Top 50 eCommerce Tech Sellers in the UK – State of Digital Marketing
We scored UK’s biggest tech ecommerce stores using our proprietary weighted digital marketing scoring system. This is who came out on top.
| position | Website | core impact | LCP, s | DA | doms | indexed | schema | Linkedin followers | Insta followers | TP score | TP reviews | Marketing score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | backmarket.co.uk | flat | 4.5 | 40 | 12555 | 224000 | yes | 72000 | 87000 | 4.3 | 16901 | 120.81 |
| 2 | pcspecialist.co.uk | up | 12.6 | 44 | 11297 | 55100 | yes | 2000 | 66000 | 4.6 | 40374 | 116.24 |
| 3 | overclockers.co.uk | up | 19 | 58 | 27616 | 196000 | yes | 3000 | 26000 | 4.7 | 16202 | 114.9 |
| 4 | novatech.co.uk | flat | 4.2 | 40 | 11272 | 18300 | yes | 5000 | 13000 | 4.8 | 21697 | 113.4 |
| 5 | laptopoutlet.co.uk | up | 8.4 | 36 | 9290 | 13300 | yes | 1000 | 3109 | 4.4 | 6286 | 109.44 |
| 6 | comet.co.uk | up | 10.6 | 41 | 6287 | 10300 | yes | 9000 | 7380 | 4.3 | 807 | 106.41 |
| 7 | stockmustgo.co.uk | up | 8.1 | 25 | 5900 | 34600 | yes | 430 | 713 | 4.1 | 6191 | 104.28 |
| 8 | ebuyer.com | down | 3.7 | 51 | 22679 | 40600 | yes | 7000 | 11000 | 4.5 | 48888 | 102.42 |
| 9 | inside-tech.co.uk | up | 7.2 | 22 | 6925 | 6110 | yes | 80 | 5166 | 4.8 | 191 | 99.52 |
| 10 | scan.co.uk | down | 6.4 | 51 | 26455 | 85400 | yes | 6000 | 37000 | 4.8 | 39548 | 99.22 |
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How we scored the websites
We took factors that define success or failure specifically in marketing efforts of eCommerce sites.
Google Core Update impact, average page load speed, domain authority score, number of domains linking back, number of indexed pages, Schema markup validity, social reach on LinkedIn and Instagram as well as TrustPilot score and number of reviews. Each factor had a different weighting applied and then we put it all together to come up with an overall score. Read on to find out about our rationale behind the scoring and to see which UK tech seller came out on top.
In an era where technology intertwines seamlessly with everyday life, the online retail sector plays a pivotal role in shaping consumer experiences. This comprehensive data table is a culmination of meticulous analysis, offering a nuanced perspective on the leading players in the UK’s tech ecommerce domain.
Our methodology transcends conventional evaluations by delving into the multifaceted realm of digital marketing. The top 50 websites have been diligently scored based on a spectrum of crucial factors that define their online presence. At the core of this evaluation are performance indicators such as organic traffic, providing a glimpse into the platforms that successfully attract and engage users through search engine visibility.
SEO lingo used in this report:
There’s nothing we like more than some juicy SEO jargon. Let’s break down the terms to see what we’re actually talking about.
- core update impact – looking at the few previous Google core updates, how resilient has the site been. Flat means that organic traffic has not been impacted by core updates. Could be a good sign but can also indicate that you’re not making much progress with your organic rankings.
- LCP – average time needed to load the largest contentful paint of a web-page. This is a core web vitals metric used to assess load time (read, user experience) of a website. Although it’s not quite yet a ranking factor, in many cases you can use LCP to assess how SEO-savvy a business is. At the end of the day, fast sites convert better and are making more money.
- DA – domain authority – a hybrid quantitative and qualitative metric of your backlink profile. In other words – how many good quality websites link back to your site. Backlinks is an important ranking factor.
- eCommerce businesses with a sustainable link building strategy are doing better than ones whose link building is haphazard or shady.
- doms – number of unique domains linking to a specific site. This is used as a supporting indicator because DA on its own is not 100% accurate.
- indexed – number of total pages indexed by Google. When comparing websites in a similar niche, it makes sense to assess the size of the sites. The more landing pages you have, the more traffic you can capture.
- schema – Schema markup is invisible code on your pages helping bots make more sense of your products and content. Product pages with well-designed Schema markup stand out in Google search results and they tend to receive more traffic thanks to this additional layer of info. Value “no” means that the product pages either didn’t contain any Schema or contained invalid Schema which is probably worse than not having any.
- Linkedin – number of LinkedIn followers of the official company page. Due to nature of their business, it’s important to keep their trade customers happy. Having a popular LinkedIn page indicates that the eCommerce establishment takes their B2B seriously.
- Insta – brands that have a successful B2C social media strategy make more money.
- TP score – TrustPilot score and number of reviews. Although, some conspiracy theories aside, review score may not be a ranking factor, businesses that actively nurture their TP profile tend to do better in marketing as a general rule. Successful TP strategy is a good vehicle for building a community and building a brand. If you can create enough citations (brand mentions) and deliver positive sentiment, that can and will impact your SEO.
- Marketing score – this is the aggregate score across all the aforementioned factors with weighting added in. Although we’re not going to disclose the precise formula, things like core update impact and Schema markup will have a higher impact on the overall score than let’s say social media success.
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The preview only shows the top 10 sites. Access to the full Top 50 report is totally free. Click the button to get it now.
Methodology – steps To evaluate your company’s digital marketing
Do you want to carry out a similar research piece looking at your company’s digital marketing in comparison to the industry benchmark. We’ll tell you exactly how we did it. In case you want to outsource this research, our contact details are below.
Step 1 – define your competitive landscape. The chances are that you’re already aware of a certain number of competitors, especially if you’ve been in business long enough. But do you really know who is competing with you for organic rankings? The cheap and dirty way to find out is to just spend some time on Google and key in search phrases that your customers use to find your business. Who is in the Top 10? Are there companies who tend to dominate all the important search phrases? The alternative way is to use SEMrush or Ahrefs marketing tools – both have “organic competitors” section when you perform a search on your own domain. Which is what we do at White Cat SEO.
Step 2 – decide on marketing KPIs you’re going to track. The set of KPIs changes from industry to industry. The example above is what we decided to track to be able to define success in eCommerce. If you’re looking at different business models and different markets, you will have a unique set of KPIs.
Step 3 – put your list of domains in a Google Sheet. Add the necessary columns to record your KPIs.
Step 4 – get your AI assistant or your marketing exec to populate the data (for example, record LinkedIn followers of all sites involved in research). If you have access to web scraping tools, you will find it saves you time. However, if your sample size is no bigger than 20 sites, it’s a not a difficult job to carry out manually.
Step 5 – add two new columns on the right from each of your data column. Like shown in the screenshot.
So, next to your Core Update impact assessment, you’d have a column to record the numerical score and another column where you would weight-adjust the aforementioned numerical score. When applying numerical scores to digital marketing factors, there is no right or wrong way. Just use creativity. In this example, we assigned a score of 10 for core update winners, minus 10 for losers and a score of 1 to sites that remained flat. In another data column where you have a range of values, you can also use the median method. For example, if the amplitude of LCP values ranges from 2 seconds to 32 seconds, you need to introduce a way of scoring because you can’t use seconds as your assessment score. 2 second LCP is a good result and 32 seconds is embarrassingly bad.
What we did here was sort the LCP column ascending and assign +10 for the fastest load time (2 seconds) and -10 for the slowest load time. How do we apply a digital marketing assessment formula to assign incremental values in Google Sheets? Let’s say these values are in column E. The cell E25 holds your minus 10 and E2 has plus 10. Put this formula in cell E3 and drag the cursor down to E24. Voila. You now have equally spaced range of values representing steps from minus 10 to plus 10.
=E2+($E$25-$E$2)/(ROW($E$25)-ROW($E$2))
Step 6 – apply weighting. Different factors in digital marketing have different impact. In our case, Domain Authority has a higher impact than let’s say number of LinkedIn followers. So we want to boost the more important KPIs by multiplying them by a weighting factor. Have a look at the screenshot above – the column D is where we apply weight to our Core Update impact score. We simply multiply it by 1.5.
Step 7 – add a new column at the end and create sums of all your weighted column values. This is the total marketing score for each of the sites. Now just sort descending and you have the highest scoring site at the top.
Access the full report
The preview only shows the top 10 sites. Access to the full Top 50 report is totally free. Click the button to get it now.
Do you offer help with eCommerce sites SEO?
I’m glad you asked. Yes we do. In fact, we have a solid experience working with eCommerce businesses of various sizes – starting from one-person Shopify establishments and small team WooCommerce sites and ending with sizeable marketplaces and complex SEO setups.
The way we have scored the sites in this report, should give you a good idea of what we’re focusing on when it comes to eCommerce SEO. Additionally, we’ve found that it pays off to invest into original and value-added product descriptions as well as creating targeted topical product collections – think categories but with a twist.
How can we help you with eCommerce SEO?
The initial no-obligation brainstorming session is on us. Book a 30 minute call with our MD. Or alternatively enter your number for a callback:
Other marketing metrics we took into consideration
Social media reach, another pivotal criterion, highlights the extent of a website’s influence across various social platforms. In an age where connectivity is paramount, understanding the impact of these ecommerce giants on social channels provides valuable insights into their brand strength and consumer engagement strategies.
Page load speed, an often underestimated aspect, emerges as a key determinant in user satisfaction and overall website performance. Our analysis takes into account the efficiency of these platforms in delivering a seamless and swift browsing experience, a crucial factor in today’s fast-paced digital environment.
Additionally, the evaluation extends to the quality of Schema markup employed on product pages, offering a glimpse into the websites’ commitment to providing structured and accessible information. This meticulous scrutiny allows us to identify those platforms that not only excel in product offerings but also in optimizing the user experience through advanced markup strategies.
Join us in navigating the dynamic world of technology ecommerce as we uncover the rankings and unveil the stories behind the numbers. This data table is more than just a compilation of statistics; it is a comprehensive guide shedding light on the digital strategies that set the Top 50 Technology Ecommerce Websites in the UK apart in an ever-evolving online landscape.