For each of the ten industries we use a basket of keywords, where each keyword represents one of ten important chosen sub-sectors within the industry.

Online Trend: Industries Dip In April

As you can see in the graph above, all ten of our industry sectors saw traffic fall in April in comparison to March. As I mentioned last month, we take a daily average of visitors so the Easter break had no impact on the results collected.

The industries mainly saw declines of around 10 to 20%. The steepest drop in searchers was experienced by the ‘services’ sector, which fell to 72.37% of its March measure. The ‘property’ sector also showed a decline in demand; falling by 26% compared to March.

The best performer was ‘travel’, which slipped by only 5%. ‘Publishing’ and ‘home and garden’ both stayed relatively static. Of the ten industry sectors researched, ‘home and garden’, ‘publishing’, ‘automotive/transport’ and ‘entertainment’ all fell from their March levels, but remained above their February scores.

What can we deduce from these stats? Are you involved in any of these sectors? Have you noticed a fall in traffic in April? Is this normal for your company at this time of year? We want to hear from you to get your views on what these trends are all about. Please email me at huwthomas@leadgenerators.co.uk with your comments.

 Sub-Sector Trend: Retail

In the retail sector most of the subsectors also took a hit in April. Sports equipment was the only subsector to receive more searches in April than in March. Food, drink and accessories all suffered particularly large declines. These can be attributed to the general dip in traffic seen across all industries.

Are you an online retailer? We are always thrilled to hear your interpretation of what these stats mean. Please send your comments to me at huwthomas@leadgenerators.co.uk

 Next month, the LG Search Index will focus on the home and garden sector.