Authority vs expertise: how can you compete with web giants?

The monotonous picture at the top

First, a few examples from different segments: household appliances, interiors and sports/clothing. First, the top 6 organic search results for the term ‘vacuum cleaners’ (search volume 74.000):

Position	Domain
1	Bol.com
2	Mediamarkt.nl
3	Coolblue.nl
4	Bemmelenkroon.nl
5	Consumentenbond.nl
6	Stofzuigers.com

Next, take a look at the top 6 for the term ‘coat rack’ (sv. 49.500):

Position	Domain
1	Ikea.com
2	Lumz.nl
3	Bol.com
4	Leenbakker.nl
5	Fonq.nl
6	Kapstokkendirect.nl

And finally, the top results for ‘sports shoes‘ (sv. 14.800):

Position	Domain
1	Zalando.nl
2	Outletsportschoenen.nl
3	Scapino.nl
4	Decathlon.nl
5	Bristol.nl
6	Bol.com

What stands out? The top of the competitive high-volume keywords, from 3 completely different industries, is predominantly dominated by web giants. One even bigger than the next, with Bol.com of course as the undisputed king of the search results.

Big, bigger, biggest

Online giants have a few things in common.

• They have a deep, broad and sometimes cross-industry 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 high (naturally built) domain authority.

Each of these benefits generally improves your organic performance. It is no coincidence that these players effortlessly appear at the top of many top 10 rankings. Try competing with that as a local sole trader fully focused on that one niche product within the market. Right?

At least, that was the picture for a long time. We had already noticed a shift during our year-on-year comparison of the online interiors sector, and in the data from 2023 we are seeing change again.

Stable at the top?

Let us 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 based on indexing percentage and average position, looks as follows at the beginning of 2024: 

Chart 1, A Share of Voice of 730 keywords within the ‘sportswear’ theme: a view of the most visible websites in the organic top 20. 

The Share of Voice chart above shows that, as expected, Bol.com towers alone above the other players. The website ranks for almost 80% of the 730 keywords within the top 20, while the competition barely reaches 40%.

The size of the circle also shows that the total search volume Bol.com captures in this segment is considerably greater than that of the rest. The same applies to giant Zalando.nl, which ranks in the top 20 for slightly fewer keywords, but performs higher on average in the top 10.

Market shifts in 2023: the losers and winners

Yet quite a lot has changed in the landscape over the past year. The following shifts have taken place since the beginning of 2023: 

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

The websites that have declined most sharply in organic visibility since then are shown in the bottom left. They have lost keywords that ranked within the top 20 (indexing percentage), and their average position has also deteriorated. The top right is the most favourable position in the chart: the domains shown there have made the most progress in those same areas.

What stands out in this chart is the box containing the biggest decliners. It mainly features large websites with a range broader than sportswear alone. Wehkamp and Supersales, for example, are department stores with a focus on clothing, while Zalando, as a clothing retailer, also offers more than just sportswear.

Bol.com in particular, the broadest provider of them all, has suffered a significant blow to its visibility. Within the sportswear segment, this marketplace saw its average position within the top 20 deteriorate from 65% over the past year.

A pattern can also be seen among the parties that have performed overall better. On the right-hand side of the chart, there are only websites with a clear focus on sport, such as sports brands, niche websites and somewhat broader sports shops.

Even deeper into the niche

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

Chart 3 , A shift Share of Voice of 174 keywords within the ‘cycling clothing’ theme: a view of the changes that took place in the organic market between 1-1-2023 and now. 

Within the cycling clothing niche, Google appears to make an even more nuanced distinction between websites. On the left, Bol.com is not the biggest decliner this time (although it has still suffered a significant setback). That title goes to Mantel.com, a website aimed at cyclists but with a primary focus on its range of bicycles and cycling parts. Broad sports shops such as Decathlon and Bever also lost ground.

Other websites that initially appear relevant have also declined in visibility: Bikester.nl, Wielrenner.eu and Bicycling.com. On closer inspection, however, these are websites about cycling where cycling clothing does not play the leading role.

On the positive side of the chart, the logical websites immediately stand out. Over the course of 2023, Google has increasingly pushed websites that clearly focus on cycling clothing into the top 20. These include websites such as Fietskledingvoordeel.nl and Wieleroutfits.nl, as well as cycling clothing brands such as Agu, Rogelli and Salden.

The recurring pattern

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

• Websites with a broad focus are disadvantaged compared with websites with a narrow focus, even if they have high(er) authority.
• Generally speaking, the further a website’s offering is removed from the segment being examined, the greater the lost market share.
• This mainly concerns a decline in average position, and to a much lesser extent a decline in the indexing percentage within the top 20.
• The market share lost by broad websites is being taken up by websites with a more specialist focus that aligns with the theme being examined.

Specialist knowledge = better service

The pattern aligns with Google’s algorithm updates of recent years. These also show that it is becoming increasingly important for a website to demonstrate that it is an expert in the relevant field.

In Google’s logic, a specialist knows more about the product than a provider for whom the product is only a small part of the range. The specialist can therefore serve the user (who is also Google’s user) better. Under ‘specialist’, Google also appears to include brands from the segment.

How to get the most out of your visibility as a specialist

We already saw it in the example tables: although web giants in 2023 have generally given up a substantial share of their market share within segments, this does not mean that they have disappeared entirely from the top results. Particularly for more general, high-volume search terms with high competition, their high authority and/or extensive range may still be decisive.

Nevertheless, there are things you can do as a small or medium-sized business owner to ensure that your website or webshop, now that you know Google prefers expertise, achieves its maximum organic potential. Our key tips:

1. Ensure that your website meets Google’s E-E-A-T requirements. You know the ins and outs of your market and product better than anyone, so make this clear explicitly! Google must be able to see that you are a (first-hand) expert in your field and that your website is reliable.

2. Shift your focus to relevant long-tail keywords. These have a (much) lower search volume, but also (much) lower competition and are further down the marketing funnel.

By optimising for many smaller keyword variations, you can still capture an interesting search volume overall. Improving your performance for long tails also helps Google understand that you may be relevant for related short-tail keywords.

Looking for a specialist who can help you?

Curious about how to use your expertise as efficiently as possible to grow online? We happen to have specialists in-house for exactly that! Feel free to contact us, and we will gladly discuss the possibilities with you.