SEO statistics for 2026

66 figures on AI search, internal linking, rankings, content, outreach and the link market. Each one links to the study, survey or dataset it comes from, never to a round-up that quotes it.

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31 sources. Every figure was read again in its source on October 17, 2026, and 28 that failed the check were taken off the page (see the corrections). 6 rows link to an Internet Archive copy because the original page is gone. The year after each source is the date on the source page.

Organic CTR on queries that show an AI OverviewAverage organic click-through rate on the queries Seer tracks that show an AI Overview.

Source: Seer Interactive, 2025, see the row

Share of Google queries that trigger an AI OverviewPeak in July, then settling near 16% by November.

Source: Semrush AI Overviews study, 2025, see the row

AI search impact

58%
With December 2025 data, the presence of an AI Overview correlated with a 58% lower average click-through rate for the top-ranking page, across 300,000 keywords (150,000 with an AI Overview, 150,000 informational keywords without one).
Ahrefs: Update: AI Overviews Reduce Clicks by 58% (2026) #ai-search-1
8% vs 15%
Google users who saw an AI summary clicked a traditional search result in 8% of visits; those who did not see one clicked in 15% of visits.
Pew Research Center: Google users are less likely to click on links when an AI summary appears (2025) #ai-search-2
1%
A click on a link inside the AI summary itself happened in just 1% of visits to Google pages that showed one.
Pew Research Center: Google users are less likely to click on links when an AI summary appears (2025) #ai-search-3
88%
88% of the AI summaries in Pew's March 2025 browsing data cited three or more sources; 1% cited a single source.
Pew Research Center: Google users are less likely to click on links when an AI summary appears (2025) #ai-search-4
35% / 91%
When a brand was cited in an AI Overview, it got 35% more organic clicks and 91% more paid clicks than when it was not cited, across 3,119 search terms for 42 organizations tracked from June 2024 to September 2025.
Seer Interactive: AIO Impact on Google CTR, September 2025 Update (2025) #ai-search-5
0.61%
On queries with an AI Overview, organic CTR fell from 1.76% in June 2024 to 0.61% in September 2025, and paid CTR from 19.70% to 6.34%.
Seer Interactive: AIO Impact on Google CTR, September 2025 Update (2025) #ai-search-6
68.01%
In the first four months of 2026, 68.01% of Google searches ended without any click, in Similarweb clickstream data analysed by SparkToro. SparkToro puts US zero-click searches in 2024 at 60.45%, from a different panel (Datos).
SparkToro: In 2026, Less than One Third of Google Searches Still Send a Click (2026) #ai-search-7
24.61%
The share of keywords triggering an AI Overview went from 6.49% in January 2025 to 24.61% in July, then down to 15.69% in November 2025.
Semrush: AI Overviews' Impact on Search in 2025 (2025) #ai-search-8
57.1%
In January 2025, 91.3% of the queries that triggered an AI Overview were informational; by October, that share was down to 57.1%, as commercial and transactional ones rose.
Semrush: AI Overviews' Impact on Search in 2025 (2025) #ai-search-9
1.13B
Similarweb estimates that AI platforms sent over 1.13 billion referral visits to the top 1,000 websites in June 2025, up 357% from June 2024, against 191 billion referrals from Google Search.
Similarweb: AI Referral Traffic Winners By Industry (2025) (original page gone, archived copy) #ai-search-10

Internal linking impact

4x
In Zyppy's study of 23 million internal links across 1,800 websites, URLs with 0 to 4 internal links got 2 clicks from Google Search on average, and URLs with 40 to 44 internal links got 4 times as many.
Zyppy: 23 Million Internal Links, SEO Case Study (2026) #internal-linking-1
5x
Pages with at least one exact-match anchor from an internal link had at least five times more traffic than pages without one.
Zyppy: 23 Million Internal Links, SEO Case Study (2026) #internal-linking-2
The link between the variety of internal anchor texts pointing at a page and its Google clicks was so strong that Zyppy ran the data three times.
Zyppy: 23 Million Internal Links, SEO Case Study (2026) #internal-linking-3
7%
In a SearchPilot SEO test, linking each location page to the nearest regions, on a site with around 8,000 regional pages, produced a 7% uplift in organic traffic to the pages receiving the new links.
SearchPilot: The Importance and Impact of Internal Linking for SEO (2024) #internal-linking-4
5%
Expanding a homepage footer with more internal links yielded a 5% uplift in organic traffic to the destination pages.
SearchPilot: The Importance and Impact of Internal Linking for SEO (2024) #internal-linking-5
3x
Launching an HTML sitemap on IFTTT's site delivered nearly a 3x increase in indexed pages within two weeks; the internal-linking work drove 33% year-over-year organic traffic growth.
Uproer: How an Overlooked SEO Tactic Delivered 33% Traffic Growth (IFTTT) (2023) #internal-linking-6
59 pages
Before the work, search bots could crawl only 59 pages of IFTTT's site through its internal links, out of hundreds of thousands of indexable pages.
Uproer: How an Overlooked SEO Tactic Delivered 33% Traffic Growth (IFTTT) (2023) #internal-linking-7
62%
On an ecommerce site, reworking internal links increased Google's daily crawl by 62% in three months and cut the rate of orphan pages by 20%.
Oncrawl: How to Optimize your Internal Linking and your Indexing (2018) (original page gone, archived copy) #internal-linking-8
On the same site, the number of pages ranking went from 161 to 454 out of 559 possible URLs, and keywords in the top 10 from 6 to 20.
Oncrawl: How to Optimize your Internal Linking and your Indexing (2018) (original page gone, archived copy) #internal-linking-9
Testing the topic cluster model on HubSpot's own blog, Anum Hussain and Cambria Davies found that the more internal links they added between related pages, the higher those pages climbed and the more impressions they earned.
HubSpot: Topic Clusters, the Next Evolution of SEO (2026) #internal-linking-10

Backlinks & rankings

3.8x
In Backlinko's analysis of 11.8 million Google search results, the #1 result had on average 3.8 times more backlinks than the pages in positions 2 to 10.
Backlinko: We Analyzed 11.8 Million Google Search Results (2025) #ranking-correlation-1
200 vs 80
According to Semrush's ranking factors study, pages ranking #1 in Google have more than 200 referring domains on average, while pages at #10 have fewer than 80.
Semrush: What Are Referring Domains? + How They Affect SEO (2025) #ranking-correlation-3
Across the top 10 pages for 44,589 non-branded keywords, Ahrefs found that URL Rating correlated with rankings more strongly than any other factor it measured, and that counting only referring domains with organic traffic correlated no better than counting all referring domains.
Ahrefs: Do Links From Pages With Traffic Help You Rank Higher? (2019) #ranking-correlation-4
95%
In the same 11.8 million result study, Backlinko found that approximately 95% of all pages have zero backlinks.
Backlinko: We Analyzed 11.8 Million Google Search Results (2025) #ranking-correlation-8
77.2%
In a Backlinko and BuzzSumo study of 912 million blog posts, content longer than 3,000 words got an average of 77.2% more referring domain links than content shorter than 1,000 words.
Backlinko: We Analyzed 912 Million Blog Posts (2019) #ranking-correlation-9
In Authority Hacker's survey of 755 link builders, 618 said a new link takes between 1 and 6 months to show an effect on rankings; the average answer was 3.1 months.
Authority Hacker: Survey of 755 Link Builders (2024) (original page gone, archived copy) #ranking-correlation-11

Content that earns links

25.8%
"Why" posts, "What" posts and infographics received 25.8% more links than videos and how-to posts in Backlinko and BuzzSumo's 912 million post study.
Backlinko: We Analyzed 912 Million Blog Posts (2019) #content-2
94%
In the same study, 94% of all blog posts had zero external links, and only 2.2% of content earned links from multiple websites.
Backlinko: We Analyzed 912 Million Blog Posts (2019) #content-3
List posts were the top content format for social shares but came dead last for earning backlinks from other websites.
Backlinko: We Analyzed 912 Million Blog Posts (2019) #content-4
96.55%
96.55% of the pages in Ahrefs' index get no traffic from Google. Among pages with no referring domains, only about 1 in 6,671 gets more than 1,000 search visits a month.
Ahrefs: 96.55% of Content Gets No Traffic From Google (2023) #content-5
1,447
The average Google first-page result contains 1,447 words, in Backlinko's 11.8 million result study.
Backlinko: We Analyzed 11.8 Million Google Search Results (2025) #content-7
36 links
Ahrefs sent 515 outreach emails for a statistics page and got 36 backlinks from 32 websites; 9 of those 32 domains had a Domain Rating of 70 or more.
Ahrefs: Link Building Case Study, Backlinks With a Stats Page (2020) #content-9
707 links
A UK remote-working statistics page attracted 707 links, including from Indeed, Digital Journal, CityAM and Deloitte, with no outreach, according to its creator.
LinkQuest: How I Built 707 Quality Backlinks With a Statistics Page (2026) #content-10
500+
An infographic series for Preply earned more than 500 backlinks from over 200 referring domains in about two and a half months, according to the agency that ran it.
Brafton: 1 Infographic Series, 500 Backlinks for Preply #content-11

Tactic effectiveness

34%
34% of the 500 SEO professionals in Reporter Outreach's Q1 2026 survey named digital PR their best-performing link-building tactic, ahead of HARO and journalist sourcing (21%), guest posts (18%) and link insertions (14%).
Reporter Outreach: State of Link Building 2026 (survey of 500 SEO pros) (2026) #tactics-1
55%
Combined, digital PR (34%) and HARO or journalist sourcing (21%) mean 55% of respondents get their best results from PR-style approaches.
Reporter Outreach: State of Link Building 2026 (survey of 500 SEO pros) (2026) #tactics-2
42.4%
Use and results differ: 45.6% of respondents use digital PR and 34% call it their best tactic, while 42.4% use guest posts and 18% call them their best.
Reporter Outreach: State of Link Building 2026 (survey of 500 SEO pros) (2026) #tactics-3
48.6%
48.6% of the 518 SEO professionals surveyed by Editorial.Link named digital PR the most effective link-building tactic for 2026, ahead of guest posting (16%) and creating linkable assets (12%).
Editorial.Link: Link Building Statistics (survey of 518 SEO experts) (2026) #tactics-4
64.9%
Guest posting was the most popular link-building tactic in Authority Hacker's survey, used by 64.9% of the 755 link builders who answered.
Authority Hacker: Survey of 755 Link Builders (2024) (original page gone, archived copy) #tactics-6
32.1%
Agencies allocate on average 32.1% of their overall SEO budget to link building, and in-house teams 36.03%, according to Editorial.Link's survey of 518 SEO professionals.
Editorial.Link: Link Building Statistics (survey of 518 SEO experts) (2026) #tactics-12

Outreach performance

8.5%
Only 8.5% of outreach emails received a response in Backlinko and Pitchbox's analysis of 12 million outreach emails.
Backlinko: We Analyzed 12 Million Outreach Emails (2019) #outreach-1
65.8%
Sending just one follow-up boosted replies by 65.8% in the same study.
Backlinko: We Analyzed 12 Million Outreach Emails (2019) #outreach-2
32.7%
Emails with personalized message bodies had a 32.7% better response rate, and personalized subject lines a 30.5% better one.
Backlinko: We Analyzed 12 Million Outreach Emails (2019) #outreach-3
93%
Messages sent to several contacts had a 93% higher response rate than messages sent to a single person; sequences with multiple attempts and multiple contacts boosted response rates by 160%.
Backlinko: We Analyzed 12 Million Outreach Emails (2019) #outreach-4
4.5%
The average cold email sequence reply rate was 4.5% across 31 million emails sent by Hunter users in 2025.
Hunter: State of Email Outreach 2026 (2026) #outreach-5
+56%
Emails with two custom personalization attributes got a 56% higher reply rate than non-personalized emails (5.6% vs 3.6%).
Hunter: State of Email Outreach 2026 (2026) #outreach-6
+106%
Three-message sequences got 106% more total replies than single emails (6.8% vs 3.3%).
Hunter: State of Email Outreach 2026 (2026) #outreach-7
+108%
Sending from a custom domain got a 108% higher reply rate than sending from a freemail address (5.2% vs 2.5%).
Hunter: State of Email Outreach 2026 (2026) #outreach-8
0.45%
Belkins measured a 0.45% average reply rate across its 2025 cold campaigns (more than 7.5 million emails), now counting replies against every email sent rather than against opened emails.
Belkins: Cold Email Response Rates (2026) #outreach-13
13% vs 9%
Woodpecker users who sent no follow-up averaged a 9% reply rate; adding at least one follow-up raised it to around 13%. The author puts the best number of follow-ups at 2 to 3.
Woodpecker: These Stats Prove The Importance of Follow-up Emails (2025) #outreach-11

Anchors, nofollow & link-market risk

0.1436
Across 384,614 pages ranking for 19,840 keywords, Ahrefs found only a weak correlation between exact-match anchor text and rankings (average Spearman correlation 0.1436).
Ahrefs: Anchor Text, a Data-Driven Guide (384,614 Web Pages Studied) (2020) #risk-1
41.7%
Partial-match anchors are the first choice of 41.7% of the 518 SEO professionals surveyed by Editorial.Link, ahead of exact-match (25.1%) and branded anchors (20.5%).
Editorial.Link: Link Building Statistics (survey of 518 SEO experts) (2026) #risk-13
89.1%
89.1% of the 755 link builders in Authority Hacker's survey say nofollow links have an impact on rankings.
Authority Hacker: Survey of 755 Link Builders (2024) (original page gone, archived copy) #risk-15
39.6%
39.6% of the guest-post sites listed by link vendors had an average monthly organic traffic of zero, by Ahrefs estimates.
BuzzStream: The Cost of Guest Posts, Based on 500k Sites (2026) #risk-14
12.6%
When Ahrefs asked 450 sites to sell a link, only 12.6% agreed. Of the guest-post sites it pitched, 25.5% replied, and roughly half of those asked for a fee.
Ahrefs: Should You Buy Backlinks? It Depends (2024) #risk-8

Link & guest-post pricing

$508.95
In Editorial.Link's survey of 518 SEO professionals, the average acceptable price for one high-quality backlink was $508.95.
Editorial.Link: Link Building Statistics (survey of 518 SEO experts) (2026) #pricing-1
76%
Asked the most they would pay for one high-quality placement, 76% of the 500 SEO professionals in Reporter Outreach's survey said $300 or more; the largest group (31%) said $500 to $1,000.
Reporter Outreach: State of Link Building 2026 (survey of 500 SEO pros) (2026) #pricing-2
75%
75% of the SEO professionals in the same survey expect link costs to rise over the next two years; 8% expect them to fall.
Reporter Outreach: State of Link Building 2026 (survey of 500 SEO pros) (2026) #pricing-3
64%
64% of respondents spend $3,000 or more a month on link building, and 38% spend $6,000 or more.
Reporter Outreach: State of Link Building 2026 (survey of 500 SEO pros) (2026) #pricing-4
$461
In BuzzStream's analysis of more than 257,000 sites listed by link vendors, a guest post cost $295 on average bought directly from the site and $461 through a vendor.
BuzzStream: The Cost of Guest Posts, Based on 500k Sites (2026) #pricing-5
$179
A paid link insertion into an existing article costs about $179 on average; only about 14% of the sites in the vendor database BuzzStream analysed offered insertions at all.
BuzzStream: Link Building Pricing and Costs (Updated for 2026) (2026) #pricing-13
$3,000
Through a vendor, a guest post costs about $200 on a site with Domain Rating 0 to 9 and about $3,000 on a site with DR 80 or more.
BuzzStream: The Cost of Guest Posts, Based on 500k Sites (2026) #pricing-8
96.2%
Of 257,267 guest-post sites with full Ahrefs data, 96.2% were low quality by BuzzStream's DR and traffic thresholds; only 1.37% were high quality or top tier.
BuzzStream: The Cost of Guest Posts, Based on 500k Sites (2026) #pricing-9
$361.44
In an Ahrefs test, buying a niche edit cost $361.44 on average (450 sites contacted), while a paid guest post cost $77.80 on average (180 sites pitched).
Ahrefs: Should You Buy Backlinks? It Depends (2024) #pricing-10
80.9%
80.9% of the SEO professionals surveyed by Editorial.Link believe link building will become more expensive over the next 2 to 3 years.
Editorial.Link: Link Building Pricing (2026) #pricing-11
$572
By industry, Sports ($572) and News & Media ($567) were the most expensive guest posts through a vendor; Ecommerce ($341) and Adult and Gambling ($238) were among the cheapest.
BuzzStream: The Cost of Guest Posts, Based on 500k Sites (2026) #pricing-12

Corrections

On October 17, 2026 we read every figure on this page in its source. A figure stays only if the source itself states it, in the same sense. Here is what that check changed.

Taken off the page

11
Duplicates: the same figure appeared two or three times (3.8x, 95%, 77.2%, $508.95, 48.6%, 64.9%, the Backlinko outreach rates, the Ahrefs niche-edit price). Each is now listed once.
5
Figures with no readable primary source: two digital PR averages from a vendor guide quoting other studies, a Semrush correlation behind a sign-up form, a "3x more referring domains" figure Backlinko does not state, and a round-up line with no number. Removed.
5
Figures from studies their authors have since rewritten: BuzzStream's $427 to $459 rise and its $929 asked vs $207 paid gap, two Belkins reply rates, a Saleshandy follow-up share. Removed; the BuzzStream and Belkins rows now carry the current figures.
3
Authority Hacker figures quoted through round-ups (89.2% see results in 1 to 6 months, 93.8% favour quality, 75% link referring domains to rankings). The original survey does not state them; it says 618 of 755 respondents answered 1 to 6 months, which is now on the page.
3
Figures from a sponsored Search Engine Land article about an Editorial.Link poll (92% of SEOs suspect competitors buy links, 69% never use the disavow tool, 29% of link-selling sites dead after March 2024). We could not reach Editorial.Link's own report.
1
A product description (Semrush's 0 to 100 Toxicity Score). Not a statistic.

Kept, but corrected

$508.95, the average acceptable price for one backlink, was credited to Reporter Outreach. It comes from Editorial.Link's survey of 518 SEO professionals.
68.01% zero-click searches: SparkToro counts searches with no click of any kind, not only no click to the open web, and the 2024 comparison comes from a different panel.
The Ahrefs study of 44,589 keywords names URL Rating, not referring domains, as the strongest correlating factor.
Reporter Outreach asked about the next two years, not two to three.
The 1.13 billion AI referrals figure was cited to a TechCrunch article; it now links to Similarweb's own report.
Ahrefs' finding that 12.6% of sites agreed to sell a link was cited through a Search Engine Land article; it now links to Ahrefs' own test.
Oncrawl's internal-linking case: the keyword count is dropped, because the case study gives two different starting figures (410 and 454).
Years now follow the date on each source page: several Backlinko, Ahrefs and Editorial.Link rows carried the wrong year.

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Quote a figure with a link to this page or straight to its source; each row has its own anchor. The data is also available as JSON. How we pick and check sources is on the methodology page.

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