From Shopping to Careers: Decoding UK Web Trends

Gener8’s Pageview and Demographic datasets enable macro analysis of UK representative website visit trends

Whilst each of us has our own distinct browsing habits and online preferences, certain broader patterns emerge when we zoom out to examine the collective web behaviour of the UK population. 

So what are the most visited websites in the UK? Which website categories see the highest daily interactions, and what is the role of demographics on the nation’s web consumption? 

By classifying the Gener8 Pageviews dataset’s domains by IAB categories we unlocked a macro lens into the evolving intent landscape which, once combined with our UK nationally representative panel, provided us with a view into the website behaviour trends for the UK as a whole.

In this article, we’ll explore this macro-level data on website traffic in the UK, identifying key trends that shed light on the potential use cases for analysing how the UK population navigates the internet.

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Understand UK website visit volumes by site category

Using the Gener8 Pageviews dataset from a UK nationally representative panel, we can accurately quantify engagement patterns that are representative for the population as a whole.

For instance, in the UK, the Shopping category, which includes sites like Amazon and eBay, generates the 3rd highest visit volumes, with a total of 6 billion monthly site visits (8.6% total).

This type of insight can be especially useful for media and marketing professionals seeking to identify macro traffic opportunities within their category, a metric useful for setting the stage before analysing the domain-specific share of traffic in greater detail.

For example, when examining the Shopping category, we find that Amazon leads the way and captures 2.3X more traffic than eBay.

But human behaviour is never static, it's transient. So applying time series analysis becomes an important dimension for website performance monitoring over time.

Analysing the performance of Shopping domains by traffic rank over time reveals that, while leading sites like Amazon and eBay consistently hold top positions, there are considerable fluctuations among websites with lower traffic volumes.

For example, Smythstoys, can be seen to have climbed from position 22 in August to 9 in October, a trend likely driven by the fact that toy search demand starts to climb from the end of the summer and peaks in November ahead of Christmas. 

This functionality is particularly useful for digital marketing professionals who may want to analyse seasonal trends in their industry, correlate these trends with their own site traffic, and/ or monitor how their website performance compares to key competitors.

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Identify whether your website growth is over-performing the category

Knowing the full traffic opportunity for a category of websites is also highly useful in determining whether your site growth is over performing or underperforming against the average.

For example, when looking at Amazon we can observe that whilst its traffic grew 22% MoM from August to September, its actual share of the overall Shopping category of sites decreased from 32% to 26% MoM. This suggests that whilst the Amazon website performed well, competitors on the whole had larger traffic spikes during the period.

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Analyse category-level website visit demographics 

At Gener8, we go beyond traditional rank-tracking tools by providing insights into the demographics behind website visits. Whilst zooming into demographics at the domain level offers invaluable information when benchmarking against core competitors, applying domain classification allows us to gain a broader, macro-level perspective on the entire category landscape.

We can observe the gender differences in the number of average site visits per user by gender. For instance, it's possible to reveal and compare the extent to which men have a strong presence on platforms like Facebook and X, as well as automotive websites. In contrast, women often have a significant presence on sites related to Family & Parenting, such as Mumsnet, as well as those focused on Style & Fashion, like Asos and Look Fantastic.

Additionally, it is possible to analyse the age distribution of visitors to different site categories. For instance, news and weather-related sites like the BBC and Daily Mail are most popular among individuals aged 34 to 64. In contrast, job search platforms such as LinkedIn and Indeed attract the highest percentage of users in the 18 to 34 age range.

For digital marketing professionals, particularly media planners and audiences teams, this macro-level insight can be crucial for developing campaign media plans and detailed profiles of target audiences across various site categories. From there, deeper analysis can then uncover demographic differences between your website audience, that of your core competitors vs. the category at large.

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How can I access this data?

We utilised Gener8's Pageview and Demographic datasets for a UK Nationally Representative cohort alongside IAB Domain Classification to uncover trends behind UK’s browsing behaviours.

Gener8 Labs’ complete data and insights solution empowers media and marketing businesses to find actionable consumer and market insights, using our unique, consented, first party panel data sets that are all connected around one user ID.

Discover how you can power your decisions and gain a competitive edge from our behavioural truth set by contacting us today!