FEATURE THE INSIDE SCOOP The Inside Scoop
Inside Online shares the findings from its latest report, looking at the digital performance of companies within the flooring market over the past year.
Carpetright is finding success online despite the firm’s financial struggles, a new report has revealed.
A digital insight report, produced by Chester-based digital marketing specialists Inside Online, has ranked 38 of the leading websites within the flooring market according to their online performance.
The study features various measurements with a crucial feature being visibility – how brands utilise search engine optimisation (SEO) to grow their website – and when partnered with domain authority – the value of sites within a search engine – indicates online performance.
Despite a 4% decrease in their visibility over the past year, the report found that Carpetright remains top of the market for visibility, ahead of Luxury Flooring & Furnishing, which itself saw a 96% increase.
UK Flooring Direct recorded a considerable increase of 200% to jump into 5th position, while Quick-Step’s visibility grew by 86% to move into 8th spot as only two of the top 10 saw a drop in their visibility year-on-year.
Burts, Harvey Maria and Wood & Beyond all saw a decrease on their previous year to fall out of the top 10 while Flooring Supplies stayed in despite a 13% reduction.
Gemma Curtis, Inbound Content Marketer at Inside Online, said: “It’s been a fantastic year for the flooring sector with only two of the top 10 retailers down on visibility by a small percentage.
“With so many brands stepping up to the plate, three of last year’s top competitors fell out of the top 10.”
High visibility against low authority can indicate SEO issues, with high-low ratio meaning a structurally sound site but the risk of a lower ranking due to a lack of authority, such as UK Flooring Direct and Posh Flooring.
Alternatively, high authority means the site is trusted by search engines but may suffer in ranking for specific terms due to low visibility.
Carpetright tops the social charts with by far the highest number of brand searches per month but came second in owned social scores – through an earned or paid social audience.
With a social presence more important than ever for retailers, the scoring considers followers and engaged conversations across major platforms.
Carpetright is the top performer with 165,000 monthly brand searches thanks to their promotional and inspirational posts, as well as a behind-the-scenes look at photo shoots, the research showed.
08 | Tomorrow’s Retail Floors
Fired Earth comes second as Walls & Floors is third for monthly searches, with both in the top five for owned social – lead by Quick-Step, which utilises their sponsorship of the WorldTour peloton cycling team.
Miss Curtis added: “Carpetright and Quick Step are both high up the social charts, both posting behind-the-scenes videos, shoppable promotional posts and links to articles.
“However, both brands could benefit from encouraging users to engage through captions with calls to action or competitions.
“An estimated 85% of millennials now use their phones to make a purchase, so social media is now more important than ever for brands to gain new audiences.”
While it is beneficial to have a high number of brand searches per month, it is essential to seek a balance with owned scores. However, some brands have a significantly lower owned social rating.
“It’s been a fantastic year for te flooring sector wit only two of te
top 10 retailers down on visiility by a small percentage.”
Al-Murad has a high brand search of 12,100 but an owned social score of 16. UK Flooring Direct and Flooring Superstore also followed this trend.
Links have always been an important ranking factor and can make all the difference to how far up a brand appears on Google. Consistently gaining new high-quality links can be great for business; however, high-link volumes without quality could spell trouble ahead.
Carpetright leads the way, gaining the highest number of good-quality links, thanks in part to its buying guides, advice centre and inspiration section, with most links coming from product images and blog posts.
There are several sites with ‘high-quality, low-volume’ links; these include Colour Flooring, ID Surfaces, Quick-Step, Ted Todd, Wood Floor Warehouse.
Conversely, there are also sites with ‘low-quality, high-volume’ links, such as Flooring Supplies, Harvey Maria, Discount Floor Depot, Crown Tiles and Direct Tile Warehouse.
Continually acquiring a high quantity of low-authority links highlights an urgent need to address off-site reputation.
To access the full report, visit Inside Online here.
http://insideonline.co.uk/sector-reports/2018-flooring-retailers-market-performance-report/
www.tomorrowsretailfloors.com
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