What is zero click keywords and how to analyze it

Perhaps you have come across the “Keywords” – “Zero Click Keywords” data table in the Google Search Console section. This data table will help you to identify pages that are not performing well in search results. This data table should not be confused with the keywords that have the first position in the SERP and have the extended snippet, which provides information about the question directly in the SERP.

What are zero click keywords?

Zero click keywords are keywords for which pages of your website rank in Google, but which did not have any clicks during the period you selected. Accordingly, these pages do not bring traffic.

As you remember, Google counts impressions even if your website was on the third/fourth/etc. page of search results. Therefore, by analyzing zero click keywords, you can gain insights on how to optimize your pages to rank higher.

Go to the GSC section, data table “Keywords” – “Zero Click Keywords”.

Next, select the desired period, country and device. Here it is important to focus on the goals of the analysis: whether you need to analyze zero click keywords for the last period (keywords that will lose efficiency), or get data for specific segments of pages or information about zero click keywords in a certain country.

On the “Performance” chart, you will see the dynamics of zero click keywords for the selected period. It is absolutely normal for your website to have a few of these keywords. But sharp jumps indicate problems with the website.

How to analyze zero click keywords

When analyzing zero click keywords, you should pay attention to additional metrics. If the average position is 1-3, then zero of clicks may indicate that the user received the necessary information from the snippet and did not click to the website. Or it could mean that the page is not relevant according to the query. Irrelevance of the page is one of the most common reasons for zero click keywords.

The next indicator that should be analyzed more deeply is the number of cannibalized pages. If multiple pages of your website with similar content are ranking for the same query, it’s possible that many keywords won’t get clicks.

One possible reason for zero click keywords is an unattractive snippet. If the users do not find out from the snippet that needed information is on the page, users will not click to the website.

You can experiment with snippets and discover the ones that lead to the most clicks.

The reasons for zero click keywords can be found in the local search results or you can dive deep into the analysis of zero click keywords by country. The easiest way is to use the filter by country.

We would like to emphasize that it is a good idea to monitor the dynamics of zero click keywords and to compare data over different periods.

And you can check the effectiveness of these keywords: if their volume is low and they didn’t get many clicks before, then it is possible that your website hasn’t lost much traffic. To test this hypothesis, analyze monthly zero keywords volume and CTR for the entire website or page type. If the CTR has not changed and the amount of traffic has not decreased, then the appearance of zero click keywords is not a problem for your website.

Bulk export of zero click keywords

You can export all datasets, including filtered data with a list of zero click keywords. We recommend that you first add all the required data columns and then export the results. More data means more effective analysis. To export, click the “Export” button and select the desired format.

You can also export data to Data Studio. Read how to do it in the article “How data export to DataStudio works”.

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