SEO Industry Benchmarks

Author's avatar SEO UPDATED Apr 22, 2024 PUBLISHED Sep 26, 2023 15 minutes read

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    Peter Caputa

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    SEO is one of the most competitive fields in digital marketing… and the competition is getting tougher with each day that goes by.

    To stand out nowadays, it’s not enough to focus on your own KPIs – you need insight into your competitors’ performances and see how you stack up.

    Without these insights, you won’t know which SEO areas should be improved and which are good enough to be left alone for the time being.

    And while searching for SEO benchmarks used to be this tedious process that could take days until you find what you’re looking for (if you even find it), that’s not the case anymore.

    At least not with Databox’s Benchmark Groups.

    In this report, we examined SEO metrics such as impressions, position, clicks, CTR, sessions, average session duration, views, engagement rate, and conversions across 15 different industries.

    For more insight into other benchmarks, you can join our Benchmark Groups for free and get instant access to a variety of cohorts you can analyze.

    SEO industry Benchmarks infographic

    Let’s get started:

    Impressions

    Across all industries, the median number of impressions for August 2023 was 107.81K.

    impressions

    Let’s take a closer look at impressions across different industries:

    IndustryImpressions
    Apparel & Footwear161.79K
    AutomotiveMISSING
    Construction60.65K
    Consulting & Professional Services81.22K
    E-commerce & Marketplaces57.62K
    Education154.42K
    Food156.68K
    Health Care150.53K
    Health & Wellness202.31K
    Information Technology & Services112.48K
    Industrials & Manufacturing121.2K
    Real Estate81.97K
    SaaS112.02K
    Technology165.85K
    Travel & Leisure269.57K

    Per data, we see there’s been a spike in impressions for Travel & Leisure and Health & Wellness in August and it could be attributed to the vacation period. 

    Vacation seasons are times when people are more likely to travel and take leisure trips. As a result, the demand for travel-related services and products, as well as health and wellness offerings for preparation and relaxation, increases significantly.

    Expert recommendation: To get more impressions, you need to get better SERP rankings. And one quick tip here that often goes overlooked is to determine which pages are wasting your crawl budget. Sometimes, Google has to establish a crawl budget for your website and limit the number of pages it regularly crawls. This can cause major issues if you have a large volume of content published. To fix this, look for pages with the least number of impressions in GSC and either delete them completely, 301 redirect them to similar pages, or do a content update on them.

    Position

    Across all industries, the median position for August 2023 was 30.34.

    position

    Let’s take a closer look at the position metric across different industries:

    IndustryPosition
    Apparel & FootwearMISSING
    AutomotiveMISSING
    Construction31.57
    Consulting & Professional Services35.82
    E-commerce & Marketplaces20.54
    Education28.55
    Food19.01
    Health Care31.15
    Health & Wellness27.15
    Information Technology & Services34.34
    Industrials & Manufacturing23.41
    Real Estate30.89
    SaaS33.89
    Technology32.28
    Travel & Leisure25.93

    The median rank across all sectors stands at 30.34. Notably, only the Food and Ecommerce & Marketplaces sectors register a position below 20.

    On the other side of the spectrum, we have Consulting & Professional Services and Information Technology & Services with the lowest rankings.

    Expert recommendation: You already know how important Meta tags are, but how often do you experiment with different versions? Meta tags are key for off-page SEO, and many marketers recommend testing different variants to see how they impact your CTR and overall SEO efforts.

    Clicks

    Across all industries, the median number of clicks for August 2023 was 1.73K.

    clicks

    Let’s take a closer look at clicks across different industries:

    IndustryClicks
    Apparel & Footwear3.58K
    Automotive8.71K
    Construction708
    Consulting & Professional Services923.5
    E-commerce & Marketplaces781
    Education3.72K
    Food3.18K
    Health Care2.06K
    Health & Wellness4.74K
    Information Technology & Services1.61K
    Industrials & Manufacturing2.05K
    Real Estate1.92K
    SaaS1.67K
    Technology2.04K
    Travel & Leisure7.7K

    The Automotive industry (8.71K) and Travel & Leisure (7.7K) secured the highest number of clicks, indicating successful CTA conversions.

    For the Automotive industry, the large number of clicks can be due to consumers relying heavily on online resources when deciding which car to buy. They use Google to gather information, compare models, read reviews, and find local dealerships. Often, they will click on several websites to get more information.

    Expert recommendation: You need to leverage Google Search Console analytics reports to understand better what type of headlines and content get more clicks. Pay attention to which topics your audience is most interested in and which types of headlines are the most effective in “selling the click”. Then, try to replicate the successful model in future posts.

    Click-Through Rate (CTR)

    Across all industries, the median CTR for August 2023 was 1.56%.

    CTR

    Let’s take a closer look at the CTR across different industries:

    IndustryCTR
    Apparel & FootwearMISSING
    Automotive1.73%
    Construction1.39%
    Consulting & Professional Services1.44%
    E-commerce & Marketplaces0.88%
    Education2.73%
    Food2.23%
    Health Care1.27%
    Health & Wellness1.76%
    Information Technology & Services1.32%
    Industrials & Manufacturing2.23%
    Real Estate2.02%
    SaaS1.43%
    Technology1.44%
    Travel & Leisure2.13%

    Per the latest data, Education websites have registered the highest CTR (2.73%). Educational content tends to provide valuable information, which can be highly relevant to users’ search queries. High-quality educational content may naturally attract more clicks if it addresses users’ needs effectively.

    Expert recommendation: If possible, you should always aim to take up more Google real estate with sitelinks. Those are the links that appear beneath the Meta description and help users find relevant information faster with shortcuts. Sitelinks can positively affect CTR as they catch the user’s attention and offer several pieces of information in one result.

    Sessions

    Across all industries, the median number of sessions for August 2023 was 3.88K.

    Let’s take a closer look at sessions across different industries:

    IndustrySessions
    Apparel & Footwear38.22K
    Automotive16.02K
    Construction1.61K
    Consulting & Professional Services2.47K
    E-commerce & Marketplaces9.91K
    Education7.22K
    Food7.17K
    Health Care4.94K
    Health & Wellness5.78K
    Information Technology & Services4.82K
    Industrials & Manufacturing2.9K
    Real Estate3.26K
    SaaS3.58K
    Technology5.19K
    Travel & Leisure3.85K

    Apparel & Footwear dominates in terms of session count. Being consumer-focused, Apparel & Footwear naturally attracts more traffic.

    Industries leaning more towards B2B might have fewer sessions due to extended decision cycles. Take the Construction industry, for example, which had only 1.61K sessions in August.

    Expert recommendation: Building content clusters is a great way to increase your number of sessions and leave a good impression on visitors. Instead of just covering one topic, create content for other relevant insights around it as well. Chances are, users will continue down the “information road” and keep reading as long as it’s relevant to their question and helps them comprehend the topic better.

    Average Session Duration

    Across all industries, the median value for the average session duration for August 2023 was 2m 38s.

    Average Session Duration

    Let’s take a closer look at the average session duration across different industries:

    IndustryAverage Session Duration
    Apparel & Footwear2m 44s
    Automotive2m 42s
    Construction2m 24s
    Consulting & Professional Services2m 35s
    E-commerce & Marketplaces2m 23s
    Education3m 20s
    Food2m 47s
    Health Care2m 46s
    Health & Wellness2m 44s
    Information Technology & Services2m 42s
    Industrials & Manufacturing2m 41s
    Real Estate2m 29s
    SaaS2m 34s
    Technology2m 46s
    Travel & Leisure3m 16s

    Education (3m 20s) and Travel & Leisure (3m 16s) have longer session durations, suggesting engaging content.

    Travel decisions usually require a good amount of research (also, websites often have virtual tours that prolong the sessions) and the booking processes can be time-consuming.

    On the other hand, educational websites are usually packed with content (course descriptions, syllabi, reviews, and articles on specific subjects) and users often spend considerable time diving deep into the material.

    Expert recommendation: When it comes to website design, less is more. Many businesses make the mistake of going too far with their website design, which can actually have a counter effect and lead to shorter sessions. Keep the design on your page simple and make sure you’re not adding elements that might confuse your readers.

    Views

    Across all industries, the median number of sessions for August 2023 was 9.04K.

    Views

    Let’s take a closer look at views across different industries:

    IndustryViews
    Apparel & Footwear105.02K
    Automotive8.79K
    Construction6.69K
    Consulting & Professional Services4.79K
    E-commerce & Marketplaces45.96K
    Education14.79K
    Food16.53K
    Health Care10.49K
    Health & Wellness11.69K
    Information Technology & Services11.03K
    Industrials & Manufacturing8.54K
    Real Estate13.28K
    SaaS6.85K
    Technology13.23K
    Travel & Leisure12.22K

    Apparel & Footwear (105.02K) and E-commerce & Marketplaces (45.96K) generate the most views. The nature of these industries, combined with modern marketing strategies and the innate human desire to explore (and shop), can lead to a high number of views on their websites.

    The only two industries that had lower than 7K views include Construction and SaaS.

    Expert recommendation: While the views metric is worth tracking, it’s much more useful to tie it to the bigger picture using the Google Analytics pageview report within the tool. This way, you’re getting a much more comprehensive overview of your website’s performance, including data like where your viewers are coming from, what time of the day they visit, which devices they use, and more.

    Engagement Rate

    Across all industries, the median engagement rate for August 2023 was 56.23%.

    Engagement Rate

    Let’s take a closer look at the engagement rate across different industries:

    IndustryEngagement Rate
    Apparel & Footwear60.23%
    Automotive60.36%
    Construction54.92%
    Consulting & Professional Services52.43%
    E-commerce & Marketplaces63.86%
    Education57.19%
    Food53.74%
    Health Care59.97%
    Health & Wellness62.22%
    Information Technology & Services52.64%
    Industrials & Manufacturing58.33%
    Real Estate54.13%
    SaaS52.43%
    Technology54.71%
    Travel & Leisure61.55%

    E-commerce & Marketplaces (63.86%), Health & Wellness (62.22%), and Travel & Leisure (61.55%) lead the engagement game, suggesting captivating user experiences.

    Ecomms and Marketplaces often use recommender systems that increase engagement, as well as interactive elements (product zoom, reviews, Q&A, and related product suggestions) that increase interactions.

    Similarly, Health & wellness websites frequently offer a rich content blend that can meet various user preferences and encourage more interaction (BMI calculators, symptom checkers, etc.).

    Expert recommendation: When it comes to measuring engagement, it’s best not to rely on a single metric. Instead, you should make a list of 5-8 engagement metrics that are most relevant to your efforts and prioritize them. However, tracking different metrics within GA4 can be a bit tedious, and you’ll probably have to compile them in a separate spreadsheet for easier organization. Or, you can simply use our free Google Analytics 4 Engagement Overview dashboard and track all of your key metrics from one easy-to-monitor place. You can set it up and create a dashboard like this in less than 10 minutes.

    Conversions

    Across all industries, the median number of conversions for August 2023 was 182.

    Conversions

    Let’s take a closer look at conversions across different industries:

    IndustryConversions
    Apparel & Footwear2.71K
    Automotive507
    Construction64
    Consulting & Professional Services132
    E-commerce & MarketplacesMISSING
    Education483
    Food431
    Health Care258
    Health & Wellness266
    Information Technology & Services189
    Industrials & Manufacturing159
    Real Estate208
    SaaS231.5
    Technology185.5
    Travel & Leisure94

    When it comes to conversion, Apparel & Footwear are undeniably leading the board.

    The Apparel & Footwear industry often experiences seasonal trends, with spikes in demand during certain times of the year, such as back-to-school shopping, holiday seasons, and seasonal fashion trends.

    These periods of increased consumer interest and shopping can lead to higher conversion rates, which might explain the high number of conversions in August.

    Expert recommendation: Practically, the only tested and proven way to boost conversions is to… well, do just that – test and prove what works. Focus on split-testing each big element on your page, from your copywriting and CTA button to the design and overall layout. Even the best in the industry can’t hit a home run on their first try and turn to A/B testing to increase their conversion rates.

    SEO Benchmark Groups for All Industries

    The data we presented in this article comes from Databox’s Benchmark Groups.

    Benchmark Groups is a product that allows businesses to access performance insights and instantly see how they compare against similar-sized competitors in their niche. You get an instant overview of which of your key areas are performing on a satisfactory level and which need to be optimized.

    Anyone can join Benchmark Groups for free, and the data shared is 100% anonymous for all participants.

    We already have a ton of great insights, but we’re always looking to make our data more actionable. You can help us with this by joining the Benchmark Group relevant to your industry or the group for all industries. More contributors mean more relevant data for everyone.

    Below, we compiled a list of all Google Analytics 4 and Google Search Console Benchmark Groups we used when building this report. Again, you can join any of them for free.

    Use Insights from Benchmark Groups to Drive Your SEO Performance and Refine Strategies Based on Actual Data

    Tools like Google Analytics 4 and Google Search Console deliver a treasure trove of data right into the hands of business owners.

    Yet, without a clear benchmark to measure against, you might as well be navigating in the dark.

    Yes, you can track sessions, users, average session durations, and all the other key SEO metrics that these tools offer… but how do you know whether these numbers are truly good or if they need improvement?

    Industry reports, while somewhat helpful, are far from the ideal solution. They often lack the specificity and granularity needed to make precise comparisons.

    But with Benchmark Groups, this isn’t an issue anymore.

    You can simply connect your data, choose the groups that align with your interests, and voilà! Within seconds, you gain access to industry benchmarks that paint a vivid picture of how you measure up against your competitors.

    And here’s the icing on the cake – it’s all completely free.

    Benchmark Groups won’t just tell you where you stand – they’ll reveal where you’re falling short in comparison to your peers. This insight enables you to zero in on areas that require immediate optimization. On the flip side, you’ll also discover where you’re ahead of the curve.

    This knowledge is gold when it comes to spotting new opportunities and strategically allocating resources.

    Join our free Benchmark Groups and understand your SEO performance better than ever before.

    Author's avatar
    Article by
    Nevena Rudan

    Marketing Research Analyst at Databox. Being an experienced Strategic and Creative Planner, with more than 15 years of practice, Nevena is passionately dedicated to untying the knots and entanglements of marketing, sales, and human behavior in order to deliver understandable, useful, and actionable insights for businesses.

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