It depends on the retailer… category presence can be more important for visibility
Mother’s Day is fast approaching in the UK so we had
a look at how e-retailers are treating shopper searches
for “mothers day” and “mothers day gifts”.
Two very similar keywords - likely with near-identical search intent - you’d expect similar results, right?
Have a look at the numbers…
Here’s the category visibility across a few of the big players for these two keywords:
Category visibility is patently different across retailers. For example, at Tesco, search results for “mothers day” produce a mix of chocolate, alcohol, and gifting, whereas “mothers day gifts” is focused solely on gifts. Meanwhile, Waitrose’s results for “mother’s day” are almost evenly split between chocolate and personal healthcare products. And why the inclusion of the odd category “chilled meats” for Sainsbury’s? We’ll get to that in tomorrow’s blog post…
Search isn’t always everything
So why the disparate category performance for these two very related keywords? It’s easy to assume that search is everything. This might be true on Amazon, but other e-retailers take a different approach. Waitrose, Asda, Ocado and Sainsbury’s all redirect shopper search queries to a specially-curated “Mother’s Day” category. Tesco was the only e-grocer displaying organic search results. A few big takeaways here:
Strategies for winning special events like Mother’s Day
- Know your retailer.
Don’t assume every retailer search algorithm and taxonomy are the same.
They aren’t. - Have a steadfast eye on category and sub-category presence.
Make sure you’re where you should be. Even in search, shoppers can filter by category, so make sure you’re there. - Focus on e-retailers where you can have the biggest impact.
If you’re a luxury personal care product, it may not be worth your time trying to get into search on Tesco which blatantly favours chocolate, alcohol,
and gifts. Focus on building your category presence and nailing your content to win on conversion.
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