The Q1 2026 benchmarking report for UK jewellery and watch brands has just been published. Learn how the top 12 UK jewellery and watch brands perform across the digital space.

The latest Q1 2026 benchmarking report for UK jewellery and watch brands has just been published. It covers the largest 12 national jewellery and watch brands, including  Watches of Switzerland, Fraser Hart, T H Baker, Ernest Jones, Beaverbrooks, H Samuel, Bucherer, Goldsmiths, F Hinds, Warren James, House of Watches, and Jura Watches. 

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 jewellery and watch brands to win brand exposure, drive online views, and generate purchases. 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.

Q1 2026 WINNERS LEADERBOARD

For a glance into just 6 of the metrics we evaluated these top 12 jewellery and watch brands on, check out our quick-look table below;

Continue reading for further detail on this quarter's top and poorest-performing jewellery and watch brands, 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 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.  

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 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

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 jewellery and watch brands was £14,383, 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 £129 . 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, both House of Watches and Ernest Jones reported the lowest monthly cost-per-click (CPC) at £2, and F Hinds has the highest at £908.

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, House of Watches has the lowest estimate monthly ad spend at £1,420, and Goldsmiths has the highest at £626,000.

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.

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. E-commerce websites managing large volumes of ever-changing stock are often at risk to high volumes of 4xx errors, so jewellery and watch brands will need to ensure they maintain a firm process of adding redirects and removing dead links when stock is taken down.

In our previous audit, Bucherer received the most 404 errors (1,230). This quarter, Bucherer remains the watch to watch, though they’ve since decreased their total number of 404 errors to 939 — demonstrating progress. Monitoring external links is another important step in reducing 404 errors. Although websites cannot control changes made on third-party sites, they can ensure that outbound links remain relevant and functional. Periodically reviewing and updating external links helps prevent users from being directed to non-existent pages. 

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. Jewellery and watch brands will want to ensure users are getting a luxury experience at every touchpoint, something a quick, well-performing site will convey.

In our last audit, Ernest Jones received the slowest mobile site speed (15). This quarter, Ernest Jones has increased their mobile site speed to 25. Though they’re at the bottom of the scoreboard (along with H Samuel and Watches of Switzerland), any improvement is a step in the right direction. Users on mobile devices typically rely on different network conditions, such as 4G, 5G, or even weaker public Wi-Fi. A fast-loading site ensures that the experience remains consistent even when the connection is not ideal. This reliability makes users more willing to stay engaged.

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. Jewellery and watch brands can engage with a digital PR specialist to identify link building opportunities among fashion, lifestyle, and luxury bloggers and publications.

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 last audit, House of Watches reported the lowest DA score (44). This quarter, House of Watches remains the brand to watch, and they’ve since decreased their DA score to 39. A strong domain authority can significantly improve a website’s ability to rank higher for competitive keywords. When search engines assess which pages to show at the top of results, they often favour domains with a proven track record of quality content and reputable backlinks. This makes it easier for established websites to gain visibility compared to newer or weaker domains.

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. Jewellery and watch brands are likely seeing the impact of changing consumer habits, as we're finding fewer consumers are indulging in treats or expendable items.

Four brands reported a drop in organic traffic on desktop, with House of Watches seeing the biggest loss (-56%). On mobile, 6 brands received a drop in organic traffic, with both House of Watches and Jura Watches reporting the biggest drop (-72%). Page speed plays a crucial role in organic growth on both desktop and mobile. Slow-loading pages can frustrate users and negatively impact search visibility, particularly on mobile connections. By compressing images, reducing unnecessary scripts, and improving server performance, brands can create faster, more efficient websites.

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 site can appear for universal search results without being strong in standard rankings. 'Image pack' and 'reviews' results are great options for jewellery and watch brands, who can showcase their products and generate consumer trust directly from the SERP.

H Samuel continues to secure the most Universal Search appearances (35,998) — an increase from 35,019 previously. The majority of their appearances came from ‘images’ (30,500).

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 brand new search terms as they enter Google’s index. Jewellery and watch brands will want to ensure they are ranking well for high-purchase intent phrases, which may include details of watch or ring size, colour, gems, or price.

H Samuel continues to secure the most longtail keyword appearances for position 3 (14,774) — an increase from 14,509 previously. H Samuel continues to secure the most appearances for positions 4–10 (15,903) — an increase from 15,481 previously. Keyword strategy is a key factor in driving consistent organic traffic. Brands should target a mix of high-intent and long-tail keywords that reflect how users search on different devices. Mobile searches often differ slightly in phrasing, so optimising for conversational and location-based queries can improve reach.

Facebook Adverts

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 UK jewellery and watch brands, Facebook ads are an opportunity to reach more customers and share updates to their facilities.

We’ve included screenshots of H Samuel’s sponsored Facebook posts. This UK jewellery and watch brands focused on promoting their current offers — a great strategy in driving traffic to their website.

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 brand engagement, but great for Google too, who will recognise content which achieves traffic over a long period of time. Jewellery brands can turn to beautiful product images as an easy way to create shareable content, but can also consider infographics or information about ring sizes, types of gem settings, or watch features, among any other piece of information users might want to know about jewellery and watches!

Warren James secured the most Facebook Likes (640,900), and Bucherer secured the most Instagram followers (190,900). Twitter was the most popular social media platforms of all brands. Goldsmiths received the highest total engagement rate (5,873), and F Hinds secured the highest average engagement (246).

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, brands lose customer interest as they turn elsewhere. Jewellery and watch brands will want to ensure all visitors get a luxury experience with their brand, regardless of ability.

In our previous report, F Hinds flagged the most accessibility alerts (686). This quarter, F Hinds remains the brand to watch, reporting 694 accessibility alerts. This brand has increased their accessibility alerts for the past two quarters, indicating they’re not aware of the negative impact these alerts can have on their audience. From an audience perspective, accessibility issues often create frustration and confusion. When a website feels difficult to use, visitors are more likely to leave and seek alternatives. This can damage trust and reduce overall engagement. 

GET THE FULL 70-PAGE Q1 2026 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 Rory Tarplee.