The magic number If you’re looking for a roadmap for optimization is 58.5%. This is the most informative statistic as it is the percentage of “zero clicks” after Americans perform a search on Google. Only 41.5% click out of the Google page after their search query which is why “Answers Engine Optimization” is so critical.

Google is increasingly providing drop down question and lists to keep users on the page so they don’t click out of the results page and perform another search OR click on one of the questions which displays the answer. This is called ‘Answer Engine Optimization’. See below for an example.

Nearly 10% of organic search clicks on Google are directed towards ‘questions’ displayed in the search results, which link to websites providing relevant answers. Answer Engine Optimization (AOE) refers to optimizing content in a question-and-answer format. Search engines are increasingly incorporating these questions into the snippets shown on search results pages.

For example, a search query of “What’s the best school district santa clara, ca” the below results page appears. As users click a question, new series of more relevant questions appear.