SEO Benchmarks by eCommerce Industry

eCommerce SEO Benchmarks by Industry

If you're optimizing for organic revenue growth or just evaluating your current SEO strategy, knowing how you compare to others in your industry is key to the perfect recipe. That’s why we compiled this 2024 eCommerce SEO benchmark report — pulling real performance data from Google Analytics 4 (GA4) and Google Search Console (GSC) across four of the most prominent eCommerce verticals:

You’ll get a full view of average performance in organic sessions, CTR, conversion rate, AOV, and keyword ranking, with industry-specific insights to help you take action.

How We Stirred Together Our Data

This report is based on internal data across our client base, with a focus on organic traffic sources in GA4 and keyword performance metrics in GSC. The data reflects full-year performance from 2024 and includes both B2C and DTC brands in four of the most competitive industries in the eCommerce space.

Each metric is an average across businesses in each vertical. While every business is different, this benchmark will give you a better idea of where you stand - and where you can rise!

Organic Traffic by Industry

Definition: The number of sessions from unpaid, organic search engine results.

Average organic traffic (sessions) by industry

Apparel & Accessories – This category reported the lowest organic traffic among the benchmarks. High competition and heavy reliance on paid channels may be limiting organic visibility. 

Beauty – Beauty brands are performing well in organic traffic, driven by strong brand recognition, high search demand for product-related queries, and regular publishing of how-to and educational content.

Furniture & Home Decor – This segment leads in overall organic sessions. Shoppers tend to do more research before purchasing, so brands investing in detailed product pages and SEO-optimized guides are seeing strong returns!

Health & Wellness – Organic traffic here is moderate, supported by blog content and educational resources. Brands with a solid informational strategy around health topics are seeing consistent growth from long-tail searches.

Click-Through Rate (CTR) by Industry

Definition: The percentage of users who clicked your site after seeing it in search results.

Average organic search CTR (click-through rate) by industry

Apparel & Accessories – This category is seeing the lowest CTR in the benchmark, likely due to a saturated market and listings that aren’t standing out in competitive SERPs. There’s an opportunity here to refine meta tags and implement structured data.

Beauty – Beauty brands rise to the top with the highest average CTR. Strong product interest, brand recognition, and optimized titles/descriptions are clearly working in their favor.

Furniture & Home Decor – With a solid CTR, this category is benefiting from shoppers conducting in-depth product research. Rich snippets and search-friendly product titles are boosting visibility and click performance.

Health & Wellness – This segment holds a steady CTR, with informational blog content and product-specific queries helping drive clicks from organic search.

Conversion Rate by Industry

Definition: The percentage of organic users who complete a purchase.

Average organic conversion rate by industry

Apparel & Accessories – Conversion rates are moderate in this space. With high browsing behavior and price sensitivity, there's room to improve with tastier value props and a streamlined UX.

Beauty – The strongest performer by far! Beauty brands are converting well, thanks to loyal customers, high trust factors, and simplified purchase paths.

Furniture & Home Decor – This category sees the lowest conversion rate, which aligns with longer consideration cycles and higher price points. Retargeting and remarketing strategies are critical here to keep them coming back for more!

Health & Wellness – Health and wellness sites often see higher conversions due to specific product needs and educational content that supports purchase decisions.

Average Order Value (AOV) by Industry

Definition: The average revenue per purchase from average organic traffic.

Average order value by industry

Apparel & Accessories – AOV in this category is healthy for mid-range fashion. Increasing bundles, cross-sells, and purchase incentives could make this number rise higher.

Beauty – AOV is strong, especially for skincare and beauty products where customers often buy sets or add-ons. Subscription models may also be playing a role here.

Furniture & Home Decor – Unsurprisingly, this category has the highest AOV due to big-ticket items. While conversion rates are lower, the revenue impact per sale is substantial.

Health & Wellness – This space tends to see lower AOVs, but the frequency of purchase and recurring product needs (e.g., supplements) can help offset that over time.

Average Keyword Ranking Position by Industry

Definition: The average position your site ranks for across all tracked keywords (lower is better).

Average organic keyword position by industry

Apparel & Accessories – This industry is averaging lower visibility, with most rankings falling beyond the first two pages. There’s room to focus on long-tail strategy and stronger internal SEO fundamentals.

Beauty – Beauty continues to perform well in rankings, often benefiting from branded search and high-volume product-related keywords.

Furniture & Home Decor – Keyword positioning is still in the mid-range here. More targeted content around specific product types and use cases could help improve visibility.

Health & Wellness – This category is performing consistently across searches. Informational blog content and niche keyword strategies are contributing to stable positioning.

How to Use Industry Benchmarking Against Your Data

Benchmarking isn’t about copying — it’s about context. Here’s how to apply these insights:

  • Spot performance gaps — Is your CTR well below your industry’s average? That could mean a meta tag or snippet issue.
  • Prioritize your wins — Ranking 20th on average but converting above benchmark? Focus on pushing those rankings up and scaling high-intent content.
  • Set realistic goals — Use this benchmark as a guide when setting quarterly or yearly SEO targets.
  • Inform your strategy — If Beauty is converting at 4.77% with strong AOV, what's working there? Can your category replicate a similar playbook?

FAQs

Which SEO KPIs are most important for eCommerce?

Start with organic sessions, CTR, conversion rate, AOV, and keyword rankings. These tell the full story from visibility to revenue.

What is benchmarking in SEO?

It’s the process of comparing your current SEO performance against industry averages to understand where you excel or need to improve.

How do my store’s SEO metrics compare to these benchmarks?

Compare your GA4 and GSC data side by side with these numbers. Focus on where you're underperforming and double down on what’s working.

Ready to Boost Your eCommerce Store’s SEO?

From climbing the rankings to closing the conversion gap, CakeCommerce helps eCommerce brands transform their SEO metrics. With a strategy rooted in data and experience, we're here to help you hit (and exceed) every industry benchmark.