Target and Home Depot win on Google as fashion brands struggle
Target and Home Depot are the only bricks and mortar retailers whose online stores rank among the 10 e-commerce sites with the biggest gains in Google search performance during the coronavirus pandemic.
That’s according to research by Searchmetrics.
Its top ten list is dominated by the three big online marketplaces, Amazon, eBay and Etsy, together with the websites of technology giants, Apple, Microsoft and Verizon.
The list also includes home entertainment brand Nintendo, which improved it search visibility by 85%, and Amazon owned online audiobook and podcast service Audible, which created a 567% improvement.
No fashion e-commerce stores improved their search performance enough to make it into the top ten.
Most notable was the drop in performance from Macy’s, which lost over 20% of its search visibility.
Searchmetrics’ wider analysis identified H&M, Asos and Lyst as the top three brands that made the biggest search visibility gains on Google from within the fashion category over the course of 2020.
Its study analysed weekly search results for millions of keywords throughout the year, scoring websites for factors such as how frequently they appear in results and how high they rank.
Some of the websites that made the top ten list like the online marketplaces are broad sites featuring a wide range of products.
This means the sheer breadth of content covering different items would give them a head start in organic search, in addition to their continued effort to SEO hygiene and indexed page quality.
Established brands also generally do well because Google recognises that they generate more trust from users in search results, according to Searchmetrics.
“It’s not always easy to reduce to one reason why certain brands are winning on Google,” says Tyson Stockton, VP Client & Account Management US at Searchmetrics.
“However, one important factor is that Google’s algorithm reacts to changes in user behaviour and this has given some brands a boost during the pandemic.”
“For example, Google Trends data showed a big increase in searches for e-commerce brands such as Home Depot and Etsy especially during the first lockdown period in the spring and some experts believe this can carry over into helping those brands also rank higher for their generic non-branded search terms.”
Something similar may also explain the improved performance for the Nintendo website, because the Nintendo Switch saw huge spikes in searches as people clamoured for home entertainment and gadgets during the lockdowns.
Google was then able to make the association that home entertainment queries were relevant to Nintendo Switch.
As for 2021, Google is introducing its new ranking factor, the Core Web Vitals, which is scheduled to roll-out in May.
Stockton comments: “Core Web Vitals will reward websites that deliver a good user experience in areas such as load time, interaction, and stability.”
“E-commerce stores that are well prepared for this new ranking factor will be able to gain an all important competitive edge in Google rankings.”
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