Winners and losers of SEO visibility in the eyecare industry

Once again, we are back analysing winners and losers from different industries. Previously, we had a look at the winners and losers of other industries, such as travel insurance. This time we are going to focus on eyecare and see how eyecare related brands are doing when it comes to SEO visibility and strategy.

A 2020 survey revealed that 77% of women and 68% of men in the United Kingdom wear glasses or contact lenses.

The eyecare industry has been growing a lot recently and according to the Grand View Research, the global eye care market was valued at approximately USD 70.78 billion in 2023 and is expected to expand at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 6.72% between 2024 and 2030.

Winners of the eyecare industry

Specsavers

Featuring first on our winners list is Specsavers, one of the biggest UK brands when it comes to eyecare products. As expected, their SEO visibility has grown a lot in the past 5 years, especially from early 2022 onwards with no major losses ever since:

Spacsavers is a very strong and recognisable brand, which will impact their SEO visibility, since people who know and trust the brand can search directly for the brand name rather than for a more generic term, or competitor. This could have contributed to the brand’s recent growth.

Specsavers also have an extensive backlink profile, linking to some high authority websites such as The Independent and Forbes. Whilst some spammy websites can be seen amongst the list, this is relatively normal and not a concern. – resulting in a strong and natural backlink profile overall

Their natural anchor text profile contributes to their strength, with a mix of the brand name, exact match, and generic terms.

We have also analysed the website’s categories and product pages:

Some of the things we have noticed are:

Descriptive Title Tag: The page’s title tag is concise and includes relevant keywords.

Optimised URL Structure: The URL is clean and descriptive (https://www.specsavers.co.uk/glasses/all-glasses), which is beneficial for both users and search engines.

High-quality Images: The use of high-resolution images provides a positive user experience.

Internal Linking: The page includes links to various subcategories and related products.

What could still be improved?

Even though Specsavers has featured on our winners list, we have still found opportunities for improvement, to provide users with a better experience on their website, and become even more SEO friendly.

Firstly, we have tested the page using Google PageSpeed Insights:

The website has failed the core web vitals assessment, and scored only 39/100 for its mobile performance. Ensuring the page is fully responsive and provides a good experience across mobile devices is crucial for SEO.

The website also does not make use of any schema markup. Implementing structured data would help search engines better understand the content and potentially enhance search results listings with rich snippets.

Another important thing that we noticed is that the products and images disappear when javascript is turned off, meaning users cannot complete a purchase if they do not have JS switched on. Ensuring that page content is visible and pages are functional even when JS is disabled is critical for SEO visibility and conversions. Important elements such as navigation and product listings should not depend entirely on JavaScript.

Vision Express

Vision Express has also seen an exponential growth on their SEO visibility and have recently seen its biggest visibility in the past five years.

Vision Express has a well-connected profile, indicating that it has a robust backlink network. This is a good sign of strong domain authority and influence in its niche.

The site has backlinks from prominent websites such as moneysavingexpert.com, metro.co.uk, and which.co.uk. These domains are authoritative and enhance Vision Express’s credibility. Many of the backlinks appear relevant to Vision Express’s niche (optical, shopping, and consumer advice), which is beneficial for their SEO.

Furthermore, we had a look at their website, especially at the category and product pages. We can see some clear strengths when looking at their categories and product pages. For instance, they make use of a clear URL structure (e.g. https://www.visionexpress.com/contact-lenses).

Looking at their category pages, we can see that it offers detailed information about various contact lens types, brands, and purchasing options, which can improve relevance for a range of search queries. Also, internal liking to related products and informational pages can help site navigation and distribute link equity. Options like free contact lens trials and subscription plans are displayed, encouraging increased user interaction and time spent on the site.

What could still be improved?

Even though Vision Express has done well when it comes to SEO visibility lately, we have still found some flaws on their website, and improving it could help their SEO strategy even more.

For instance, the website makes use of structured data, which is beneficial for search engines. However, we have tested the website using the rich results test:

Google has flagged errors and missing fields with their structure. Fixing their structured data may help increase visibility, engagement, and conversions.

We have also tested the page speed and mobile optimisation of the website:

Not only the website has failed the core web vitals assessment, but it has scored 31/100 for its mobile performance, which is quite low compared to other websites. It is important to always verify if the page is fully responsive and provides a good experience across all devices.

Another thing we have noticed is that the images disappear on the website when JavaScript is turned off. Images should be visible even when JavaScript is turned off as imagery is important for the website to give customers a visual representation of the products.

Losers of the eye care Industry

Eyecare Opticians

Eyecare Opticians has struggled a lot with their SEO visibility in the past few months as we can see on the graph below:

Their visibility has dropped a lot in the beginning of the year, and it’s gotten even lower recently, and now the website struggles to recover visibility. With their visibility already low to begin with, any further loss could be detrimental.

As we have done for other websites, we have also had a look at their backlink profile:

Their backlink profile is already noticeably smaller than the other two websites analysed so far. Their backlink profile includes a range of higher authority profiles such as yellowleaf.co.uk, and digitaljournal.com. However, we have also observed some irrelevant and spammy domains, which isn’t necessarily a problem, but having too many of those links without also having high quality and relevant links will not provide much value to Eyecare Opticians.

Next, we had a look at their website to try to find more reasons on why they might be struggling. First thing we noticed is that the website is fully non-functional when JavaScript is disabled. This means that users are not able to access other pages or to click anywhere, and content also disappears. It’s important to make sure core functionalities are still accessible without significant use of JavaScript because relying heavily on JavaScript can lead to many issues that can impact both user experience and SEO. For example, pages with JavaScript-heavy navigation might not load correctly for users with slow internet connections or older devices.

When checking the website’s speed, we can also see that the website has failed the Core Web Vitals assessment:

The website scored 65/100 for its performance, which is not so bad, but could still be improved to provide a better user experience.

Looking at their category pages (eg. https://www.eyecareopticians.com/eye-test) we can see that they have got some strengths, such as strong content that provides clear information about their services and about various eye tests and technologies they use.

The website also contains call-to-action (CTA) buttons that can facilitate user conversions by making it easy for them to schedule an eye test.

However, we have also noticed areas where improvements could be made. For instance, internal linking could be improved. Adding internal linking to related services or blog posts would help users better navigate through the website and help distribute page authority.

Images could also be optimised by ensuring all images have descriptive alt text to improve accessibility and image search rankings. It is also important to compress images to enhance page loading speed which will positively impact user experience and SEO.

We have also checked if the website makes use of any structured data, but no structured data was detected on the website.

Lastly, looking at their blogs, we can see that they are missing some key features: when looking at a blog page (e.g. https://www.eyecareopticians.com/dyslexia-and-visual-stress-solutions).
They would benefit from implementing a clear hierarchy of header tags to structure the content, making it easier for search engines to understand the page’s main topics.

Adding internal links to related services or blogs would also help with user navigation.

The content within the blogs would also benefit from some optimisation, as currently it is very limited, and may not explore the topics in sufficient depth to position the blog as an authoritative resource. Incorporating expert insights, answering frequently asked questions, or providing step-by-step guides can enrich the content. Additionally, using visuals like infographics or charts can make complex information more accessible and engaging for readers.

Vision Direct

Also featuring in our losers list is Vision Direct. They have seen good progress in the past 5 years, however, after peaking in March 2024, they have seen a dramatic fall in visibility that continues to drop exponentially:

The start of the drop in visibility can be seen after the March 2024 core update, followed by another drop after the June 2024 spam update. The March 2024 core update targeted quality signals such as content relevance, user experience, and authority. This could have impacted the site if it had outdated, low-quality, or poorly optimised content. A spam update suggests the site might have been affected due to issues related to manipulative practices, such as thin content, keyword stuffing, or low-quality backlinks.

Let’s first explore the site to generate hypotheses about the website’s recent loss in visibility. We have identified several possibilities to investigate. To begin, let’s review their backlink profile to determine if it might provide any insights into the issue.

As noticed, they have an extensive backlink profile. Some observations we made:

Strong Link Sources: Vision Direct benefits from high-authority domains like glassesdirect.co.uk and metro.co.uk.

International Presence: Subdomains for Vision Direct in different countries (e.g., visiondirect.nl, visiondirect.fr) help enhance local SEO.

Most of the backlinks are relevant to the website and can help it build trust and authority. This means that overall there are no issues with their backlink profile, and it looks natural and strong.

After that, we had a look around their site. The first thing we analysed was the use of JavaScript on the website. Content and images remain visible when JavaScript is disabled, but the navigation menu is not functional, and users are not able to navigate throughout the site when JS is turned off. This highlights the importance of not relying solely on JavaScript for rendering critical content and functionality. Websites should ensure core content and navigation are accessible without JavaScript to maintain usability.

We also had a look at their category and product pages, to see if it is aligned with best SEO practices:

We noticed that the URL (https://www.visiondirect.co.uk/brand/clariti-contact-lenses) is SEO friendly as it is concise, descriptive, and includes relevant keywords. Their category pages have sorting options and are user-friendly, allowing visitors to filter products based on preferences such as price, popularity, or relevance.

However, one thing that we have noticed is that the page doesn’t use structured data.

Implementing structured data can help search engines better understand the content, potentially improving visibility in search results.

When testing the page speed using Google’s PageSpeed Insights, we can see that the page has failed the Core Web Vitals Assessment. It scored 31/100 for its mobile speed, indicating room for improvement.

Conclusion

As we have seen, both winners and losers have room for improvement on their SEO strategy. Even the top-performing brands in the eyecare industry have to continue to adapt to Google’s core algorithms, user behaviours, and market trends to maintain their competitive position. This includes refining technical SEO, creating high-quality, informative content, and improving user experience across all devices.

As for the losers, focusing on foundational elements like site speed, mobile optimisation, site structure, and keyword targeting can provide substantial gains. SEO is an ongoing process and whether a brand is a market leader or trying to climb the rankings, there is always room for improvement. Staying proactive, embracing data-driven decisions, and following Google’s best practices will help lead to strong results.