Google owns just a bit more than 90% of the global search engine market, which means it is a significant driver of how people look for, and find, information on the internet.
In this post, I’ll review key Google search statistics that will help you understand how search works, search trends, and how Google search adapts to changing technologies.
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How many people use Google?
Google controls 90% of the search engine market share worldwide. That includes 79% of the desktop market and 94% of the mobile search engine market.
Google’s nearest competitor, Bing, only holds 3.9% of market share, while Yahoo accounts for 1.3%. The distribution has remained relatively stable over the past few years with Google consistently claiming competitive victory thanks to detailed search results, in-depth analytics, and evolving service offerings.
Consider the rapid uptake of “Google” as a verb meaning, “to search” — “I’ll just Google it,” “can’t you Google that?” “isn’t it on Google?” It’s not an exaggeration to say that when it comes to searching for information online, Google is — by far — the digital frontrunner.
How many Google searches per day?
Google doesn’t share its search volume data. However, it’s estimated that there are approximately 255,600 every second, translating to 22,083,870,968 Google searches per day. The number of yearly Google queries is in the trillions, and the average person conducts 6.8 searches per day.
Google also makes efforts to personalize search results, in turn, increasing the chances that users will opt for Google the next time they have a question.
For users that aren’t logged into a Gmail or another Google account, the company uses anonymously stored browser cookies to get a sense of search histories and preferences.
For users signed into their Google account, Chrome’s browser history provides the data necessary for Google to construct a profile based on age, language preference, gender and search preferences, which informs the type of search results returned.
Location offers an easy example of this approach — if users have location services turned on, Google search results will be filtered by geographic location to increase overall relevance.
Now, let’s look at a few of this year’s top Google Search statistics and take a deeper dive into the trending searches that guide your marketing strategy.
Top Google Search Statistics in 2024
Let’s look at how Google influences search with these latest statistics.
- When Google opened its proverbial doors in September 1998, it only averaged about 10,000 daily search queries. (The Search)
- As of January 2024, Google has approximately 84.2 billion visits worldwide, up from 83.9 billion in April 2023. (Statista)
- There are over 192 different country and region-based Google Search engines. (GiT Magazine)
- As of October 2024, Chrome accounts for 65% of the web browser market share. (Statcounter)
- As of October 2024, 61% of web traffic searches take place on mobile. (Statcounter)
- Our survey respondents rank smartphones or mobile phones as their site visitors’ most-used browsing device. (HubSpot Blog Research)
- Some of the most globally popular Google searches in 2023 include “Titanic Submarine,” “Sinéad O’Connor,” “Connections” (the New York Times Game), and “Barbie.” (Google)
- 65% of SEOs say Google’s 2023 algorithm updates have positively impacted web traffic and SERP rankings. (HubSpot Blog Research)
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A majority of professionals say their websites have maintained the same amount of traffic or don’t believe that generative AI/LLM AI features in search engines have impacted their site traffic. 41% say their websites are getting more traffic than before. (HubSpot Blog Research)
- Just over ¼ of survey respondents say organic traffic is their top source of web traffic. Paid/search Google ads & paid social media/social media ads take second place. (HubSpot Blog Research)
- Our survey respondents tell us that most of their website pages rank in position 6-10 in SERPs. (HubSpot Blog Research)
- 89% of URLs and 37% of URLs in positions 1-20 rank differently on mobile and desktop. (SEMRush)
- 54% of survey respondents think people use search engines to find answers more often since AI overviews and other LLM search features became available. (HubSpot Blog Research)
- Professionals ranked Trustworthiness and Expertise as the most important ranking factors in the E-E-A-T framework. (HubSpot Blog Research)
- Experts think how-to, step-by-step guides, and other educational content will perform best with generative AI incorporated into search engines. Personal stories/experiences will be the most negatively impacted. (HubSpot Blog Research)
- Optimizing content for search intent, optimizing on-page content around target keywords, and conducting keyword research are the most effective SEO strategies for ranking highly on SERPs. (HubSpot Blog Research)
- 25% of desktop Google searchers end without a click, and 17% of mobile end without a click (Semrush)
- The average keyword is roughly 3-4 words long. (Semrush)
- Long-tailed keywords get 1.76x more clicks in organic SERPs. (Backlinko)
- In 2020, 500 keywords accounted for 8.4% of all search volume. (Backlinko)
- The average cost-per-click for a keyword is about $0.61. (Backlinko)
- The average cost-per-click in Google Ads in 2024 is $4.66 across all industries. (WordStream)
- Four times as many people are likely to click on a paid search ad on Google (63%) than on any other search engine — Amazon (15%), YouTube (9%), and Bing (6%). (Clutch)
- For every $1 businesses spend on Google Ads, they make an average of $2 in revenue. (Google)
- 55% of people clicking on Google search ads prefer those to be text ads. (Clutch)
- The average conversion rate in Google Ads across all industries in 2024 is 6.96% (WordStream)
- The average CTR for titles with questions is 15.5%. Regular (non-question) titles have a 16.3% CTR. (Backlinko)
- The average click-through rate for first place on desktop is 39.8%. If the top result is a featured snippet, CTR increases to 42.9%. (FirstPage)
- 21% of Google SERPs show images. (Moz)
- Compressing images and text could help 25% of web pages save more than 250KB and 10% save more than 1 MB. These changes reduce bounce rates and increase page rank on Google SERPs. (Google)
- 50% of U.S. consumers use voice search daily. (UpCity)
With search volumes constantly fluctuating in response to world events and evolving news coverage, it’s worth knowing what searches are trending, how quickly they’re ramping up, and how they tie into similar keyword queries.
While one option is a scattershot approach — simply type a potential trend term into Google and see how many total results are reported — more targeted options often provide an easier path to improved search performance.
Let’s review some of the most useful tools available in the section below.
How To Find Trending Searches
- Google Trends
- Think with Google
- BuzzSumo
- Feedly
- Ahrefs
- Quora
1. Google Trends
Review the “Year in Search,” take Google Trends lessons, and see what’s trending now. You can also view the peaks and valleys of topic interest over time, which uncovers seasonality and allows you to plan your marketing calendar accordingly.
Plus, find related topics and queries, and identify sub-regions your topic has been trending to better target your campaigns.
2. Think with Google
Discover articles, benchmark reports, and consumer insights that keep you up to speed on search. From ad bidding strategies to brand jingles, you’ll find interesting content that helps you think bigger while staying educated on how to leverage Google search for your business.
3. X (formerly Twitter)
Sign on to X, and use the “trends” feature to uncover what’s trending in your state, country, or around the globe. When you click into a trend, you’ll see top tweets about the topic, relevant news stories, and live responses.
4. BuzzSumo
I like how BuzzSumo helps you identify the most shared content in the previous 12 months or the last 24 hours.
BuzzSumo allows you to drill down and analyze the topics that matter to your industry, your competitors, and the influencers you learn from.
5. Feedly
I think Feedly’s RSS feed aggregator is a great tool. It allows you to follow your favorite brands and see their most recent content in one place.
Add your favorites and discover new publishers by searching your industry, skills, or — you guessed it — trending topics. Feedly also allows you to set up keyword alerts, so you’re always tracking the latest trends on topics you’re interested in.
6. Reddit
Freshness and user-based voting determine how content is prioritized on Reddit. A quick visit to the homepage shows you trending or popular posts. And, you can filter by country or recency for a more relevant feed.
7. Ahrefs
Conduct competitive research, home in on a keyword, or search for trending topics. Ahrefs helps you identify trending content and shows you what to do to outrank your competitors.
8. Pocket
Pocket allows you to save content from anywhere on the web. Review your content whenever you wish and head to the Explore page to find trending topics that are relevant to you.
9. Quora
Sign up for Quora and select topic areas that interest you (e.g., “startups,” “marketing,” and “economics”). Quora will stock your feed with questions related to your content interests.
This gives you insight into what your customers are asking, real-time debates about competitors, and even allows you to answer questions about topics you have experience in.
Expanding Your Google Impact
Bottom line? Google owns the largest piece of both search and web browser market shares and provides a host of interconnected services that empower the company to deliver personalized, real-time search results.
For marketers, this makes Google an irreplaceable tool for boosting consumer loyalty, courting new clients, and improving customer conversions.
Armed with actionable trend data and relevant source statistics, marketing teams can expand their Google impact and ensure the right content gets seen by the right customers to jumpstart the sales process.