 10, and 14.4% rank nowhere in the top 100", "type": "Outcome", "studyDesign": "Observational", "confidence": "high", "source": "Ahrefs", "sourceUrl": "https://ahrefs.com/blog/seo-statistics/", "year": 2025, "sample": "1.9 million AI Overview citations", "numerator": 1442910, "denominator": 1900000, "methodology": "Citation URLs cross-referenced against organic ranking positions for the same keywords." }, { "id": "webfx-domain-benchmarks", "category": "link-building", "categoryName": "Link Building & Authority", "value": "907", "claim": "median referring domains of page-one sites, ranging from 76 in apparel to 3,027 in finance", "type": "Outcome", "studyDesign": "Observational", "confidence": "high", "source": "WebFX", "sourceUrl": "https://www.webfx.com/blog/seo/how-many-backlinks-do-i-need-to-rank-study/", "year": 2026, "sample": "1,462 domains across 15 industries, Mar 2026", "numerator": "", "denominator": "", "methodology": "Referring domain medians for page-one sites by industry; 92.2% of their backlinks are editorial links." }, { "id": "unbounce-reading-level", "category": "copywriting", "categoryName": "Copywriting & Conversion", "value": "11.1% vs 5.3%", "claim": "landing page conversion at a fifth-to-seventh-grade reading level versus professional-level writing", "type": "Outcome", "studyDesign": "Observational", "confidence": "high", "source": "Unbounce Conversion Benchmark", "sourceUrl": "https://unbounce.com/conversion-benchmark-report/", "year": 2024, "sample": "41,000 pages, 464 million visitors", "numerator": "", "denominator": "", "methodology": "Conversion rates segmented by landing page reading grade level across Unbounce's customer dataset." }, { "id": "unbounce-median-cvr", "category": "copywriting", "categoryName": "Copywriting & Conversion", "value": "6.6%", "claim": "median landing page conversion rate across industries", "type": "Industry", "studyDesign": "Observational", "confidence": "high", "source": "Unbounce Conversion Benchmark", "sourceUrl": "https://unbounce.com/conversion-benchmark-report/", "year": 2024, "sample": "41,000+ pages, 57 million conversions", "numerator": "", "denominator": "", "methodology": "Median conversion across all industries in Unbounce's benchmark; industry medians range from 3.8% to 12.3%." }, { "id": "unbounce-syllables", "category": "copywriting", "categoryName": "Copywriting & Conversion", "value": "-24.3%", "claim": "correlation between three-plus-syllable word count and conversion, worse than the -15% measured in 2020", "type": "Outcome", "studyDesign": "Observational", "confidence": "high", "source": "Unbounce Conversion Benchmark", "sourceUrl": "https://unbounce.com/conversion-benchmark-report/", "year": 2024, "sample": "41,000 landing pages", "numerator": "", "denominator": "", "methodology": "Reading-complexity correlation with conversion, tracked across benchmark editions." }, { "id": "moz-message-match", "category": "copywriting", "categoryName": "Copywriting & Conversion", "value": "+212%", "claim": "conversion lift from fixing message match between the ad and the landing page", "type": "Outcome", "studyDesign": "Controlled test", "confidence": "high", "source": "Moz and Conversion Rate Experts", "sourceUrl": "https://moz.com/blog/message-match-conversion-rates", "year": 2026, "sample": "5,000+ visitors", "numerator": "", "denominator": "", "methodology": "Controlled rewrite aligning landing page messaging with the originating ad, measured on 5,000+ visitors." }, { "id": "conversionlab-headline", "category": "copywriting", "categoryName": "Copywriting & Conversion", "value": "+31.4%", "claim": "lift from dynamic headlines matched to the visitor's search intent", "type": "Outcome", "studyDesign": "Controlled test", "confidence": "high", "source": "ConversionLab and Campaign Monitor", "sourceUrl": "https://blog.conversionlab.no/see-how-dynamic-text-on-a-landing-page-increased-conversions-by-31-4/", "year": 2026, "sample": "1,274 visitors over 77 days", "numerator": "", "denominator": "", "methodology": "A/B test of intent-matched dynamic headlines reaching 100% statistical significance." }, { "id": "specific-headlines", "category": "copywriting", "categoryName": "Copywriting & Conversion", "value": "18-47%", "claim": "conversion lift from specific headlines versus generic ones", "type": "Outcome", "studyDesign": "Observational", "confidence": "medium", "source": "Build Grow Scale", "sourceUrl": "https://buildgrowscale.com/headline-formulas-conversion", "year": 2026, "sample": "ecommerce A/B tests", "numerator": "", "denominator": "", "methodology": "Range of lifts observed when replacing vague headlines with specific, claim-driven alternatives." }, { "id": "conductor-numbers", "category": "copywriting", "categoryName": "Copywriting & Conversion", "value": "+36%", "claim": "higher click-through rate for headlines that contain numbers", "type": "Outcome", "studyDesign": "Observational", "confidence": "medium", "source": "Conductor", "sourceUrl": "https://moz.com/blog/5-data-insights-into-the-headlines-readers-click", "year": 2026, "sample": "headline performance analysis", "numerator": "", "denominator": "", "methodology": "Click-through comparison of numeric versus non-numeric headlines, replicated across multiple studies." }, { "id": "upworthy-headline-split", "category": "copywriting", "categoryName": "Copywriting & Conversion", "value": "97% vs 17%", "claim": "click-through of the best headline versus the runner-up in headline-only tests", "type": "Outcome", "studyDesign": "Observational", "confidence": "high", "source": "Upworthy test archive", "sourceUrl": "https://moz.com/blog/5-data-insights-into-the-headlines-readers-click", "year": 2026, "sample": "12,461 headline-only tests", "numerator": "", "denominator": "", "methodology": "Distribution of headline test outcomes where only the headline changed; median best-to-second gap is 12%." }, { "id": "optimizely-win-rate", "category": "copywriting", "categoryName": "Copywriting & Conversion", "value": "12%", "claim": "of conversion experiments produce a statistically significant improvement", "type": "Industry", "studyDesign": "Controlled test", "confidence": "high", "source": "Optimizely", "sourceUrl": "https://www.optimizely.com/field-notes/guides/top-10-takeaways-from-the-experimentation-playbook", "year": 2026, "sample": "127,000 experiments", "numerator": 12, "denominator": 100, "methodology": "Win rate across Optimizely's experiment history; most tests are flat, which is why testing volume matters." }, { "id": "lp-benchmark-2026", "category": "copywriting", "categoryName": "Copywriting & Conversion", "value": "4.02% / 11.45%", "claim": "median and top-quartile landing page conversion rates in 2026", "type": "Industry", "studyDesign": "Modeled estimate", "confidence": "medium", "source": "Digital Applied landing page statistics 2026", "sourceUrl": "https://www.digitalapplied.com/blog/landing-page-statistics-2026-conversion-data-points", "year": 2026, "sample": "2026 cross-industry compilation", "numerator": "", "denominator": "", "methodology": "Cross-industry 2026 compilation citing the Unbounce conversion benchmark; half of landing pages fall below 4.02% and the top quartile clears 11.45%." }, { "id": "b2b-vs-b2c-cvr", "category": "copywriting", "categoryName": "Copywriting & Conversion", "value": "13.3% vs 9.9%", "claim": "average landing page conversion for B2B versus B2C", "type": "Industry", "studyDesign": "Modeled estimate", "confidence": "medium", "source": "involve.me landing page statistics 2026", "sourceUrl": "https://www.involve.me/blog/landing-page-statistics", "year": 2026, "sample": "cross-industry landing page dataset", "numerator": "", "denominator": "", "methodology": "Segment averages in involve.me's 2026 compilation; Wishpond's dataset reports the same pair at 13.28% and 9.87%." }, { "id": "cta-count", "category": "copywriting", "categoryName": "Copywriting & Conversion", "value": "13.5% vs 11.9%", "claim": "conversion with one call to action versus two to four competing ones", "type": "Outcome", "studyDesign": "Observational", "confidence": "medium", "source": "Flint McGlaughlin research", "sourceUrl": "https://www.marketingprofs.com/charts/2018/33935/what-converts-web-landing-page-benchmarks-and-trends-infographic", "year": 2026, "sample": "message sequencing studies", "numerator": "", "denominator": "", "methodology": "Conversion comparison by call-to-action count; focus consistently outperforms choice." }, { "id": "nng-attention", "category": "copywriting", "categoryName": "Copywriting & Conversion", "value": "80%", "claim": "of visual attention lands above the fold where the headline dominates", "type": "Outcome", "studyDesign": "Observational", "confidence": "high", "source": "Nielsen Norman Group eyetracking", "sourceUrl": "https://www.nngroup.com/articles/scrolling-and-attention/", "year": 2026, "sample": "500+ participants, 13-year study", "numerator": 80, "denominator": 100, "methodology": "Eyetracking heatmap share of first-viewport attention on landing pages." }, { "id": "cmi-ai-edited", "category": "copywriting", "categoryName": "Copywriting & Conversion", "value": "+21%", "claim": "more conversions from AI drafts edited by humans versus fully human copy", "type": "Outcome", "studyDesign": "Observational", "confidence": "medium", "source": "Content Marketing Institute", "sourceUrl": "https://contentmarketinginstitute.com/b2b-research/b2b-content-marketing-trends-research", "year": 2025, "sample": "content performance study", "numerator": "", "denominator": "", "methodology": "Conversion comparison across copy production methods in CMI's 2025 research." }, { "id": "clienvora-copywriting-posts", "category": "copywriting", "categoryName": "Copywriting & Conversion", "value": "90 posts", "claim": "of our 2,085-post industry dataset discuss copywriting, landing pages, and conversion", "type": "First-party", "studyDesign": "Internal analysis", "confidence": "high", "source": "Clienvora dataset", "sourceUrl": "https://www.clienvora.com/stats/#methodology", "year": 2026, "sample": "2,085 posts, 10 platforms", "numerator": 90, "denominator": 2085, "methodology": "Keyword classification of collected posts; copywriting terms matched 90 posts in the current dataset." }, { "id": "v12-b2b-roi", "category": "content-marketing", "categoryName": "Content Marketing & Strategy", "value": "287%", "claim": "median return on investment of B2B content marketing, with top quartiles reaching 620%", "type": "Outcome", "studyDesign": "Observational", "confidence": "high", "source": "V12.ai", "sourceUrl": "https://v12.ai/b2b-content-marketing-roi-in-2026-what-actually-generates-leads-data-from-312-companies/", "year": 2026, "sample": "312 B2B companies", "numerator": "", "denominator": "", "methodology": "Content-attributed revenue versus program cost across 312 B2B companies; SaaS median runs 430%." }, { "id": "v12-breakeven", "category": "content-marketing", "categoryName": "Content Marketing & Strategy", "value": "8-14 months", "claim": "typical time for a content program to break even", "type": "Outcome", "studyDesign": "Observational", "confidence": "medium", "source": "V12.ai", "sourceUrl": "https://v12.ai/b2b-content-marketing-roi-in-2026-what-actually-generates-leads-data-from-312-companies/", "year": 2026, "sample": "312 B2B companies", "numerator": "", "denominator": "", "methodology": "Time-to-break-even distribution across the same 312-company dataset." }, { "id": "v12-cost-per-lead", "category": "content-marketing", "categoryName": "Content Marketing & Strategy", "value": "$92 vs $242", "claim": "cost per lead from content marketing versus paid search", "type": "Outcome", "studyDesign": "Observational", "confidence": "high", "source": "V12.ai", "sourceUrl": "https://v12.ai/b2b-content-marketing-roi-in-2026-what-actually-generates-leads-data-from-312-companies/", "year": 2026, "sample": "312 B2B companies", "numerator": "", "denominator": "", "methodology": "Blended cost per lead by channel across the study cohort." }, { "id": "v12-leads-outbound", "category": "content-marketing", "categoryName": "Content Marketing & Strategy", "value": "3x", "claim": "more leads from content marketing at 62% lower cost than outbound", "type": "Outcome", "studyDesign": "Observational", "confidence": "high", "source": "V12.ai", "sourceUrl": "https://v12.ai/b2b-content-marketing-roi-in-2026-what-actually-generates-leads-data-from-312-companies/", "year": 2026, "sample": "312 B2B companies", "numerator": "", "denominator": "", "methodology": "Lead volume and cost comparison between inbound content and outbound programs." }, { "id": "blog-lead-lift", "category": "content-marketing", "categoryName": "Content Marketing & Strategy", "value": "67%", "claim": "more monthly leads for companies that publish on a company blog", "type": "Outcome", "studyDesign": "Observational", "confidence": "medium", "source": "HubSpot State of Inbound Lead Generation", "sourceUrl": "https://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/5807/how-many-posts-does-your-business-blog-need-to-grow-leads-at-least-20.aspx", "year": 2010, "sample": "1,400 HubSpot customers", "numerator": "", "denominator": "", "methodology": "Median leads of blogging versus non-blogging customers over a three-month window; B2C companies in the same study generated 88% more leads. Historical evidence from a 2010 study, kept because it remains widely cited. Read it as a benchmark of its era rather than a current 2026 figure." }, { "id": "v12-publishing-cadence", "category": "content-marketing", "categoryName": "Content Marketing & Strategy", "value": "3.8x", "claim": "more leads for publishers of two or more posts weekly versus monthly", "type": "Outcome", "studyDesign": "Observational", "confidence": "medium", "source": "V12.ai", "sourceUrl": "https://v12.ai/b2b-content-marketing-roi-in-2026-what-actually-generates-leads-data-from-312-companies/", "year": 2026, "sample": "312 B2B companies", "numerator": "", "denominator": "", "methodology": "Lead volume bucketed by publishing cadence across the study cohort." }, { "id": "hubspot-compounding", "category": "content-marketing", "categoryName": "Content Marketing & Strategy", "value": "10% / 38%", "claim": "share of blog posts that keep compounding, and the share of blog traffic those posts drive", "type": "Outcome", "studyDesign": "Observational", "confidence": "medium", "source": "HubSpot", "sourceUrl": "https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/hubspot-blog-compounding-posts", "year": 2026, "sample": "~20,000 posts, 15,000 companies", "numerator": "", "denominator": "", "methodology": "Longitudinal traffic analysis of published posts; compounding posts gain traffic over time without updates." }, { "id": "cmi-lead-generation", "category": "content-marketing", "categoryName": "Content Marketing & Strategy", "value": "74%", "claim": "of marketers say content marketing generated leads for them", "type": "Industry", "studyDesign": "Survey", "confidence": "high", "source": "Content Marketing Institute", "sourceUrl": "https://contentmarketinginstitute.com/b2b-research/b2b-content-marketing-trends-research", "year": 2025, "sample": "980 B2B marketers", "numerator": 74, "denominator": 100, "methodology": "Annual B2B marketing survey; 87% report brand awareness gains and 49% report sales." }, { "id": "cmi-attribution-struggle", "category": "content-marketing", "categoryName": "Content Marketing & Strategy", "value": "56%", "claim": "of B2B marketers struggle to attribute ROI to content", "type": "Industry", "studyDesign": "Survey", "confidence": "high", "source": "Content Marketing Institute", "sourceUrl": "https://contentmarketinginstitute.com/b2b-research/b2b-content-marketing-trends-research", "year": 2026, "sample": "B2B marketer survey", "numerator": 56, "denominator": 100, "methodology": "Self-reported difficulty measuring content ROI in the annual industry survey." }, { "id": "5wpr-saas-blindspot", "category": "content-marketing", "categoryName": "Content Marketing & Strategy", "value": "47%", "claim": "of SaaS teams do not measure content ROI at all", "type": "Industry", "studyDesign": "Survey", "confidence": "medium", "source": "5WPR SaaS Content Paradox", "sourceUrl": "https://www.5wpr.com/research/saas-content-paradox/", "year": 2026, "sample": "SaaS marketing survey", "numerator": 47, "denominator": 100, "methodology": "Measurement practice survey of SaaS marketing teams." }, { "id": "5wpr-saas-roi", "category": "content-marketing", "categoryName": "Content Marketing & Strategy", "value": "702%", "claim": "modeled three-year SEO return for SaaS companies; organic search drives 44.6% of B2B SaaS revenue", "type": "Outcome", "studyDesign": "Modeled estimate", "confidence": "medium", "source": "5WPR composite", "sourceUrl": "https://www.5wpr.com/research/saas-content-paradox/", "year": 2026, "sample": "SaaS growth composite", "numerator": "", "denominator": "", "methodology": "Composite of published SaaS growth figures; directional rather than audited. The 702% figure is a modeled estimate and the 44.6% share comes from separate attribution research." }, { "id": "hockystack-blogs-to-mql", "category": "content-marketing", "categoryName": "Content Marketing & Strategy", "value": "4.28", "claim": "blog posts a buyer reads before becoming a marketing-qualified lead", "type": "Outcome", "studyDesign": "Observational", "confidence": "high", "source": "HockeyStack Labs", "sourceUrl": "https://www.hockeystack.com/lab-blog-posts/content-influence-in-the-buyer-journey", "year": 2026, "sample": "103 B2B SaaS companies", "numerator": "", "denominator": "", "methodology": "Journey analysis across 103 B2B SaaS companies; 15 or more pieces are read before a closed-won deal." }, { "id": "hockystack-deal-size", "category": "content-marketing", "categoryName": "Content Marketing & Strategy", "value": "+27.1%", "claim": "larger deal sizes when prospects read five or more posts before the MQL stage", "type": "Outcome", "studyDesign": "Observational", "confidence": "high", "source": "HockeyStack Labs", "sourceUrl": "https://www.hockeystack.com/lab-blog-posts/content-influence-in-the-buyer-journey", "year": 2026, "sample": "103 B2B SaaS companies", "numerator": "", "denominator": "", "methodology": "Deal size and sales cycle comparison by pre-MQL content consumption; sales cycles ran 26% shorter." }, { "id": "orbit-post-length", "category": "content-marketing", "categoryName": "Content Marketing & Strategy", "value": "1,350 words", "claim": "average length of a blog post in 2025, declining two years running", "type": "Industry", "studyDesign": "Survey", "confidence": "high", "source": "Orbit Media blogger survey", "sourceUrl": "https://www.orbitmedia.com/blog/blogging-statistics/", "year": 2025, "sample": "808 marketers", "numerator": "", "denominator": "", "methodology": "Annual blogger survey; average writing time per post is 3 hours 25 minutes." }, { "id": "hubspot-blog-format", "category": "content-marketing", "categoryName": "Content Marketing & Strategy", "value": "38% / 22%", "claim": "of marketers rank blog posts a top-three content format and a top-five ROI format", "type": "Industry", "studyDesign": "Survey", "confidence": "high", "source": "HubSpot State of Marketing", "sourceUrl": "https://www.hubspot.com/marketing-statistics", "year": 2026, "sample": "marketer survey, 2026", "numerator": "", "denominator": "", "methodology": "Format ranking and ROI ranking from HubSpot's annual State of Marketing report." }, { "id": "clienvora-content-posts", "category": "content-marketing", "categoryName": "Content Marketing & Strategy", "value": "81 posts", "claim": "of our 2,085-post industry dataset cover content marketing and strategy", "type": "First-party", "studyDesign": "Internal analysis", "confidence": "high", "source": "Clienvora dataset", "sourceUrl": "https://www.clienvora.com/stats/#methodology", "year": 2026, "sample": "2,085 posts, 10 platforms", "numerator": 81, "denominator": 2085, "methodology": "Keyword classification of collected posts; content marketing terms matched 81 posts in the current dataset." }, { "id": "ahrefs-58-percent", "category": "ai-search", "categoryName": "AI Search, AEO & GEO", "value": "-58%", "claim": "click-through rate of the top-ranking page when an AI Overview appears, worse than the 34.5% drop measured in 2025", "type": "Outcome", "studyDesign": "Observational", "confidence": "high", "source": "Ahrefs", "sourceUrl": "https://ahrefs.com/blog/ai-overviews-reduce-clicks-update/", "year": 2026, "sample": "300,000 keywords, Dec 2023 vs Dec 2025", "numerator": "", "denominator": "", "methodology": "Search Console click-through rates for 150,000 AI Overview keywords versus 150,000 control keywords, desktop, December 2023 compared with December 2025." }, { "id": "ahrefs-position-decay", "category": "ai-search", "categoryName": "AI Search, AEO & GEO", "value": "58.0% to 19.4%", "claim": "AI Overview click penalty at position one versus position ten, compressing the value of ranking first", "type": "Outcome", "studyDesign": "Observational", "confidence": "high", "source": "Ahrefs", "sourceUrl": "https://ahrefs.com/blog/ai-overviews-reduce-clicks-update/", "year": 2026, "sample": "300,000 keywords, Dec 2025", "numerator": "", "denominator": "", "methodology": "Per-position penalty decay: position two loses 50.8%, position three 46.4%, position five 32.6%." }, { "id": "ahrefs-ctr-collapse", "category": "ai-search", "categoryName": "AI Search, AEO & GEO", "value": "7.3% to 1.6%", "claim": "position-one click-through on AI Overview keywords between December 2023 and December 2025", "type": "Outcome", "studyDesign": "Observational", "confidence": "high", "source": "Ahrefs", "sourceUrl": "https://ahrefs.com/blog/ai-overviews-reduce-clicks-update/", "year": 2026, "sample": "300,000 keywords, desktop", "numerator": "", "denominator": "", "methodology": "Same-keyword CTR comparison across the two-year window; control keywords fell from 7.6% to 3.9%." }, { "id": "pew-summary-clicks", "category": "ai-search", "categoryName": "AI Search, AEO & GEO", "value": "8% vs 15%", "claim": "click rate on searches showing an AI summary versus those without, and only 1% click a link inside the summary", "type": "Outcome", "studyDesign": "Observational", "confidence": "high", "source": "Pew Research Center", "sourceUrl": "https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2025/07/22/google-users-are-less-likely-to-click-on-links-when-an-ai-summary-appears-in-the-results/", "year": 2025, "sample": "900 US adults, 68,879 searches, Mar 2025", "numerator": "", "denominator": "", "methodology": "Real browsing panel: 12,593 searches produced an AI summary; 26% of summary searches ended with no further action versus 16% without." }, { "id": "seer-61-percent", "category": "ai-search", "categoryName": "AI Search, AEO & GEO", "value": "-61%", "claim": "organic click-through drop when an AI Overview appears, from 1.76% to 0.61%", "type": "Outcome", "studyDesign": "Observational", "confidence": "high", "source": "Seer Interactive", "sourceUrl": "https://www.seerinteractive.com/insights/aio-impact-on-google-ctr-september-2025-update", "year": 2025, "sample": "25.1 million impressions, 42 organizations", "numerator": "", "denominator": "", "methodology": "Informational queries year-over-year; paid CTR fell 68% on the same queries, from 19.7% to 6.34%." }, { "id": "seer-recovery", "category": "ai-search", "categoryName": "AI Search, AEO & GEO", "value": "1.3% to 2.4%", "claim": "click-through on AI Overview queries recovered this much in early 2026, up 85% from the December low", "type": "Outcome", "studyDesign": "Observational", "confidence": "high", "source": "Seer Interactive", "sourceUrl": "https://www.seerinteractive.com/insights/aio-impact-on-google-ctr-2026-update", "year": 2026, "sample": "5.47 million queries, 53 brands, Jan 2025-Feb 2026", "numerator": "", "denominator": "", "methodology": "Tracked CTR on AI-affected queries across the 2026 reporting window." }, { "id": "ahrefs-branded-takeover", "category": "ai-search", "categoryName": "AI Search, AEO & GEO", "value": "82.91%", "claim": "of US desktop branded searches showed an AI Overview by September 29, 2026", "type": "Outcome", "studyDesign": "Observational", "confidence": "high", "source": "Ahrefs", "sourceUrl": "https://ahrefs.com/blog/ai-overviews-on-branded-searches/", "year": 2026, "sample": "232.8 million US desktop crawls, Jul-Sep 2026", "numerator": 8291, "denominator": 10000, "methodology": "Monthly branded AI Overview rates climbed from 61.3% in July to 73.3% in September; non-branded rates averaged 78.3%." }, { "id": "ahrefs-brand-panel", "category": "ai-search", "categoryName": "AI Search, AEO & GEO", "value": "63 of 100", "claim": "global brand-name queries had an AI Overview by September 30, 2026, up from 5 in July, and 48 sat in position one", "type": "Outcome", "studyDesign": "Observational", "confidence": "high", "source": "Ahrefs", "sourceUrl": "https://ahrefs.com/blog/ai-overviews-on-branded-searches/", "year": 2026, "sample": "100-brand weekly panel, Jul-Sep 2026", "numerator": "", "denominator": "", "methodology": "Exact-name brand queries checked weekly; average AI Overview position was 1.49." }, { "id": "seer-intent-trigger", "category": "ai-search", "categoryName": "AI Search, AEO & GEO", "value": "95.4% vs 5%", "claim": "AI Overview rate on comparison queries versus transactional queries", "type": "Outcome", "studyDesign": "Observational", "confidence": "high", "source": "Seer Interactive", "sourceUrl": "https://www.seerinteractive.com/insights/aio-impact-on-google-ctr-2026-update", "year": 2026, "sample": "30,842 informational queries, 53 brands", "numerator": "", "denominator": "", "methodology": "Trigger rates by intent: question queries 85.9%, informational 36%, commercial 8%." }, { "id": "ahrefs-citation-overlap", "category": "ai-search", "categoryName": "AI Search, AEO & GEO", "value": "37.9%", "claim": "of AI Overview citations also rank in Google's top 10 for the same keyword, down from about 76% in July 2025", "type": "Outcome", "studyDesign": "Observational", "confidence": "high", "source": "Ahrefs", "sourceUrl": "https://ahrefs.com/blog/seo-statistics/", "year": 2026, "sample": "863,000 keywords, 1.9 million citations", "numerator": 379, "denominator": 1000, "methodology": "Citation URLs matched against organic rankings for their target keyword across the study window." }, { "id": "ahrefs-beyond-100", "category": "ai-search", "categoryName": "AI Search, AEO & GEO", "value": "31%", "claim": "of AI Overview citations come from pages ranking beyond position 100 for the same keyword", "type": "Outcome", "studyDesign": "Observational", "confidence": "high", "source": "Ahrefs", "sourceUrl": "https://ahrefs.com/blog/seo-statistics/", "year": 2026, "sample": "AI Overview citation set, 2026", "numerator": 31, "denominator": 100, "methodology": "Ranking position lookup for every cited URL; 18.2% of that group are YouTube URLs." }, { "id": "rankability-link-gap", "category": "ai-search", "categoryName": "AI Search, AEO & GEO", "value": "72.8%", "claim": "of AI-cited pages have zero referring domains, so links matter less for AI citation than for ranking", "type": "Outcome", "studyDesign": "Observational", "confidence": "medium", "source": "Rankability", "sourceUrl": "https://www.rankability.com/blog/ai-search-statistics/", "year": 2026, "sample": "31 queries, 2026", "numerator": 728, "denominator": 1000, "methodology": "Backlink profiles pulled for AI-cited pages; 55.2% of top AI citations did not rank in Google's top 10." }, { "id": "seer-cited-boost", "category": "ai-search", "categoryName": "AI Search, AEO & GEO", "value": "+120%", "claim": "more organic clicks per impression for a brand cited inside an AI Overview versus one left out", "type": "Outcome", "studyDesign": "Observational", "confidence": "high", "source": "Seer Interactive", "sourceUrl": "https://www.seerinteractive.com/insights/aio-impact-on-google-ctr-2026-update", "year": 2026, "sample": "311 million impressions, 2025-2026", "numerator": "", "denominator": "", "methodology": "Cited-versus-uncited brand comparison across client Search Console data; uncited brands lost 67% CTR over 2025." }, { "id": "semrush-chatgpt-sources", "category": "ai-search", "categoryName": "AI Search, AEO & GEO", "value": "50%", "claim": "of ChatGPT's cited links point to business and service websites", "type": "Outcome", "studyDesign": "Observational", "confidence": "medium", "source": "Semrush", "sourceUrl": "https://www.semrush.com/blog/ai-seo-statistics/", "year": 2026, "sample": "ChatGPT citation analysis", "numerator": 50, "denominator": 100, "methodology": "Citation destination mix: news 9.5%, blogs 8.3%, ecommerce 7.6%." }, { "id": "semrush-source-clicks", "category": "ai-search", "categoryName": "AI Search, AEO & GEO", "value": "19%", "claim": "of users click through to the sources cited in AI Overviews, and 70% read only the first third", "type": "Outcome", "studyDesign": "Observational", "confidence": "medium", "source": "Semrush", "sourceUrl": "https://www.semrush.com/blog/ai-seo-statistics/", "year": 2026, "sample": "AI Overview interaction studies", "numerator": 19, "denominator": 100, "methodology": "Click and reading-depth measurements from AI Overview interaction research." }, { "id": "ahrefs-wikipedia-citations", "category": "ai-search", "categoryName": "AI Search, AEO & GEO", "value": "71.9%", "claim": "of brand AI Overviews cite Wikipedia, with YouTube at 38.6% and LinkedIn at 22.8%", "type": "Industry", "studyDesign": "Observational", "confidence": "high", "source": "Ahrefs", "sourceUrl": "https://ahrefs.com/blog/ai-overviews-on-branded-searches/", "year": 2026, "sample": "57 AI Overview source lists, Sep 16-29 2026", "numerator": 719, "denominator": 1000, "methodology": "External citation share across a 100-brand panel; only one competitor-owned site appeared in any source list." }, { "id": "axis-zero-click", "category": "ai-search", "categoryName": "AI Search, AEO & GEO", "value": "68.01%", "claim": "of US Google searches ended with no click in early 2026, up from 60.45% in 2024", "type": "Industry", "studyDesign": "Observational", "confidence": "medium", "source": "Axis Intelligence Research", "sourceUrl": "https://axis-intelligence.com/zero-click-search-statistics/", "year": 2026, "sample": "US search panel, Jan-Apr 2026", "numerator": "", "denominator": "", "methodology": "Zero-click share measured on a US search panel over four months; the open web now receives 231 clicks per 1,000 searches." }, { "id": "clienvora-ai-search-posts", "category": "ai-search", "categoryName": "AI Search, AEO & GEO", "value": "19.9%", "claim": "of our 2,085-post industry dataset mention AI search tools like ChatGPT, Perplexity, or AI Overviews", "type": "First-party", "studyDesign": "Internal analysis", "confidence": "high", "source": "Clienvora dataset", "sourceUrl": "https://www.clienvora.com/stats/#methodology", "year": 2026, "sample": "2,085 posts, 10 platforms", "numerator": "", "denominator": "", "methodology": "AI search term matching across all collected posts; 385 posts discuss AI search topics in total." }, { "id": "clienvora-bing-citations-total", "category": "ai-search", "categoryName": "AI Search, AEO & GEO", "value": "2,674", "claim": "citations of clienvora.com across Bing Copilot and Bing AI summaries over 91 days, from July 15 to October 14, 2026", "type": "First-party", "studyDesign": "Internal analysis", "confidence": "high", "source": "Clienvora dataset", "sourceUrl": "https://www.clienvora.com/stats/#methodology", "year": 2026, "sample": "Bing Webmaster Tools AI Performance report, 91 days", "numerator": "", "denominator": "", "methodology": "Citation count reported by Bing Webmaster Tools AI Performance for clienvora.com, covering Bing Copilot and Bing AI summaries. A citation is an appearance of a clienvora.com URL as a source in an AI-generated answer. This counts citations, not clicks, and reflects Bing surfaces only, not Google AI Overviews." }, { "id": "clienvora-bing-citations-growth", "category": "ai-search", "categoryName": "AI Search, AEO & GEO", "value": "10 to 71", "claim": "average daily AI citations of clienvora.com in Bing, growing from 10 per day in July 2026 to 71 per day in October 2026", "type": "First-party", "studyDesign": "Internal analysis", "confidence": "high", "source": "Clienvora dataset", "sourceUrl": "https://www.clienvora.com/stats/#methodology", "year": 2026, "sample": "Bing Webmaster Tools AI Performance report, Jul vs Oct 2026", "numerator": "", "denominator": "", "methodology": "Monthly averages computed from the daily citation series in Bing Webmaster Tools AI Performance. July 2026 averaged 10 citations per day; October 2026 averaged 71. A 7-fold increase over three months, measured on the same site and the same surfaces. Citations, not clicks." }, { "id": "clienvora-bing-citations-peak", "category": "ai-search", "categoryName": "AI Search, AEO & GEO", "value": "136", "claim": "peak daily AI citations of clienvora.com in Bing, recorded on September 29, 2026", "type": "First-party", "studyDesign": "Internal analysis", "confidence": "high", "source": "Clienvora dataset", "sourceUrl": "https://www.clienvora.com/stats/#methodology", "year": 2026, "sample": "Bing Webmaster Tools AI Performance report, single day", "numerator": "", "denominator": "", "methodology": "Single-day peak from the daily citation series in Bing Webmaster Tools AI Performance. The peak of 136 on September 29, 2026 followed a steady climb from the July baseline of roughly 10 per day. A single peak day, not a sustained rate." }, { "id": "clienvora-bing-cited-pages", "category": "ai-search", "categoryName": "AI Search, AEO & GEO", "value": "22", "claim": "peak number of distinct clienvora.com pages cited in a single day by Bing AI, up from a handful in July 2026", "type": "First-party", "studyDesign": "Internal analysis", "confidence": "medium", "source": "Clienvora dataset", "sourceUrl": "https://www.clienvora.com/stats/#methodology", "year": 2026, "sample": "Bing Webmaster Tools AI Performance report, daily unique pages", "numerator": "", "denominator": "", "methodology": "Peak daily count of distinct URLs from clienvora.com appearing as cited sources in Bing AI answers. Grew from a handful in July 2026 to a peak of 22 in October 2026. Measured as unique page URLs per day, not cumulative." }, { "id": "ahrefs-average-retainer", "category": "seo-pricing", "categoryName": "SEO Pricing & Market", "value": "$2,917", "claim": "average monthly SEO retainer across all provider types", "type": "Industry", "studyDesign": "Observational", "confidence": "high", "source": "Ahrefs SEO pricing survey", "sourceUrl": "https://ahrefs.com/blog/seo-pricing/", "year": 2026, "sample": "439 SEO providers", "numerator": "", "denominator": "", "methodology": "Mean of reported monthly retainers across 439 surveyed providers; 63% of businesses spend $500-$5,000." }, { "id": "ahrefs-provider-split", "category": "seo-pricing", "categoryName": "SEO Pricing & Market", "value": "$3,209 vs $1,348", "claim": "average monthly retainer of an SEO agency versus a freelancer, a 138% gap", "type": "Industry", "studyDesign": "Survey", "confidence": "high", "source": "Ahrefs SEO pricing survey", "sourceUrl": "https://ahrefs.com/blog/seo-pricing/", "year": 2026, "sample": "439 SEO providers", "numerator": "", "denominator": "", "methodology": "Provider-type averages from the same survey; consultants average $3,250 per month." }, { "id": "clutch-monthly-average", "category": "seo-pricing", "categoryName": "SEO Pricing & Market", "value": "$3,199", "claim": "average monthly cost of SEO projects in verified client reviews", "type": "Industry", "studyDesign": "Observational", "confidence": "high", "source": "Clutch", "sourceUrl": "https://clutch.co/seo-firms/pricing", "year": 2026, "sample": "65,550 SEO companies and client reviews", "numerator": "", "denominator": "", "methodology": "Averages from verified client project reviews; the average full project runs $37,158.66 over a typical 12-month engagement." }, { "id": "ahrefs-common-band", "category": "seo-pricing", "categoryName": "SEO Pricing & Market", "value": "$501-$1,000", "claim": "the most common monthly retainer band, chosen by 20.4% of providers", "type": "Industry", "studyDesign": "Survey", "confidence": "high", "source": "Ahrefs SEO pricing survey", "sourceUrl": "https://ahrefs.com/blog/seo-pricing/", "year": 2026, "sample": "439 SEO providers", "numerator": "", "denominator": "", "methodology": "Modal retainer band; 68.8% of providers charge $2,000 a month or less." }, { "id": "webfx-size-bands", "category": "seo-pricing", "categoryName": "SEO Pricing & Market", "value": "$1,500-$3,500 vs $10,000-$50,000+", "claim": "monthly SEO retainer for a small business versus an enterprise", "type": "Industry", "studyDesign": "Survey", "confidence": "medium", "source": "WebFX", "sourceUrl": "https://www.webfx.com/seo/pricing/", "year": 2026, "sample": "published pricing guide, 2026", "numerator": "", "denominator": "", "methodology": "Budget bands by company size: startups $500-$1,500, mid-sized $1,500-$10,000, large $5,000-$20,000." }, { "id": "brightlocal-small-biz", "category": "seo-pricing", "categoryName": "SEO Pricing & Market", "value": "$497", "claim": "average monthly SEO spend of a small business", "type": "Industry", "studyDesign": "Survey", "confidence": "medium", "source": "BrightLocal", "sourceUrl": "https://www.brightlocal.com/research/consumer-search-behavior-speed/", "year": 2026, "sample": "small business spend survey", "numerator": "", "denominator": "", "methodology": "Self-reported monthly SEO spend among small business respondents." }, { "id": "ahrefs-hourly", "category": "seo-pricing", "categoryName": "SEO Pricing & Market", "value": "$111", "claim": "average hourly SEO rate, with independent consultants charging $171.18", "type": "Industry", "studyDesign": "Survey", "confidence": "high", "source": "Ahrefs SEO pricing survey", "sourceUrl": "https://ahrefs.com/blog/seo-pricing/", "year": 2026, "sample": "439 SEO providers", "numerator": "", "denominator": "", "methodology": "Hourly averages: agencies $98.90, freelancers $71.59; $75-$100 is the most common band." }, { "id": "clutch-hourly-band", "category": "seo-pricing", "categoryName": "SEO Pricing & Market", "value": "$100-$149", "claim": "the most common hourly rate for US SEO agencies", "type": "Industry", "studyDesign": "Observational", "confidence": "high", "source": "Clutch", "sourceUrl": "https://clutch.co/seo-firms/pricing", "year": 2026, "sample": "65,550 SEO companies", "numerator": "", "denominator": "", "methodology": "Clutch hourly distribution; link building and technical work often bill at $25-$49 per hour." }, { "id": "ahrefs-project-fee", "category": "seo-pricing", "categoryName": "SEO Pricing & Market", "value": "$2,501-$5,000", "claim": "the most common one-off SEO project fee, with agencies averaging $9,507.84 per project", "type": "Industry", "studyDesign": "Survey", "confidence": "high", "source": "Ahrefs SEO pricing survey", "sourceUrl": "https://ahrefs.com/blog/seo-pricing/", "year": 2026, "sample": "439 SEO providers", "numerator": "", "denominator": "", "methodology": "Modal project fee band; consultants most often charge $5,001-$10,000 per project." }, { "id": "audit-cost", "category": "seo-pricing", "categoryName": "SEO Pricing & Market", "value": "$1,000-$5,000", "claim": "typical cost of an SEO audit, rising to $5,000 for large ecommerce sites", "type": "Industry", "studyDesign": "Modeled estimate", "confidence": "medium", "source": "HigherVisibility", "sourceUrl": "https://www.highervisibility.com/seo/learn/seo-pricing/", "year": 2026, "sample": "2026 pricing guide", "numerator": "", "denominator": "", "methodology": "Published audit price ranges; SEMrush separately places technical audits at $1,000-$7,500." }, { "id": "content-writing-rate", "category": "seo-pricing", "categoryName": "SEO Pricing & Market", "value": "$0.15-$0.60", "claim": "per-word cost of SEO content writing, or $200 to $600 per article", "type": "Industry", "studyDesign": "Modeled estimate", "confidence": "medium", "source": "HigherVisibility", "sourceUrl": "https://www.highervisibility.com/seo/learn/seo-pricing/", "year": 2026, "sample": "2026 pricing guide", "numerator": "", "denominator": "", "methodology": "Rate range by research depth and writer expertise; Central European writers charge $50-$100 per 1,000 words." }, { "id": "blog-post-cost", "category": "seo-pricing", "categoryName": "SEO Pricing & Market", "value": "$150-$600", "claim": "cost of a single blog post from an agency or professional writer", "type": "Industry", "studyDesign": "Modeled estimate", "confidence": "medium", "source": "WebFX", "sourceUrl": "https://www.webfx.com/seo/pricing/", "year": 2026, "sample": "content pricing guide, 2026", "numerator": "", "denominator": "", "methodology": "Published per-post price range; content marketing retainers run $2,000-$20,000 per month." }, { "id": "time-to-results", "category": "seo-pricing", "categoryName": "SEO Pricing & Market", "value": "3-6 months", "claim": "typical time before SEO shows meaningful results, with bigger outcomes at 12 months", "type": "Industry", "studyDesign": "Modeled estimate", "confidence": "medium", "source": "WebFX", "sourceUrl": "https://www.webfx.com/seo/pricing/", "year": 2026, "sample": "2026 pricing guide", "numerator": "", "denominator": "", "methodology": "Expectation benchmark from published pricing guides; timeline depends on competition and site condition." }, { "id": "market-size", "category": "seo-pricing", "categoryName": "SEO Pricing & Market", "value": "$108 billion", "claim": "global SEO services market size in 2026", "type": "Industry", "studyDesign": "Modeled estimate", "confidence": "medium", "source": "The Business Research Company", "sourceUrl": "https://www.thebusinessresearchcompany.com/report/search-engine-optimization-services-global-market-report", "year": 2026, "sample": "market research estimate", "numerator": "", "denominator": "", "methodology": "Market sizing estimate for global SEO services in the 2026 industry report." }, { "id": "ahrefs-retainer-model", "category": "seo-pricing", "categoryName": "SEO Pricing & Market", "value": "78.2%", "claim": "of SEO providers charge a monthly retainer, and 48.9% also take project fees", "type": "Industry", "studyDesign": "Observational", "confidence": "high", "source": "Ahrefs SEO pricing survey", "sourceUrl": "https://ahrefs.com/blog/seo-pricing/", "year": 2026, "sample": "439 SEO providers", "numerator": "", "denominator": "", "methodology": "Pricing model adoption across surveyed providers; 34.8% bill by the hour as well." }, { "id": "clienvora-avg-mention", "category": "seo-pricing", "categoryName": "SEO Pricing & Market", "value": "$2,271", "claim": "average dollar amount mentioned in 124 public SEO and marketing pricing discussions, spanning tool subscriptions to enterprise engagements", "type": "First-party", "studyDesign": "Internal analysis", "confidence": "high", "source": "Clienvora dataset", "sourceUrl": "https://www.clienvora.com/stats/#methodology", "year": 2026, "sample": "124 pricing posts, 10 platforms", "numerator": "", "denominator": "", "methodology": "Dollar amounts extracted from 2,085 collected posts; 124 posts contained explicit pricing information. This is a price mentioned in a public discussion, not a market rate or a quoted agency fee. The mean sits far above the median because a few enterprise figures pull it up." }, { "id": "clienvora-median-mention", "category": "seo-pricing", "categoryName": "SEO Pricing & Market", "value": "$129", "claim": "median dollar amount mentioned in the same 124 pricing discussions", "type": "First-party", "studyDesign": "Internal analysis", "confidence": "high", "source": "Clienvora dataset", "sourceUrl": "https://www.clienvora.com/stats/#methodology", "year": 2026, "sample": "124 pricing posts, 10 platforms", "numerator": "", "denominator": "", "methodology": "Median of extracted dollar amounts. It sits far below the $2,271 mean because tool subscriptions and one-off fees dominate the lower end while a few enterprise engagements sit at the top. It describes mentions, not what a buyer should expect to pay." }, { "id": "clienvora-price-range", "category": "seo-pricing", "categoryName": "SEO Pricing & Market", "value": "$10-$100,000", "claim": "widest range of prices mentioned, from tool subscriptions to enterprise engagements", "type": "First-party", "studyDesign": "Internal analysis", "confidence": "high", "source": "Clienvora dataset", "sourceUrl": "https://www.clienvora.com/stats/#methodology", "year": 2026, "sample": "124 pricing posts, 10 platforms", "numerator": "", "denominator": "", "methodology": "Lowest and highest dollar amounts found across the 124 pricing posts. The endpoints come from different kinds of purchase, so the range describes spread in the mentions and not a market price band." }, { "id": "ahrefs-spend-band", "category": "seo-pricing", "categoryName": "SEO Pricing & Market", "value": "63%", "claim": "of businesses spend $500 to $5,000 a month on SEO", "type": "Industry", "studyDesign": "Observational", "confidence": "high", "source": "Ahrefs SEO pricing survey", "sourceUrl": "https://ahrefs.com/blog/seo-pricing/", "year": 2026, "sample": "439 SEO providers", "numerator": 275, "denominator": 439, "methodology": "Distribution of reported monthly prices; 68.8% of providers charge $2,000 or less per month." }, { "id": "google-updates-2026", "category": "algorithm-updates", "categoryName": "Google Algorithm Updates", "value": "7 updates", "claim": "named Google search updates rolled out between February and September 2026", "type": "Industry", "studyDesign": "Official record", "confidence": "high", "source": "Google Search Status Dashboard", "sourceUrl": "https://status.search.google.com/products/rGHU1u87FJnkP6W2GwMi/history", "year": 2026, "sample": "official update log, Feb-Sep 2026", "numerator": "", "denominator": "", "methodology": "Counted from Google's official log: Feb 5 Discover, Mar 24 spam, Mar 27 core, May 21 core, Jun 24 spam, Aug 18 spam, and Sep 24 spam." }, { "id": "fastest-spam-update", "category": "algorithm-updates", "categoryName": "Google Algorithm Updates", "value": "19.5 hours", "claim": "rollout of the March 24, 2026 spam update, the fastest spam update Google has shipped", "type": "Industry", "studyDesign": "Official record", "confidence": "high", "source": "Google Search Status Dashboard", "sourceUrl": "https://status.search.google.com/products/rGHU1u87FJnkP6W2GwMi/history", "year": 2026, "sample": "Mar 24-25, 2026 rollout", "numerator": "", "denominator": "", "methodology": "Google logged 19 hours and 30 minutes of runtime; every other 2026 spam update ran days longer." }, { "id": "core-update-cadence", "category": "algorithm-updates", "categoryName": "Google Algorithm Updates", "value": "every 6-12 weeks", "claim": "how often Google now rolls out core updates, versus roughly twice a year historically", "type": "Industry", "studyDesign": "Official record", "confidence": "medium", "source": "SEO ScaleUp update analysis", "sourceUrl": "https://seoscaleup.com/blog/google-algorithm-update-stats-2026/", "year": 2026, "sample": "2026 core update schedule", "numerator": "", "denominator": "", "methodology": "Spacing of 2026 core update dates against the historic pattern of one or two core updates a year." }, { "id": "march-core-top3-shift", "category": "algorithm-updates", "categoryName": "Google Algorithm Updates", "value": "79.5%", "claim": "of top-three URLs changed position after the March 2026 core update, up from 66.8% in December 2025", "type": "Outcome", "studyDesign": "Observational", "confidence": "high", "source": "SE Ranking", "sourceUrl": "https://seranking.com/blog/google-core-update-march-2026-vs-december-2025/", "year": 2026, "sample": "100,000 keywords", "numerator": 795, "denominator": 1000, "methodology": "Rank tracking across 100,000 keywords before and after rollout; top-10 positions shifted 90.7%." }, { "id": "march-core-top100-exit", "category": "algorithm-updates", "categoryName": "Google Algorithm Updates", "value": "24.1%", "claim": "of pages ranking in the top 10 fell out of the top 100 entirely after the March 2026 core update", "type": "Outcome", "studyDesign": "Observational", "confidence": "high", "source": "SE Ranking", "sourceUrl": "https://seranking.com/blog/google-core-update-march-2026-vs-december-2025/", "year": 2026, "sample": "100,000 keywords", "numerator": 241, "denominator": 1000, "methodology": "Same keyword panel measured after rollout; the December 2025 core pushed out 14.7% of the same set." }, { "id": "march-core-72h", "category": "algorithm-updates", "categoryName": "Google Algorithm Updates", "value": "55%+", "claim": "of tracked sites showed measurable ranking changes within 72 hours of the March 2026 core update", "type": "Outcome", "studyDesign": "Observational", "confidence": "medium", "source": "Ahrefs and Semrush tracking via Digital Applied", "sourceUrl": "https://www.digitalapplied.com/blog/march-2026-core-update-content-quality-winners-losers", "year": 2026, "sample": "early field reports, March 2026", "numerator": "", "denominator": "", "methodology": "Aggregated early post-rollout observations; affected sites typically lost 20-35% of search traffic." }, { "id": "march-core-affiliates", "category": "algorithm-updates", "categoryName": "Google Algorithm Updates", "value": "71%", "claim": "of affiliate sites lost rankings in the March 2026 core update, the hardest-hit category", "type": "Outcome", "studyDesign": "Observational", "confidence": "medium", "source": "Digital Applied field data", "sourceUrl": "https://www.digitalapplied.com/blog/march-2026-core-update-content-quality-winners-losers", "year": 2026, "sample": "monitored site portfolio, March 2026", "numerator": "", "denominator": "", "methodology": "Site-level impact review across verticals; AI content farms lost 60-80% of traffic in the same window." }, { "id": "march-core-brand-casualties", "category": "algorithm-updates", "categoryName": "Google Algorithm Updates", "value": "-29.5% / -36.9%", "claim": "organic visibility change for Airbnb and LegalZoom after the March 2026 core update", "type": "Outcome", "studyDesign": "Observational", "confidence": "high", "source": "Loganix analysis of Ahrefs estimates", "sourceUrl": "https://loganix.com/march-2026-google-core-update-winners-and-losers/", "year": 2026, "sample": "Mar 26 vs Apr 14, 2026", "numerator": "", "denominator": "", "methodology": "Visibility estimates for 30 domains across 10 verticals; Coursera fell 15.1% and Redfin 12.5%, while Forbes gained 14.3%." }, { "id": "dec-2025-core-length", "category": "algorithm-updates", "categoryName": "Google Algorithm Updates", "value": "18 days", "claim": "duration of the December 2025 core update, the longest core rollout of that year", "type": "Industry", "studyDesign": "Official record", "confidence": "high", "source": "PPC Land", "sourceUrl": "https://ppc.land/march-2026-google-core-update-hit-aggregators-harder-than-december/", "year": 2025, "sample": "Dec 11-29, 2025", "numerator": "", "denominator": "", "methodology": "Google start and end announcements; the March 2025 core ran 14 days and the June 2025 core ran 16 days." }, { "id": "dec-2025-top100-exit", "category": "algorithm-updates", "categoryName": "Google Algorithm Updates", "value": "14.7%", "claim": "of top-10 pages dropped out of the top 100 after the December 2025 core update", "type": "Outcome", "studyDesign": "Observational", "confidence": "high", "source": "SE Ranking", "sourceUrl": "https://seranking.com/blog/google-core-update-march-2026-vs-december-2025/", "year": 2026, "sample": "100,000 keywords", "numerator": 147, "denominator": 1000, "methodology": "Same tracking panel as the March 2026 measurement, reported in January 2026." }, { "id": "dec-2025-traffic-drops", "category": "algorithm-updates", "categoryName": "Google Algorithm Updates", "value": "40-70%", "claim": "overnight traffic drops reported by sites hit by the December 2025 core update", "type": "Outcome", "studyDesign": "Survey", "confidence": "medium", "source": "Search Engine Land and publisher reports", "sourceUrl": "https://ppc.land/googles-december-update-destroys-discover-traffic-for-news-sites/", "year": 2025, "sample": "affected publisher reports", "numerator": "", "denominator": "", "methodology": "Self-reported declines; publishers described 70-85% losses and Sistrix measured over 65% visibility loss for Indian news sites." }, { "id": "aug-2026-spam-exit", "category": "algorithm-updates", "categoryName": "Google Algorithm Updates", "value": "16.71% vs 9.2%", "claim": "of top-10 URLs fell beyond position 100 during the August 2026 spam update versus the baseline week", "type": "Outcome", "studyDesign": "Observational", "confidence": "high", "source": "SE Ranking", "sourceUrl": "https://searchengineland.com/google-august-2026-spam-update-ranking-impact-485980", "year": 2026, "sample": "100,000 keywords, 20 industries, Aug 17 vs Aug 22 2026", "numerator": 1671, "denominator": 10000, "methodology": "An 82% increase over baseline; pages that moved were 1.8 times more likely to drop out of the top 100." }, { "id": "sep-2026-spam-half-traffic", "category": "algorithm-updates", "categoryName": "Google Algorithm Updates", "value": "5.8% vs 1.3%", "claim": "of sites lost at least half their Google search visits during the September 2026 spam update versus a no-update baseline", "type": "Outcome", "studyDesign": "Observational", "confidence": "high", "source": "Diib", "sourceUrl": "https://diib.com/start/insights/google-2026-updates-search-traffic-impact/", "year": 2026, "sample": "~34,600 sites with 10 or more search visits a day, Sep 24-Oct 6 2026", "numerator": 58, "denominator": 100, "methodology": "Google Analytics connected sites compared with the same sites in a no-update window; the other six 2026 updates ran 1.0-1.5%." }, { "id": "hcu-recovery-rate", "category": "algorithm-updates", "categoryName": "Google Algorithm Updates", "value": "22% vs 78%", "claim": "of demoted sites recovered 20% or more of their lost traffic versus never recovering it", "type": "Outcome", "studyDesign": "Observational", "confidence": "medium", "source": "Glenn Gabe cohort via PikaSEO and SERPs.io", "sourceUrl": "https://www.seroundtable.com/google-helpful-content-update-recovery-data-38358.html", "year": 2026, "sample": "~400 sites demoted by the Helpful Content Update", "numerator": 88, "denominator": 400, "methodology": "Cohort tracked through August 2024 and consistent after 2025 updates; sites that pruned 40-60% of their content first recovered at about three times the rate." }, { "id": "hcu-still-down", "category": "algorithm-updates", "categoryName": "Google Algorithm Updates", "value": "129 of 130", "claim": "of the hardest-hit September 2023 Helpful Content Update sites have only kept declining", "type": "Outcome", "studyDesign": "Observational", "confidence": "high", "source": "Lily Ray", "sourceUrl": "https://www.linkedin.com/posts/lily-ray-44755615_seo-helpfulcontentupdate-hcu-activity-7162899994818068481-SypY", "year": 2026, "sample": "130 of the most demoted sites", "numerator": 129, "denominator": 130, "methodology": "Visibility review of the worst-hit sites more than three years after the update, with no sustained recovery in the data." }, { "id": "recovery-next-core", "category": "algorithm-updates", "categoryName": "Google Algorithm Updates", "value": "the next core update", "claim": "when Google says recovery gains typically appear after a demotion, with no reconsideration requests for algorithmic losses", "type": "Industry", "studyDesign": "Official record", "confidence": "high", "source": "Google Search Central", "sourceUrl": "https://developers.google.com/search/docs/appearance/core-updates", "year": 2026, "sample": "official Google guidance", "numerator": "", "denominator": "", "methodology": "Google documents that the largest recovery improvements show up after the following core update, not the one that caused the drop." }, { "id": "cwv-recovery-window", "category": "algorithm-updates", "categoryName": "Google Algorithm Updates", "value": "4-8 weeks", "claim": "for Core Web Vitals fixes to show ranking recovery, while content-quality fixes wait for the next core cycle", "type": "Outcome", "studyDesign": "Official record", "confidence": "medium", "source": "Digital Applied", "sourceUrl": "https://www.digitalapplied.com/blog/google-march-2026-core-update-cwv-holistic-scoring", "year": 2026, "sample": "technical recovery analysis, 2026", "numerator": "", "denominator": "", "methodology": "Timing reflects Google's 28-day rolling CrUX data for speed fixes and the two-to-three-month gap between core updates for content fixes." }, { "id": "clienvora-complaint-rate", "category": "algorithm-updates", "categoryName": "Google Algorithm Updates", "value": "5.0%", "claim": "of posts in our 2,085-post industry dataset vent complaints about SEO and its volatility", "type": "First-party", "studyDesign": "Internal analysis", "confidence": "medium", "source": "Clienvora dataset", "sourceUrl": "https://www.clienvora.com/stats/#methodology", "year": 2026, "sample": "104 flagged posts of 2,085", "numerator": 104, "denominator": 2085, "methodology": "Complaint keyword detection in collected post text; 104 posts matched, mostly around update volatility and client expectations." } ] }