Black Friday has become a staple of the UK high street in recent years with brands jumping on the bandwagon started in the US. The promotion traditionally takes place a day after Thanksgiving, offering shoppers amazing deals on a range of products. Black Friday has expanded to last a week with retailers such as Amazon, and the introduction of Cyber Monday for digital only deals following the weekend.
With such interest in Black Friday every year, we wanted to see what YOU have been searching for the last few years, and make some predictions about what is just around the corner in 2019.
History of Black Friday Search Trends
Top Ranking Sites 2017 & 2018 for Black Friday Deals
In 2017, the sites that performed best in SERPs were:
- Amazon
- Argos
- Money Saving Expert
- TechRadar
- Best Buy
Amazon and Argos were 2017’s biggest brands in SERPs. What’s interesting is how Money Saving Expert and TechRadar followed in third and fourth. This will be because both publications list the top Black Friday for consumers who are looking for general deals, rather than a specific one. Best Buy rounds off the top five because it’s a popular destination for US shoppers during Black Friday.
In 2018, the top five were:
- Amazon
- TK Maxx
- Argos
- Blackfriday.com
- CNET.com
2018 saw Amazon and Argos remain at the top of SERPs results for Black Friday deals. However, 2018 saw TK Maxx fly in at second place, despite being nowhere to be seen in our 2017 data. Blackfriday.com shot up to the top five in 2018, a website dedicated to collating the top deals across the internet from all the biggest brands, and also has general information and news about Black Friday.
Money Saving Expert completely dropped off the top five after being so high in 2017. This could be related to a Google penalty it may have received.
Amazon Dominates Black Friday Deals
Comparing the top five, we can see that Amazon are the dominant force in Black Friday deals. Each year, their promotion gets bigger and bigger with a whole week of deals for shoppers to enjoy. Amazon ranks at the top because of the various hub pages they’ve set up to bring users in for various products. Publications such as Tech Radar, Manchester Evening News and The Independent all rank well for top deals solely because of Amazon Black Friday deals – usually because they’ve reported on the promotion.
Decline of John Lewis
Despite launching their world famous Christmas adverts in November, which garners a lot of interest, it seems people aren’t going to John Lewis for Black Friday deals. In 2017, John Lewis were one of the top-ranked brands, trending higher than House of Fraser. However, in 2018 the company dropped off completely in Black Friday rankings.
Generally, John Lewis has declined in Google searches, making them one of the few big brands to struggle in the past few years. With this in mind, we don’t expect to see John Lewis to recover in 2019 and will struggle through this promotion also.
Black Friday 2019 Searches
October 2019 saw an increased number of Black Friday related searches (301k desktop 207k mobile vs 301k/178k) which shows us that searches will continue to grow this year. The increase in mobile searches is indicative with the changes in user behaviour, because more people search on their phones nowadays. The biggest brands ensure their mobile experience is just as good as their desktop store.
2019 Black Friday Deals SERPs Top 5
Currently in the top five results for “black friday deals” are:
- T3
- Money Saving Expert
- Amazon
- Tech Radar
- Argos
It’s no surprise to see Amazon and Argos in the top five once more. By the end of the promotion, we expect to see Amazon to take top spot. Money Saving Expert are back in the top five having recovered from last year’s decline. T3 join TechRadar in the top five with both websites rounding up the top technology related deals on the market.
2019 Search Behaviour
Top searches being made by users in the last month include:
- black friday 2019
- when black friday
- uk black friday
- when is black friday
- black friday deals
- uk black friday 2019
- when black friday 2019
- black friday 2019 deals
- black friday amazon
- when is black friday 2019
- black friday sale
- currys black friday
People generally search for when it starts while others search particular brands such as Amazon and Currys.
Black Friday 2019 Predictions
Looking at recent years, we predict that Amazon and Argos will continue to dominate 2019 rankings. With both companies heavily investing in the promotion, it will continue to draw shoppers in for every type of product they have.
From our data, we expect Currys to perform well this year with 74,000 searches of “currys black friday deals”. Not only this, but the company appears in various SERP features in their Black Friday related searches. These include top stories, images, site links and reviews, giving them prominence in search results.
Tech products such as TVs and laptops will continue to dominate Black Friday searches with 4K TVs on the rise because they’ll have the biggest price cuts. We also expect to see rises such as headphones, gaming and smart watches. The PS4 will be the top games console with price cut bundles looking to attract users.
For Black Friday tips, insight into seasonal Google searches and all things SEO, PPC and more, head over to our blog!
