The Q1 2026 benchmarking report for UK care comparison sites has just been published. Learn how the top 11 UK care comparison sites perform across the digital space.
The latest Q1 2026 benchmarking report for UK care comparison sites has just been published. It covers the largest 11 national care comparison sites servicing the UK, including carehome.co.uk, Autumna, Carers UK, Care Choices, Curam, Lottie, Care Sourcer, PrimeCarers, Outstanding Care Homes, TrustedCare.co.uk, and Elder.
The research gives an inside track on who is winning the biggest share of voice online, and quantifies the gaps, risks and missed opportunities for other care comparison sites to win brand exposure locally, drive organic visibility, and generate online enquiries. The report highlights quick wins that will improve enquiries from your online strategy and identifies the barriers that may be reducing your site’s ability to optimise digital performance.
To see a preview and contents page of the Q1 report, click here. To get a copy of the full report and the key takeaways, please complete the enquiry form or schedule a call.
For a glance into just 6 of the metrics, we evaluated these top 11 care comparison providers on, check out our quick-look table below;
To understand what the *CTM Digital Performance Index™ is click here.
Continue reading for further detail on this quarter's top and poorest-performing care comparison sites, or request a copy of the report for the full review.
The 70+ pages of research benchmarks each site based on 50+ metrics and indicators of successful digital strategy, including organic visibility, domain authority, paid media ads, conversion performance, technical performance, site speed, universal search, content, social ads, accessibility, and mobile performance.
Some of the leading players in the space are high spenders on paid media channels such as Google, Bing & Facebook - but have a poor or sub-optimal conversion improvement strategy. Without an optimised, sophisticated conversion strategy that maximises the conversion rate, the return on investment is unsustainable or will underperform. Scaling spend on paid media is not achievable unless the conversion rate delivers optimal performance in the sector. Some in the space have paid media spend levels from 30k+ per month but dedicate minimal resources and budgets to conversion testing. Given the cost per clicks on ad networks will continue to rise, we recommend spending at least 10% of your paid media budget on ongoing conversion optimisation testing schedules to ensure your paid media ROI maintains long-term viability, competitive advantage, and sustainability.
Pay-Per-Click marketing is constantly evolving, with more and more advertisers being forced to hand over a lot of control to Google's algorithms as the push for automation grows ever stronger. There are still key elements of control that we have though, the main one of these being budget which is ultimately something the algorithms can't take from you. That's why being smart with your budget and ad coverage is essential to achieving strong results and bettering what your competitors have to offer.
For Q1 2026, the average monthly budget wastage across these UK care comparison sites was £13,777 with some of the top players in the market spending a considerable amount on areas and audiences unlikely to deliver a return. We can see this in more detail when looking at the average monthly cost per cost-per-click (CPC) amongst advertisers, with the average of this metric being £18. This highlights how competitive the market is and how important it is to control your budgets effectively.
There are varying monthly ad budgets across the competitors in the report. While this gap highlights the competitive advantage that larger budgets can provide, it's not just about spending more; it’s about spending smarter. By focusing on driving efficiency in campaign management, targeting, and budget allocation, businesses with smaller budgets can still effectively compete with larger players. Investing in data-driven strategies and refining ad performance can help close the gap and maximise the return on every pound spent, enabling growth even in a competitive landscape. Relative to their spend, PrimeCarers reported the lowest monthly cost-per-click (CPC) at £0, and carehome.co.uk has the highest at £80.
The report highlights the importance of budget efficiency by comparing monthly ad spend with estimated CPC in relation to your competitors, see who has the highest and lowest CPC. To maximise the effectiveness of your budget, it’s essential to focus on driving CPC down while maintaining or improving campaign performance. In this report, Relative to their spend, PrimeCarers reported the lowest monthly cost-per-click (CPC) at £0, and carehome.co.uk has the highest at £80.
By optimising targeting, refining ad copy, and leveraging data to identify high-converting opportunities, you can ensure every click delivers maximum value. This approach not only stretches your budget further but also boosts your return on ad spend (ROAS), enabling you to achieve stronger results without simply increasing expenditure.
Savvy digital marketers know that having a technically sound website is an essential component of a successful fully integrated digital strategy - plus a site capable of maximising conversion performance. Care comparison sites will need to be particularly mindful of creating a positive site experience at a potentially stressful time for families. They'll need to ensure pathways to key pages such as fee information and potential care locations are clearly marked, and that users can trust them to make safe recommendations and comparisons.
In our previous audit, Carers UK received the most 404 errors (215). This quarter, Carers UK continues to report the most 404 errors, and they’ve since increased their total to 285. Broken links that lead to 404 pages can make a website feel neglected or poorly maintained. Users often interpret these errors as a sign that the business behind the site is unprofessional or inattentive to detail, which can damage brand perception.
When 62% of consumers are less likely to convert if they have a negative mobile site experience, ensuring that your site is quick and easy to load makes a significant improvement on your overall conversion rates. As with minimising the levels of technical errors, care comparison sites will want to ensure users can get the answers they need quickly, from a high-performing site which doesn't add to existing frustrations.
In our previous report, Autumna flagged the slowest mobile site speed (27). This quarter, Autumna has increased their mobile site speed to 55, moving them to fourth position, rather than bottom place. Currently, the mobile site speed ranges between 77 and 29, with Elder reporting the slowest speed. Optimising fonts and limiting web font variations reduces rendering delays on mobile browsers. Text appears quickly and remains readable, allowing users to consume information without awkward loading flashes.
Domain authority is an essential metric for measuring the effectiveness of SEO performance, and helps create a reliable overall gauge of how effective your site is at achieving organic traffic, i.e. ‘free’ traffic that isn’t gained through sponsored ads. For brands operating in a niche sector, such as care, building authority may feel challenging. However, care comparison sites can make the most of local publications, as well as repurpose existing content to capitalise on relevant events and industry trends.
A ‘good’ DA really comes down to how your competitors are performing, however it’s generally considered average between 40 and 50, good between 50 and 60, and excellent above 60. In our previous audit, Outstanding Care Homes reported the lowest DA score (6). This quarter, Outstanding Care Homes remains the site to watch, and they’ve since decreased their DA score to 5. Strong domain authority increases the likelihood that new content will rank well soon after publication. Customers benefit because helpful articles, guides, or product pages become discoverable quickly rather than remaining buried in search results.
A strong organic performance is strategically important as it ensures your site ranks above competitors for key, transactional keywords. When 93% of your customers won’t go past the first page of Google, your absence or lack of targeting for essential keywords will cost you conversions. Though we're seeing reductions in traffic across many sectors, due to the cost of living crisis, care comparison sites have a strong opportunity to build traffic and interest, as users will want to find the best quality care and compare prices of nearby options.
Six brands reported a drop in organic traffic on desktop, with Lottie flagging the biggest loss (-84%). On mobile, nine brands reported a drop in organic traffic, with Outstanding Care Homes seeing the biggest loss (-96%). Mobile users typically expect fast loading times and streamlined navigation, as they may be browsing on the move or with limited connectivity. If a site is slow or cluttered on mobile, organic visitors are more likely to leave quickly, reducing traffic retention compared with desktop.
Google Universal Search Results is an evolving opportunity to make your pages visible on a SERP (Search Engine Results Page). Universal results often appear before traditional listings and are eye-catching for users. Universal search results refer to rankings on a SERP that are not the traditional ‘blue line’ Google link, and a site can appear for universal search results without being strong in standard rankings. For care comparison sites, they'll want to ensure they have a strong presence for 'reviews', 'people also ask', and 'local pack' results, helping build trust with searchers directly from the SERP.
Carehome.co.uk continues to secure the most Universal Search appearances (95,853) — an increase from 48,722 previously. The majority of their appearances came from ‘images’ (79,500).
Longtail keywords are often considered high intent and potentially more likely to convert as a searcher is being more specific. Optimising for longtail keywords also puts your content strategy in a strong position to rank for brand new search terms as they enter Google’s index. Longtail keywords for care comparison sites could show high-conversion intent, or they could be questions about life in a residential care home, the options for care at home, or even pre-care home residential solutions such as retirement apartment complexes.
Carehome.co.uk continues to secure the most longtail keyword appearances for position 3 (21,002) — a decrease from 21,753 previously. Carehome.co.uk also remains at the top for the most appearances for positions 4–10 (10,834) — a decrease from 13,546 previously. Longtail keywords can improve the performance of category and product pages by matching specific attributes, uses, or audiences. For example, detailed descriptors such as size, style, or purpose help attract shoppers seeking exactly those features.
With the number of Facebook users in the United Kingdom (UK) hitting over 44 million users in 2023, it is not surprising that companies have jumped at the opportunity to advertise on the social media platform. Facebook’s UK digital advertising revenue has been estimated to have breached 2.6b GB pounds in 2019. For care comparison sites, Facebook ads are an opportunity to manage exposure within areas their partners are seeing a large amount of capacity or vacancies, enabling them to quickly manage fluctuating residency levels..
We’ve included screenshots of Carehome.co.uk’s sponsored Facebook posts. This UK care comparison site included their brand name on imagery to make it easier for users to identify their brand at a glance.
When it comes to social media and on-site content strategies, it is important to release content that has a longer shelf life. An article is considered 'Evergreen' if it has maintained its relevancy to an audience for longer. It's great for your brand engagement, but great for Google too, who will recognise content which achieves traffic over a long period of time. For brands in a service-based sector, such as care comparison sites, content is an opportunity to create long-term touchpoints with prospective residents and their families, by creating pieces that help support them through managing at home, before guiding them to care home residency when the time comes.
Carers UK secured the most Facebook Likes (71,300) and the most Instagram followers (14,200). Both Twitter and Facebook were the most popular social media platforms of all brands. Carers UK received the highest total engagement rate (4,997) and the highest average engagement (95).
20% of people in the UK have a disability – 2 million of which are people living with sight loss. In addition, 1 in 12 men and 1 in 200 women have some degree of colour vision deficiency. When websites are not designed to meet these needs, care comparison sites can lose the interest or prospective residents and clients, who may turn elsewhere out of frustration. Unsurprisingly, this is particularly essential in the care sector which caters to both older customers, and those looking for quick, well-presented answers during what can be a challenging time.
In our previous audit, Autumna reported the most accessibility alerts (94). This quarter, Autumna has dramatically reduced their accessibility alerts to a total of 2. Currently, the brand with the most accessibility alerts is PrimeCarers (82). Testing websites with automated accessibility tools and real assistive technologies helps identify and fix issues early. Regular testing reduces alerts before users encounter barriers, resulting in a smoother, frustration-free experience.
To get a copy of the full report, please complete the enquiry form. If you want to talk to us about accelerating your digital performance, please call us on 01543 410014 or schedule a call with Rory Tarplee.