New Searchmetrics study highlights importance of video and YouTube when consumers search for information on consumer electronics. It also reveals UK retailers of consumer tech may not be doing enough to satisfy informational searches

Amazon.co.uk is the most visible[1] website overall in Google’s UK page one results when people search for consumer electronics topics such as computers, laptops, video and mobile phones according to a new study by Searchmetrics. YouTube.com takes second place, ahead of both Currys.co.uk and Argos.co.uk demonstrating the importance of providing relevant video content for people searching for consumer electronics.

For searches related to mobile phones, carphonewarehouse.com is the most visible on page one, with nearly double the market share of second-placed buymobiles.net, with Argos.co,uk coming third.

The research analysed Google’s UK search results for 1,000 keywords related to consumer electronics topics. It reveals that 49% of searches are from people looking for information, rather than those intent on making an immediate product purchase. Yet retail sites in the study are estimated to attract only 20% if their traffic from these informational searches, the rest comes from transactional searches. This suggests their websites may not be providing adequate content for the people looking for background information and advice, leading to a loss of engagement and potential revenue.

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Which websites are winning market share on Google page one for consumer electronics related searches?

1. Amazon.co.uk (10.8%)
2. Youtube.com (8.5%)
3. Currys.co.uk (8.3%)
4. Argos.co.uk (7.9%)
5. Laptopsdirect.co.uk (7.8%)
6. ebuyer.com (4.7%)
7. carphonewarehouse.com (3.9%)
8. ao.com (3.4%)
9. dell.com (3.2%)
10. very.co.uk(2.4%)

Which websites are winning market share on Google page one for mobile phone related searches?

1. Carphonewarehouse.com (23%)
2. buymobiles.net (12%)
3. argos.co.uk (11%)
4. mobilephonesdirect.co.uk (9%)
5. mobiles.co.uk (8%)

“Attracting informational traffic to your ecommerce-focused site is a strong way to create brand awareness at the top of the ‘sales funnel’, that will then translate into conversions down the line,” said to Stephen Bench-Capon, Senior Content Marketing Manager, Searchmetrics. “This means that retailers’ content marketing strategies should include creating informative blogs and articles that address people’s questions such as ‘how to connect a computer to a tv wirelessly’ or ‘how to set up a projector’. Running a YouTube channel that answers these types of questions in an understandable, straightforward way, is also very powerful.”

In fact, nearly all (99.5%) of the search traffic to YouTube for consumer electronics searches is for informational searches, meaning Google’s algorithm recognises that consumers who are looking for information on products and for post-purchase help are often best served through video content.

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As well as video, the research indicates that consumer electronics retailers should target, Images, Google Shopping ads and other features or widgets (known collectively as SERP Features) that Google regularly integrates directly into its page one search results. For example, 73% of mobile search results for consumer electronics include Videos on page one and 47% include Image boxes.

The analysis finds that Amazon.co.uk is the website most likely to appear in Images boxes and also the domain that places the most Google Shopping Ads for consumer electronics searches (appearing in 16% of all Images boxes and 49% of all Google Shopping boxes).

How often do different SERP features appear for consumer electronics searches?

Among other prominent SERP features is the Related Questions box, which appears on page one for more than 86% of consumer electronics searches on mobile and desktop. These are the ‘People Also Ask’ suggestions, which are related to the main search topic (each suggestion includes a drop-down button which reveals more information displayed in a Featured Snippet-like box when clicked). If retailers do not make it into the traditional organic results, Related Questions provide another way to get onto page one.

AMP (accelerated mobile pages) show up for 94% of mobile search results on consumer electronics related topics. AMP is a Google-backed system that lets websites create faster loading pages. Initially introduced to help news and media sites create a user-friendly mobile experience, some retail sites are starting to adopt it in order to generate more visibility in Google searches and streamline the experience for mobile visitors. AMP web pages are displayed in a variety of ways including in News Carousels and other designated spaces in Google’s page one search results.

SERP Features provide an important opportunity for retailers to increase their visibility on page one. They usually stand out prominently on the results page which means they can attract more traffic explains Bench-Capon:

“There are a range of tactics that websites can focus on to help get their pages listed within SERP features, ranging from hosting and tagging relevant images and videos in order to increase the chances of appearing in Images and Videos boxes, to creating relevant content and marking it up in the correct way to get picked in the Related Questions suggestions. And with the large number of Google Shopping ads being shown for these searches, appearing here is another way to get noticed on Google’s first page.”

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