87.9%
Google's share of Australian search
Bing is second at 9.2%. Google is still where most Australians search.
26.1M
Australians using the internet at the start of 2025
That is 97.1% of the population.
15%
Of daily Google searches are brand new - never seen before
Google has said several times that about 15% of the searches it sees each day are new, so keyword research can never capture every opportunity.
Source: Google, 2017 and 2019 (as reported by Search Engine Land)
53%
Of trackable website traffic came from organic search
Measured across BrightEdge's own client sites in 2019. BrightEdge sells SEO software, and the figure is now several years old.
48.6%
Of Australian web page views come from mobile devices
Desktop is 48.5%, so it is close to an even split. Your site has to work well on both.
2023
The year Google finished moving to mobile-first indexing
Google now crawls and indexes sites with its smartphone crawler, so the mobile version of your site is the one it judges.
53%
Of mobile site visits are abandoned when a page takes longer than 3 seconds to load
From Google's 2016 mobile speed research. It is old, but the point still holds: slow pages lose visitors.
Source: Google, 2016
76%
Of people who search on their phone for something nearby visit a related business within a day
US data from Google's 2016 research.
Source: Google / Think with Google, 2016 (US)
3x
Higher conversion rate for a B2B site that loads in 1 second vs one that loads in 5 seconds
The same study found 2.5x for e-commerce sites.
49%
Of consumers trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations
From a survey of US consumers.
68%
Of consumers will only use a business with 4 or more stars
From a survey of US consumers.
28%
Of searches for something nearby result in a purchase
US data from Google's 2016 research.
Source: Google / Think with Google, 2016 (US)
3
Main factors in Google's local results: relevance, distance and prominence
Google says local results are mainly based on these three. Prominence is how well known a business is.
41%
Of consumers always read online reviews when browsing local businesses
From a survey of US consumers.
27.6%
Click-through rate for the #1 organic result on Google
The first organic result captures more than a quarter of all clicks. Position 2 gets 15.8%, position 3 gets 11%. The drop-off is steep - ranking matters enormously.
0.63%
Of Google searchers click results on page 2
Less than 1% of searchers go past page one. If you're not on page one in Australia, you're effectively invisible. Page two is where websites go to die.
1.74%
Of newly published pages rank in the top 10 within 1 year
Under 2% of new pages reach page one within a year without significant authority and backlinks. This is why domain authority and link building matter so much.
5
Years old: the average age of the #1 ranking page on Google
Top-ranking pages have typically been live for years. New sites need patience - but publishing quality content consistently builds the foundation for long-term rankings.
96.55%
Of web pages get zero organic traffic from Google
Ahrefs' landmark study found that almost all web content gets no traffic because it has no backlinks, targets topics with no search volume, or is poorly optimised.
3.8x
More backlinks for the #1 result than for positions 2 to 10
Link authority remains one of the strongest ranking signals. The top-ranking page typically has far more referring domains than results further down the page.
7
Core and spam updates Google confirmed in 2024
Four core updates (March, August, November, December) and three spam updates (March, June, December).
1,447
Words: average length of a top-10 ranking Google result
Long-form content tends to rank better because it covers topics more thoroughly. However, length without depth is useless - quality and comprehensiveness matter more than word count alone.
77%
More referring domains for content over 3,000 words than for content under 1,000 words
Longer, more comprehensive content attracts significantly more natural backlinks. Guides, original research, and data studies are the most link-worthy content formats.
43.7%
Of top-ranking pages have reciprocal links
Natural link profiles include some reciprocal links - this is normal and not penalised. What Google penalises is organised link schemes or paid links passed without nofollow.
94%
Of content published online never earns a single external backlink
The vast majority of content earns no links because it doesn't offer anything uniquely valuable. Link-worthy content educates, surprises, or gives away something others can't easily find.
8.5%
Of link-building outreach emails get a reply
From an analysis of 12 million outreach emails.
100ms
Delay in load time can cut conversions by around 7%
Akamai found even a 100-millisecond delay in load time can reduce conversions by about 7%, and longer delays hurt far more. For any site that sells online, speed is a direct revenue lever.
Source: Akamai State of Online Retail Performance, 2017
Core Web Vitals
Began rolling out as a Google ranking factor in mid-June 2021
Announced for May 2021 but rolled out gradually from mid-June 2021. LCP (load speed), INP (interactivity), and CLS (visual stability) are the Core Web Vitals metrics; failing them can suppress rankings even for well-optimised content.
58%
Of Australians aged 14+ use AI tools in an average four weeks
That is 13.6 million people in the March quarter of 2026.
Source: Roy Morgan, March quarter 2026
58%
Lower click-through rate for the #1 result when an AI Overview shows
Ahrefs compared 300,000 keywords using December 2025 data. It is a correlation, not proof of cause.
76% -> 38%
Share of AI Overview citations that also rank in Google's top 10, July 2025 vs 2026
Ahrefs says part of the drop comes from better measurement on their side.
748%
Average ROI over 36 months for thought-leadership SEO campaigns
Measured on First Page Sage's own clients. First Page Sage is an SEO agency.
Source: First Page Sage
$400+
Published entry price of Australian SEO agency plans
Across seven Australian agencies that publish prices, entry plans started around $400 a month and most sat between $550 and $2,000.
Source: the agencies' own pricing pages, checked 12 Oct 2026
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