Organic shifts: authority vs expertise

The monotone scene at the top

First, a few examples from different segments: home appliances, interior design and sports/clothing. First, the top 6 organic search results for the term ‘stofzuigers’ (vacuum cleaners in Dutch, search volume 74,000):

Next, cast a glance at the top 6 for the term ‘kapstok’ (coat rack in Dutch, sv. of 49.500):

And finally on the top results of  ‘sportschoenen‘ (sports shoes in Dutch, sv. of 14.800):

So, what stands out? The top competitive high-volume keywords – from 3 completely different industries – are predominantly dominated by web giants. Some bigger than others, and with Bol.com of course being the absolute king of search results.

Big, bigger, biggest

Online giants have a few things in common.

• They have a deep, broad and sometimes cross-industry product range;
• They have high brand awareness, resulting in high search volume;
• Because they are relevant and well-known for so many products and target groups, they have a high (naturally built up) domain authority.

All of these are generally known to boost organic performance. It is therefore unsurprising that these players appear effortlessly at the top of many top-10. Imagine trying to compete with that, with your local one-man business focusing entirely on that one niche product within the market. Right?

At least, that was the perception for a long time. We noticed a shift earlier during our annual comparison of the online home furnishing industry, and in the 2023 data we see change again.

Stable at the top?

We return briefly to the sports segment, and focus on 730 search terms related to sportswear. The top of the market – the best-performing domains within the top 20 in terms of indexation rate and average position – looks as follows at the beginning of 2024:

Graph 1 – A Share of Voice of 730 Dutch keywords within the ‘sportswear’ theme: a representation of the best-visible websites in the organic top 20.

A Share of Voice is a SEO visualisation shows the market for a particular set of keywords. The Share of Voice chart above shows that Bol.com, as expected, towers lonely above the others. The website ranks within the top 20 for almost 80% of the 730 keywords, while the competition barely touches 40%.

The size of the circle also shows that the total search volume that Bol.com captures in this segment is much higher than that of the others. The same goes for giant Zalando.nl, which is in the top 20 with slightly fewer keywords, but performs higher in the top 10 on average.

Market shifts in 2023: the losers and the winners

Yet the playing field has changed quite a bit over the past year. The following shifts have taken place since the start of 2023:

Graph 2 – A shift-Share of Voice of the 730 Dutch keywords within the ‘sportswear’ theme: a representation of the changes that took place in the organic market between 1-1-2023 and now.

On the bottom left are the websites that have lost the most in organic visibility. They lost keywords that ranked within the top 20 (indexing percentage) and their average position also decreased. The top right is the most favourable spot in the graph: domains ranked there have made the most progress in those same areas.

Notable in this graph is the box with the biggest declines. In it, we see predominantly large websites with an assortment broader than just sportswear. For instance, Wehkamp and Supersales are department stores with a focus on clothing, and Zalando too, as a clothing shop, offers more than just sportswear.

But Bol.com in particular, the broadest provider of all, took a big hit in visibility. Within the sportswear segment, this marketplace noticed deterioration in average position within the top 20 of 65% in the past year.

We also see a pattern among the parties that have improved overall. Indeed, on the right side of the chart, only websites with a clear focus on sports, such as sports brands, niche websites and also the somewhat broader sports shops, are listed.

Deeper into the niche

Sportswear is specific, but it can be much more specific. In the next Share of Voice, we look at the 2023 market shifts for 174 Dutch search terms within the theme of ‘cycling apparel’.

Graph 3 – A shift-Share of Voice of 174 keywords within the theme ‘cycling apparel’: a representation of the changes that took place in the organic market between 1-1-2023 and now.

Within the cyclewear niche, Google seems to be making an even more nuanced distinction between websites. On the left side, Bol.com is not the biggest loser this time (but still picks up a hefty setback). That title goes to Mantel.com, a website that, while aimed at cyclists, focuses on bicycles and bicycle parts, too. In addition, general sports shops such as Decathlon and Bever also yielded positions.

Other seemingly relevant websites also dropped in visibility: Bikester.nl, Wielrenner.eu and Bicycling.com. On closer inspection, however, these turn out to be websites that are about cycling, but where cycling clothing is not the main focus.

On the positive side of the graph, on the other hand, what stands out is very obvious. Google is pushing websites that overwhelmingly put their focus on cycling apparel more into the top 20 during 2023. These are websites like Fietskledingvoordeel.nl and Wieleroutfits.nl, but also and cycling (clothing) brands like Agu, Rogelli and Salden.

The recurring pattern

The above Share of Voices from the sportswear and cycling apparel industry underline the pattern we have noticed in the data and among our clients in recent months:

• Websites with a broad focus are disadvantaged compared to websites with a narrow focus, even if they have a high(er) authority.
• Thereby, in general, the further away the website’s offer is from the viewed segment, the greater the lost market share.
• In particular, it is a drop in average position, and only to a much lesser extent a drop in indexation percentage within the top 20.
• The market share lost by the broad websites is filled in by websites with a specialist(er) focus that matches the viewed topic.

Specialist knowledge = better service

The pattern is consistent with Google’s algorithm updates in recent years. In this, we also see that it is increasingly important for a website to convey that you are an expert in the relevant field.

In Google’s logic: a specialist knows more about the product than a provider where the product is only a small part of the range. The specialist can therefore serve the user (who is also Google’s user) better. By ‘specialist’, Google seems to include brands in the segment.

How to make the most of your visibility as a specialist

We saw it in the sample tables: although web giants have generally lost a lot of market share within segments by 2023, this does not mean that they have completely disappeared from the top results. Especially on the more general, high-volume search terms with high competition, their high authority and/or deep range can still be decisive.

Still, there are things you as a small or medium-sized business owner can do to your website or webshop – now that you know Google prefers expertise – to make the most of your organic potential. Our main tips:

1. Make sure your website meets Google’s E-E-A-T requirements. You know the ins and outs of your market and product better than anyone else, so make sure you communicate this explicitly! Google needs to be able to see that you are a (first-hand) expert within your field and that your website is trustworthy.
2. Shift your focus to relevant long tail keywords. These have a (much) lower search volume, but also a (much) lower competition and are deeper in the marketing funnel.

Looking for a specialist to help you?

Wondering how to use your expertise as efficiently as possible to grow online? We happen to have specialists for that! Get in touch and we will be happy to brainstorm the possibilities with you.