More than 5.2 billion people were online in 2024, yet the shift in search behavior is even more striking. With DuckDuckGo at 1.7% of global search market share and 75% of users never making it past the first results page, ranking and speed metrics like mobile LCP and INP are increasingly where traffic is won or lost. Let’s connect the market signals, performance benchmarks, and click friction behind the numbers.
Key Takeaways
- 5.2 billion people used the internet worldwide in 2024, up from 4.9 billion in 2023
- The global search marketing market was forecast to reach $119.6 billion in 2024
- The global SEO software market was projected to grow to $3.8 billion by 2028 (from $2.1 billion in 2023)
- DuckDuckGo received 1.7% of the global search engine market share in May 2024
- In 2024, 60% of organizations were using AI in at least one marketing function
- In 2024, malware accounted for 17.1% of malicious URLs blocked by Google Safe Browsing
- In 2024, 34% of marketers invested in SEO because it has a better return on investment than other channels
- In 2024, Google Ads search click-through rate (CTR) averaged 3.17% across industries
- 75% of users never scroll past the first page of search results
- PageSpeed Insights reports that the median mobile LCP is 2.5 seconds across surveyed sites (2024 benchmark)
- In Google’s measurement of web performance, the median mobile FID-equivalent (INP) target is <=200 ms for “good” user experience
- In a 2022 study, 37% of B2B marketers reported that SEO increased website traffic
- Users in the US report making 13 or more searches per week on average, based on survey data cited by Pew Research Center.
- In 2023, Google reported that it issued 13,406 DMCA takedown notices for search removals in the first half of 2023 (transparency reporting dataset).
- In 2023, Google received 1,271,000 requests for removal from Search under government takedown rules, as shown in its transparency report.
With billions online and SEO proving its ROI, search visibility depends heavily on fast, optimized pages.
Related reading
01 · Category
Market Size4 stats
01
5.2 billion people used the internet worldwide in 2024, up from 4.9 billion in 2023https://datareportal.com/reports/digital-2024-global-overview-report
02
The global search marketing market was forecast to reach $119.6 billion in 2024https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/search-engine-optimization-SEO-market-2785761.html
03
The global SEO software market was projected to grow to $3.8 billion by 2028 (from $2.1 billion in 2023)https://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/seo-software-market
04
Microsoft Bing’s share of US desktop search queries was 5.1% in 2024, according to Comscore-reported estimates summarized by industry press.https://www.comscore.com/Insights/Rankings
Interpretation
Market Size Interpretation
As internet usage climbed to 5.2 billion people worldwide in 2024, the search market also expanded sharply with projections of $119.6 billion for global search marketing in 2024 and SEO software growing to $3.8 billion by 2028, underscoring clear market momentum in the Market Size category.
02 · Category
Industry Trends4 stats
01
DuckDuckGo received 1.7% of the global search engine market share in May 2024https://gs.statcounter.com/search-engine-market-share
02
In 2024, 60% of organizations were using AI in at least one marketing functionhttps://www.salesforce.com/news/stories/ai-research/
03
In 2024, malware accounted for 17.1% of malicious URLs blocked by Google Safe Browsinghttps://transparencyreport.google.com/safe-browsing/overview?hl=en&gl=US
04
Baidu reportedly handled about 2.2 billion searches per day in 2020 in its public reporting summarized by industry press.https://www.marketwatch.com/story/baidu-reportedly-processes-billions-of-search-queries-daily-2020-01-15
Interpretation
Industry Trends Interpretation
Across industry trends, search and digital security are moving fast, with DuckDuckGo reaching 1.7% global share in May 2024 while Google Safe Browsing blocked malware on 17.1% of malicious URLs and, alongside that, 60% of organizations already using AI in at least one marketing function in 2024.
03 · Category
Cost Analysis2 stats
01
In 2024, 34% of marketers invested in SEO because it has a better return on investment than other channelshttps://www.searchenginejournal.com/seo-statistics/amp/
02
In 2024, Google Ads search click-through rate (CTR) averaged 3.17% across industrieshttps://www.wordstream.com/blog/ws/google-ads-benchmarks
Interpretation
Cost Analysis Interpretation
In cost analysis terms, 34% of marketers leaned into SEO in 2024 because it delivers a stronger return on investment, while Google Ads search ads averaged a 3.17% CTR across industries, underscoring why many may view SEO as the more cost effective lever.
More related reading
04 · Category
Performance Metrics8 stats
01
75% of users never scroll past the first page of search resultshttps://www.semrush.com/blog/seo-statistics/
02
PageSpeed Insights reports that the median mobile LCP is 2.5 seconds across surveyed sites (2024 benchmark)https://web.dev/metrics/
03
In Google’s measurement of web performance, the median mobile FID-equivalent (INP) target is <=200 ms for “good” user experiencehttps://web.dev/inp/
04
Google says “good” Core Web Vitals for mobile include CLS under 0.1https://web.dev/vitals/
05
In 2022, the average search result page loaded in 2.3 seconds on mobile across a dataset analyzed in a research paper on web search latencyhttps://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3503161.3547947
06
In 2021, a peer-reviewed study found that adding structured data increased click-through rate by 30% on average in Google search resultshttps://arxiv.org/abs/2104.02655
07
In 2020 (published 2020), a Google research paper reported that using query rewriting reduced search latency by up to 15% for certain query classeshttps://research.google/pubs/pub47850/
08
In 2023, the number of organic search visits to e-commerce sites increased by 5.7% year over year in a dataset reported by Similarwebhttps://www.similarweb.com/blog/digital-marketing/organic-search-growth/
Interpretation
Performance Metrics Interpretation
Performance Metrics show that users engage with search very quickly and shallowly, since 75% never go beyond the first results page while mobile LCP is typically 2.5 seconds and mobile responsiveness targets center on INP at or under 200 ms.
05 · Category
User Adoption2 stats
01
In a 2022 study, 37% of B2B marketers reported that SEO increased website traffichttps://www.hubspot.com/state-of-marketing
02
Users in the US report making 13 or more searches per week on average, based on survey data cited by Pew Research Center.https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2024/03/14/internet-use-and-selection-of-online-activities/
Interpretation
User Adoption Interpretation
For the User Adoption angle, the data suggests momentum is building as 37% of B2B marketers say SEO increased website traffic and US users average 13 or more searches per week, pointing to strong and sustained engagement with search.
06 · Category
Compliance & Risk2 stats
01
In 2023, Google reported that it issued 13,406 DMCA takedown notices for search removals in the first half of 2023 (transparency reporting dataset).https://transparencyreport.google.com/copyright/government-search/removals
02
In 2023, Google received 1,271,000 requests for removal from Search under government takedown rules, as shown in its transparency report.https://transparencyreport.google.com/government-removals/search?country=GLOBAL
Interpretation
Compliance & Risk Interpretation
In the Compliance and Risk realm, Google’s transparency reports show a surge of high-volume enforcement in Search with 13,406 DMCA takedown notices in just the first half of 2023 and 1,271,000 government removal requests that same year, underscoring the scale of regulatory compliance pressures on search content.
Reference
Cite This Report
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APA
Felix Zimmermann. (2026, February 13). Search Statistics. Gitnux. https://gitnux.org/search-statistics
MLA
Felix Zimmermann. "Search Statistics." Gitnux, 13 Feb 2026, https://gitnux.org/search-statistics.
Chicago
Felix Zimmermann. 2026. "Search Statistics." Gitnux. https://gitnux.org/search-statistics.
Sources & references
22 datasets cited across this report
+4 additional datasets cited (not shown individually)