The Current State of Search Engine Optimization Software 2022

Source: publir.com

Introduction 

SEO is the process of improving websites to increase their visibility when individuals search for products or services related to a specific business in search engines such as Google, Bing, and others. The more visibility of pages in search results, the more likely they will garner attention and attract prospective and existing customers to businesses. The rise of many SEO software tools make the SEO process seamless and less daunting.

The SEO software services market consists of the revenues generated from sales of SEO advisory services by entities (organizations, sole traders, or partnerships) that provide advisory services for businesses to optimize their websites. Search engine optimization companies advise their clients in optimizing their websites and their content to enhance the websites’ visibility in search results.

Market size & Growth rate

The global investments in marketing services amounted to USD 457.62 billion in 2018 as compared to USD 375.19 billion in 2010, with a CAGR of approximately 12% from 2021-2026.

The global SEO software services market is expected to grow from $41.97 billion in 2021 to $51.25 billion in 2022 at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 22.1%. This growth is mainly a result of companies rearranging their operations and recovering from the COVID-19 impact, which had earlier led to restrictive containment measures involving social distancing, remote working, and the closure of commercial activities that resulted in operational challenges. The market is expected to reach $108.89 billion in 2026 at a CAGR of 20.7%.

Market Drivers

Growth in the historic period in the SEO software services market resulted from growth in digital media consumption, rise in penetration of smartphones and internet services, digital empowerment of older generations, and favorable government initiatives.

The number of people using smartphones and internet services is rapidly increasing, especially in developing countries and this factor is expected to drive the market for SEO services during the forecast period. For instance, in January 2020, the number of smartphone users worldwide was 3.50 billion accounting for 45.12% of the world’s population.

Moreover, the number of internet users in emerging countries such as India increased to 451 million and has the highest data usage per smartphone at 9.8GB (gigabyte) per month as of June 2019. The increased penetration of smartphones and internet services made access to video content and information easy and made it a requirement to optimize the search and thereby positively impacting the agencies’ SEO services market.

Market Trends

Companies operating in the SEO services market are using “Zero-Click Search Results” to increase their appearance in the search results and this is a significant trend in the SEO services market. Zero-Click Searches alludes to a search engine results page (SERP) that answers the query directly at the top so that the user doesn’t need to do any further clicks to complete the search. A zero-click search is one that fulfills the search intent at the top of the SERP.

According to the Search Engine Journal, 34.4% of all desktop searches result in no click while 62.5% of users never click search result links on mobile. Google presented zero-click searches in March 2020, with the aim to eliminate multiple results that searchers don’t really need and to satisfy the user intent faster. Zero-click searches include database-style searches, dictionary and encyclopedia-style searchers, and map direction-style searchers.

SEO software service providers are advising their customers to use rich snippets to improve the ranking of web pages in search results. A snippet is a result displayed by search engines on the results page in response to a query made by the users. Rich snippets show additional information (image or text) in the snippet, helping the user to select the more relevant result. Rich snippets increase the click-through rate (the ratio of users who click on a specific link to the number of total users who visit a web page), thereby increasing the traffic and the ranking of a web page.  4 out of 5 websites with this type of content may be able to get an instant bump in their search traffic.

Page results with rich snippets look much better compared to those lacking the additional features, thus increasing the likelihood of users clicking on the former — a 30% increase.  Featured snippets are short snippets of texts that quickly answer the searcher’s query and are featured on the top of Google’s Search Engine Ranking Page (SERP). They show a chunk of information about the relevant search. Scoring a featured snippet is a way to get on the first page of the search results. They also help us to gain traffic from fellow competitors. Google introduced featured snippets in 2014. There are different formats of Featured snippets; definitions, tables, steps, and lists. Some of the most popular domains that have earned featured snippets are; Youtube, Reddit, Quora, Amazon, Healthline, WebMD, and Fandom.

Challenges & Risks

Rising in-house teams and online SEO tools are major restraints on the search engine optimization services market. Many companies are hiring an in-house SEO team to cater to the unique needs of the organization. As the size of the organization grows, it is obligatory that the company create an in-house SEO team and streamline the process. The in-house SEO team ensures cost-saving, and a faster turnaround time for campaigns and considers brand objective, data security, and quality of resources as well. It also allows control on control of the output. There has been a vast increase in demand for marketers with social skills, with paid social media rising in demand by 116.4%.  Additionally, there are online SEO tools that help anyone to optimize the search, avoiding the need to consult a third-party search engine optimization services provider. The increase in in-house teams and availability of SEO online hinders the growth of the search engine optimization services market.

Opportunities

The top opportunities in the search engine optimization services market segmented by type of entity will arise in the agencies segment, which will gain $45,781.1 million of global annual sales by 2025. The top opportunities in the search engine optimization services market segmented by size of client firm will arise in the small and medium enterprises (SMEs) segment, which will gain $40,556.7 million of global annual sales by 2025. The top opportunities in the search engine optimization services market segmented by the end-use industry will arise in the professional services segment, which will gain $22,020.7 million of global annual sales by 2025. The search engine optimization services market size will gain the most in the USA at $14,206.6 million. To take advantage of the opportunities, search engine optimization services companies should make use of rich and featured snippets, focus on visual content, focus on mobile optimization, focus on extensive keyword research, focus on expanding through collaborations, provide a subscription revenue model, offer value-based pricing, leverage technology to maximize reach, focus on post-purchase services, and focus on fast-growing end-use industries.