The Q4 2023 benchmarking report for UK Gold bullion dealers has just been published. Learn how the top 12 UK Gold bullion dealers perform across the digital space.

The latest Q4 2023 benchmarking report for UK Gold bullion dealers has just been published.  It covers the largest 12 national Gold bullion dealers, including BullionVault, BullionByPost, GOLD.co.uk, UKBullion.com, The Gold Bullion Company, Physical Gold, ATS Bullion, Atkinsons Bullion & Coins, The Royal Mint, Baird & Co., and Chards.

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 gold bullion dealers to win brand exposure locally, drive traffic online, and generate orders. 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 Q4 report, click here. To get a copy of the full report and the key takeaways, please complete the enquiry form or schedule a call.   

Q4 2023 WINNERS LEADERBOARD

For a glance into just 6 of the metrics we evaluated these top 12 gold bullion dealers on, check out our quick-look table below;

Continue reading for further detail on this quarter's best and poorest-performing UK gold bullion providers or request a copy of the report for the full review.

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What The Industry Research Report Covers

The 70+ pages of research benchmarks each retailer 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.  

Driving Optimal ROAS from Paid Media Channels

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 click 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.

Technical Website Compliance

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. Gold bullion dealers will want to ensure key pages, such as investment guides, are clearly signposted and available for users to visit.

In the last report, Chards had the highest number of 4xx errors (957). This quarter, Chards saw a major reduction to 207 4xx errors. BullionByPost has the highest 4xx errors (6,512), which is over seven times the amount from the last quarter. This gold bullion provider needs to assess its website to check for broken links.

Site Speed & Conversion Rate Performance

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 a luxury investment item, gold bullion dealers will want to ensure their sites are quick and give an excellent brand impression from every digital touchpoint.

In the previous quarter, site speed performance ranged from 59 to 11. There’s been an improvement in conversion rate performance this quarter, with a range of 70 to 17. BullionVault has the highest score — double from the previous report.

Building Competitive Advantage with Domain Authority

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. Gold bullion dealers can look to engage with a digital PR specialist to identify any potential backlink opportunities and develop attention-grabbing campaigns that boost organic visibility.

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. The last quarter, the DA rating was between 75 and 17. We’re pleased to see an improvement in the DA ratings with a range of 76 and 20 for this quarter. However, 6 of the 12 providers fell below 40, and they can boost these scores by generating click-worthy content by adopting a keyword strategy.

Organic Performance – Mobile & Desktop

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. As consumers turn to alternate ways of investing and keeping their finances safe in the cost of living crisis, we would expect the search terms and trending content around gold bullion to change. Dealers with a good grasp of these changing interests and leading topics will be best placed to maintain their organic performance.

In the previous quarter, BullionVault endured the biggest mobile traffic loss. For Q4 2023, this provider still saw a loss (39%), though this is an improvement compared to the previous year. The Gold Bullion Company encountered a 80% reduction in mobile traffic, putting it at the bottom of the scoreboard. Meanwhile, BullionVault increased its mobile traffic by 70% — a dramatic improvement from a 71% loss in the previous report.

Universal Search Opportunity

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 retailer can appear for universal search results without being strong in standard rankings. 'People also ask' is a useful Universal Search opportunity for gold bullion dealers, who can address common queries about investing in gold bullion, capturing attention and traffic from those exploring the investment potential.

Once again, The Royal Mint has the most appearances, with 7,400 appearances in ‘people also ask’. On the other hand, ATS Bullion Baird & Co, scores the lowest for this category, and optimising longtail keywords will help to increase their scores.

The Longtail Keyword Opportunity

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 retailer new search terms as they enter Google’s index. Gold bullion dealers should pay particular attention to terms indicating a high-purchase intent as, though these may be low-traffic, they are more likely to secure sales.

Once again, The Royal Mint has the most appearances, with 7,400 appearances in ‘people also ask’. On the other hand, ATS Bullion Baird & Co, scores the lowest for this category, and optimising longtail keywords will help to increase their scores.

Facebook Adverts

With the number of Facebook users in the United Kingdom (UK) forecast to hit over 42 million users by 2022, 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 UK gold bullion providers, Facebook ads are an opportunity to ensure customers see the potential in investments and product availability.

Chards adopts a carousel for its Facebook ads to share multiple images in one post. This gold bullion provider also uses descriptive text, which it should focus on decreasing to make its content stand out amongst competing brands.

Top Social Shares & Content

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 retailer engagement, but great for Google too, who will recognise content which achieves traffic over a long period of time. Sharing information about gold bullion investment is a great way of creating shareable content that is likely to pick up traction.

The Royal Mint has the most total engagements (8,135), with an average of 19. It also has the most Facebook Likes (458,900) and Instagram followers (63,900). The Royal Mint also has the highest number of linking domains, which is an excellent strategy that other providers should utilise to increase website traffic.

Website Readability & Accessibility

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, retailers lose customer interest as they turn elsewhere. Accessibility should be at the forefront of any brands strategy, particularly when asking users to place large amounts of trust in your service, such as investment.

Physical Gold continues to have the highest number of alerts (228). UKBullion.com also resumes to have the highest number of contrast errors (53 this quarter compared to 52 last quarter). This provider should stick to a more cohesive colour scheme to make its content more accessible to everyone.

GET THE FULL 70-PAGE Q4 2023 REPORT

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 Mike Movassaghi.

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