Fashion retailers to top Google results this Black Friday

Digital PR agency Tank analysed keywords for over 150 retailers from November 2023 to October 2024 to reveal which companies and products are set to dominate search results – putting them in poll position to generate sales on 29 November. It comes following growing criticism that Google updates are directing more online traffic to news sites with affiliate links, rather than retailers' pages – potentially disadvantaging even big brands.

However, with Google announcing a November core update on Monday 11 November, businesses will be paying an even closer eye on visibility and traffic in the coming weeks. Google's LinkedIn page provided some rationale behind the update: "This update is designed to continue our work to improve the quality of our search results by showing more content that people find genuinely useful and less content that feels like it was made just to perform well on Search."

Fashion topped the list with an expected 123 percent increase in web traffic this Black Friday. High street favourite Marks & Spencer is currently set to receive the biggest jump in website traffic compared to last year at 1,456 percent, followed by Debenhams (295%) and John Lewis & Partners (134 percent).

Tank's Black Friday Readiness Report also revealed the sectors that could struggle to be seen against news sites or affiliate content. Furniture has seen the biggest drop in organic traffic compared to last year, followed by fitness and sporting equipment.