"Google search upgrades make it harder for websites to win traffic"

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On smartphones, the change has been more pronounced. From June 2016 to June 2019, the proportion of mobile searches that led to clicks on free web links dropped to 27 percent from 40 percent. No-click searches, which Fishkin says suggests the user found the information they needed on Google, rose to 62 percent from 56 percent. Meanwhile, clicks on ads more than tripled, Jumpshot data show.

When the search engine can give straightforward answers and save users a click, it will do that