Zero-Click Searches: How Does Your Company Look?

Pipes leak. Toilets clog. Air-conditioners stop working in August; fuses blow unexpectedly; furnaces conk out in January. When a homeowner needs a home service completed, they usually aren’t going to try and fix it on their own. Why would they? They’re suddenly dealing with something they not only don’t want to deal with, but have almost zero knowledge about. And when a homeowner needs something and has no idea what to do next, they do what we all do: go to the world’s largest data source, the internet.

When someone starts looking for a solution to their problem, their online research will include several searches called “zero-click searches.” A zero-click search occurs when a customer uses a search engine to look something up, but no further action is taken once a search result is served to them. For example, imagine you’re searching for the name of an actor from the new Batman movie. You search something like “batman actor”; the results page serves up a bunch of pictures with a bunch of names under them; you find the right actor, and the experience is over. You clicked zero times on the search engine results page, but you still found the information you were looking for.

While we may not expect it, customers looking for businesses in the home services industry will usually perform multiple similar zero-click searches before they click on anything. The first time they try searching for a service, they may get overwhelmed with options and end up doing a more refined search. The results for their search might show them 10 different companies that can all solve their problem, and they might pick one that sounds familiar, and then do a brand search to check the company’s reviews. They may search for a specific brand they remember seeing on TV, checking to see if they really are as good as they say they are.

These zero-click searches are the reason why it’s so important to know what you look like in the search engines. Gone are the days where your only search engine optimization (SEO) metrics were rankings and traffic. You now need to see how your brand is being represented on the search engines for different search terms, as well as decide if you’re happy with how you appear. More and more customers are making their judgements about a business based on the information returned from their zero-click searches on a search engine. Yes, your website is important, too, but the SEO game has changed.

You can take control. Make sure you know how your brand looks during your customers’ first interaction with you. Is the right information right there for them to see, without requiring them to click? Is it clear who you are and what services you offer? Ensure that everything your customers see when they do their research confirms to them that your company is the right choice to solve their newfound problem for good!

If you’d like to better understand digital marketing for your business, we invite you to schedule a call with us today. We’d love to help.