Searchmetrics analyses mobile phone search performance of top supermarket sites in wake of Google mobile-friendly update

London – June 15, 2015 - Tesco.com is the most visible British supermarket website in mobile phone searches on Google UK (Google.co.uk) performing three times better than nearest rival, Asda.com according to a new study released today. The research by search and content optimisation leader, Searchmetrics, reveals that leading supermarket sites that perform well in desktop searches also perform well in mobile phone searches in the wake of the recent Google mobile-friendly update.

Searchmetrics compared the search performance of nine leading British supermarket websites [1] in desktop and mobile phone searches to assess the impact of the Google mobile-friendly update, the algorithm change designed to downgrade the mobile search rankings of those web pages not deemed to be user-friendly on mobile phone displays.

“When Google announced its mobile-friendly update, there was speculation about the major impact it could potentially have on brands. However, our analysis indicates that the effect has not been significant on the leading supermarket retail sites we included in the research. Probably because they made sure their sites were already well optimised for mobile phones,” explained Marcus Tober, CTO and founder of Searchmetrics. “It’s likely that some smaller sites who have not invested in the mobile user experience of their pages will have seen a drop in search performance and traffic from mobile phones.”

Tober also suggested that it was likely that Google will continue to adjust its algorithm for mobiles searches, making it important for online businesses to track the mobile search performance of their pages and continue into invest in the mobile user experience.

Searchmetrics analysed the search results for millions of search terms to calculate a Desktop Visibility score and a Mobile Visibility score for each of the supermarket sites in the study [2]. These index scores, which are presented as metrics within Searchmetrics’ software, reflect how frequently sites appear in search results and how highly they rank.

As shown in the table underneath, Tesco performs best in both mobile and desktop searches with a mobile visibility score of 633,970 and a desktop visibility score of 607,450, over three times higher than the scores for second-placed Asda in both mobile and desktop searches.

Supermarket site   Mobile Visibility   Desktop Visibility
1. Tesco.com   633,970   607,450
2. Asda.com   200,804   193,697
3. Sainsbury.co.uk      80,936   81,675
4. Waitrose.com   38,695      41,081
5. Morrisons.com   28,968   30,436
6. Aldi.co.uk       23,938   22,146
7. Co-operative.coop      14,180   14,584   
8. Lidl.co.uk      11,732       12,558
9. Iceland.co.uk   7,992   10,332

“Research suggests that people don’t always use mobile phones to make the final purchase, but they do use them heavily to research products ahead of making a purchase via a desktop or laptop or by visiting a store. In many cases in-store customers might check product prices and offers on a competitive store website before making a purchase,” explained Tober. “So even if you are not selling through your website – as was the case in some of the supermarkets in our study – it could still be very important to have good visibility in mobile searches.”