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Google Asda Mobile

Tesco mobile search strategy three times more effective than Asda's plan

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By Jennifer Faull, Deputy Editor

June 15, 2015 | 3 min read

Tesco is the most visible British supermarket website in mobile phone searches on Google UK, performing three times better than nearest rival Asda.

The finding came as part of a Searchmetrics study conducted in the wake of Google’s mobile-friendly update – widely dubbed as ‘mobilegeddon’.

It was speculated at the time that retailers could be hit hard by the algorithm changes, which downgrade the mobile search rankings of web pages not deemed to be user-friendly on mobile phone displays.

However, the research found that the effect has not been significant on leading supermarket retail sites.

Searchmetrics analysed the search results for millions of search terms to calculate a Mobile Visibility score for each of the supermarket sites in the study. These index scores reflect how frequently sites appear in search results and how highly they rank.

Tesco performed the 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. In third place was Sainsburys with a mobile visibility score of 80, 936 followed by Waitrose (38,695) and Morrisons (28,968).

Falling just outside of the top five were Aldi and Lidl, neither of which have an online shopping option.

Marcus Tober, chief technology officer and founder of Searchmetrics explained that while these major retailers will have been unaffected – given they have invested significantly in mobile - it’s likely that some smaller sites who have not invested in the mobile user experience may 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 mobile 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.

“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,” he explained.

“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.”

It comes following an IAB report where Tesco emerged as the standout retailer in the trade body’s seventh mobile audit, scoring eight on average when it was judged against 10 mobile KPIs in February.

Google Asda Mobile

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