Welcome to the Friday edition of Leveling Up, your weekly summary of the latest content by Neil Patel and Eric Siu on how to improve your business.

This week you’ll discover:

• Is Google Sending Less Clicks to Websites?

• Neil & Eric’s Favorite Tools for Marketers to Level Up Their Ads

• Why Finding Your Community Is Critical For Long Term Growth

• Plus more!

🎓 Is Google Sending Less Clicks to Websites?

Fewer clicks could be the “new normal” for SEO.

Recently, Eric came across an interesting post on LinkedIn shared by his friend Peter, who is the CEO of Databox.

Databox is a company that compiles data from various companies, and they have been analyzing Google's search console trend data over the past six months from 1,500 companies.

According to their findings:

They haven't observed a substantial decrease in website clicks.

In fact, they suggest that the median search impressions have actually increased, indicating that people are searching on Google even more.

However, they noticed an interesting trend in the median click-through rate, which has been decreasing over the last six months.

This implies that while people are still searching, they are clicking through websites less frequently.

It's possible that users are finding direct answers on the search results page, reducing the need to click through to individual websites for information.

One factor that may contribute to this change is the evolving online behavior across different platforms.

With platforms like TikTok, Amazon, and Reddit Chat, users have more options for searching and finding information.

Additionally, Google is currently testing the Search Generative Experience (SGE), aiming to provide immediate answers within the search results.

While impressions may continue to rise, click-through rates are expected to decline as a result.

Now, what do these trends mean for Google's revenue moving forward?

It's worth noting that Danny Sullivan, Google's Search Liaison, mentioned in a post that every year since Google's inception, they have consistently driven more traffic to websites than the previous year.

Although this trend may continue, there is a possibility that as Google integrates more information into its search results, there will be fewer clicks.

Google aims to improve the overall search experience, ensuring users find what they need without having to click through multiple websites.

Users appreciate this approach as it enhances the search experience and encourages them to use Google more frequently.

It's interesting to recall a couple of years ago when Ran Fishkin, the former founder of Moz and current CEO of SparkToro, shared clickstream data from SimilarWeb.

The data showed a significant increase in zero-click searches, where users land on a search engine results page without clicking through to any website.

This trend seems to align with the current findings and suggests that zero-click searches may continue to rise.

But apart from their ad machine, which generates a substantial portion of their revenue, they also earn from their Google Network ads, which generate billions of dollars annually.

These ads include AdSense placements on websites.

While there may be changes for some websites due to these trends, it is unlikely that Google would drastically impact website owners' ad revenue overnight.

As a publicly traded company, Google is likely to make careful and methodical changes to ensure they strike the right balance between user experience and revenue generation.

If you're interested in exploring this topic further, watch the episode here.

🎓 Neil & Eric’s Favorite Tools for Marketers to Level Up Their Ads

In this episode, Neil and Eric share their favorite tools for marketers who want to level up their ads.

Including:

• New AI tools that can help you in your creative processes.

• Writing tools for titles and descriptions that improve ranking.

• Some of Google and Midjourney's latest and most exciting AI features.

• And more!

Watch the full episode here.

🎓 Why Finding Your Community Is Critical For Long Term Growth

Eric shares his experience attending the Capital Camp investor conference, where he found his tribe of learners and open-minded people.

He emphasizes the value of having a network of supportive individuals who can offer guidance, share experiences, and provide referrals.

Neil chimes in, highlighting the power of helping others without expecting anything in return.

By genuinely assisting others, you can organically build a community and network that will support you in the long run.

He stresses the significance of building relationships and fostering connections based on sincerity and generosity.

This episode also covers practical tips, such as joining mastermind groups, creating your own community, documenting your journey, and leveraging platforms like LinkedIn for networking and content sharing.

Click here to watch the full episode.

🧠 Mindset Shift: Visual Aesthetics Won’t Make Your Website Better (Fix Your UX First!)

It doesn’t really matter if your website is pretty or not.

Most people think, my website is beautiful like Apple, this is great!

But just because your website is pretty or ugly doesn’t mean you will generate more or less sales.

There are a lot of other factors that are more important.

Such as your page load speeds.

If someone is using a phone and it takes 30 seconds to load your website, they will not convert. It’s as simple as that.

You want very user-friendly web pages that are easy to read.

People need to know exactly where to go to get what they need.

Optimize for what creates the most sales.

Until next week,

The Leveling Up Team

P.S.

Here are more ways we can help your business grow:

• Listen to our Marketing School podcast for daily marketing tips

• Subscribe to the Leveling Up YouTube channel

• Read the Single Grain blog for actionable marketing playbooks