Software Industry Traffic Trends Show Zoom Down, Others Up [New Data]

Similar, a digital intelligence platform, recently delved into the traffic trends of the 95 largest publicly traded software companies in the US ranked by market capitalization, but excluding FAANG: Meta (formerly Facebook), Amazon, Apple, Netflix, and Alphabet (formerly known as Google).

Global markets experienced a period of instability in the second quarter of 2022, which caused the share prices of leading software companies to be hit hard.

But, even though the traffic on the software industry’s websites was turbulent, SimilarWeb looked at the numbers In its 2022 software company benchmark book, it spotted a light at the end of the tunnel.

Here are the top three results:

• The quantity is low quality. Global monthly visits to the websites of these software companies decreased by more than 1 billion visits in the second quarter of 2022 compared to the same quarter of 2001. But, visit times and the number of pages per visit increased, indicating higher quality visits and more. Concentrated buyers.
• There is still growth to be found. Companies that rely on remote work saw the most significant declines, including zoom.us, which suffered an annual drop in traffic of nearly 45%. However, 41% of the top 95 software companies increased their website traffic on a monthly basis in June 2022.
• If you exclude zoom.us, a different picture will appear. If we exclude zoom.us and its 43% market share, the other 94 software companies saw traffic decline just 7% year-over-year. And given that they saw a 23% increase in traffic during COVID-19, they have seen a 16% increase in traffic worldwide since pre-pandemic times.

What do software industry traffic trends mean for digital marketers

Many SEO professionals, content marketers, and social media marketers focus on search algorithm updates and social networks. But most marketing managers, VPs of marketing, and digital marketing strategists care more about consumer trends or customer journey changes.

So, before we jump into the tactical advice offered by the software companies’ standard rulebook from SimilarWeb, let me share some strategy ideas you won’t find in a game handbook.

Now, you and your colleagues at all levels of your company or customers know that COVID-19 has significantly impacted consumer trends and the customer journey in March 2020. And you understand that these shifts and changes have been more profound than any algorithm update.

For example, the pandemic upended American offices like nothing in memory.

At the height of the lockdowns, in May 2020, approx Third of American workers worked remotely during the month, according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics. Of course, jobs in some industries didn’t move remotely, and other jobs in small and medium-sized cities have since returned to their offices.

But in the ten largest US cities, A.J Third of the so-called “corporate” workers were still working from home, according to researchers at Stanford and elsewhere.

So, how will they react to their companies’ return-to-office (RTO) plans? What will the “new normal” look like?

These are extremely important questions for corporate executives and business owners in the software industry. And the answers will influence their decisions on many other questions, such as “Should we increase our marketing investments in video or events?”

And even if senior management decides to increase your marketing investment in video, the marketing managers and VP of Marketing and Digital Marketing Strategies will still need to decide which social video platforms to use.

Popular social video platform

According to similar data from Additional Web, YouTube had significantly more monthly visits in July 2022 than Facebook, and YouTube’s average minutes per visit was more than twice as long as Facebook’s.

But, marketing managers, marketing vice presidents, or digital marketing strategists may want to focus on the fast-growing social video platforms. Either way, here are the numbers they need to know about the top five social networking sites in the US in July 2022.

• Youtube received 35 billion The average visit was 21:49 minutes.

• Facebook received 19.4 billion The average visit was 9:52 minutes.

• IInstagram received 6.6 billion The average visit was 7:39 minutes.

• Twitter received 7.1 billion The average visit was 10:57 minutes.
• Tik Tok received 1.8 billion The average visit was 3:53 minutes.

So, savvy businesses or clients can move a portion of their Facebook teams and budgets over to TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube. For Twitter, it is not clear what the software companies should do. With Elon Musk trying to back out of his $44 billion Twitter takeover agreement, my Magic 8 Ball says, “I can’t predict right now.”

What do software industry traffic trends mean for paid search advertisers?

Although SameWeb’s 2022 Benchmarking Book of Similar Software Companies doesn’t contain these strategic insights, it does provide tactical advice for paid search advertisers.

For example, it shows that paid search advertising in this industry can still generate quality traffic.

Among the 95 companies, adobe.com invested the most in paid search traffic in June 2022, accounting for 27.4% of the market. Wix.com took 14.27% of the market share, and dropbox.com won 9.31%.

Of course, the impact of any paid search campaign depends on the keywords that a company or agency chooses. More popular keywords will cost more and thus bring in fewer leads per dollar, while unpopular phrases may not bring any traffic.

Often the most profitable search strategy is to find the right keywords that appeal to your target audience, but aren’t widely followed.

When creating a PPC (Pay Per Click) strategy for your company or client, you should also consider local (for example, in the 10 largest US cities) and time trends (for example, reactions to RTO plans) when choosing the right keywords for your offer. Business. It can have a huge impact on traffic.

And if you measure success by calculating ad spend versus traffic, here’s what LikeWeb’s playbook tells you:

• Adobe.com paid $1.6 per visit on average.

• Wix.com paid an average of $1.6 per visit.

• Dropbox.com paid an average of $1.2 per visit.

Now, it’s understandable that audience interaction is more difficult when directed to a page through a paid search ad rather than more organic marketing channels.

But, SameWeb’s 2022 Benchmarking Playbook for Software Companies shows that Adobe.com took a visit 5 minutes, 49 seconds, enjoyed an average of 7.15 pages per visit, and had a low bounce rate of 26.01%.

Therefore, her spend of $1.6 per click appears to be an effective investment. But Adobe.com still has a lot to learn from other software companies like intuit.com, which have had remarkable results; Visit duration 11:58 minutes, 12.55 pages per visit, and a low bounce rate of 23%.

In other words, paid search advertising can be an effective form of marketing, but it is essential to understand your market to get the best results.

Marketing for the New Normal

It’s worth noting that two pages in Sameweb’s game guide tell you how your strategy compares to your competition and which tactics are best for your target market.

But the lion’s share of the game guide contains:

• Original information, reports, research or analysis.

• A substantial, complete or comprehensive description of the subject matter.

• Insightful analysis or interesting information that goes beyond obvious.

Therefore, SameWeb’s 2022 Standard Book of Similar Software Companies meets Google’s long-standing definition of “quality content.” Even the How to Measure pages meet Google’s newer definition of “useful content”.

Even SEO professionals, content marketers, and social media marketers in the software industry will find engagement metrics and tactical tips in the playbook to help them navigate the “new normal.”

More resources:

• How do enterprise and SaaS marketing software solutions differ?
• 10 Best Affiliate Marketing Platforms To Increase Sales In 2022
• SaaS Content Marketing: A Complete Guide

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