The Q2 2026 benchmarking report for UK online opticians has just been published. Learn how the top 12 opticians perform across the digital space.
The latest Q2 2026 benchmarking report for UK online opticians has just been published. It covers the largest 12 UK online opticians, including Black & Lizars, Bayfields Opticians and Audiologists, David Clulow, Specsavers, Eyesite, Scrivens Opticians & Hearing Care, Eye Emporium, Vision Express, Duncan and Todd Group, Leightons Opticians, ASDA Opticians and Pharmacy, and M&S Opticians.
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 online opticians to win brand exposure, drive traffic online and, for those with bricks and mortar locations, even increase in-store footfall. 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 Q2 report, click here. To get a copy of the full report and the key takeaways, please complete the enquiry form below or schedule a call.
Q2 2026 winners leaderboard
For a glance into just 6 of the metrics, we evaluated these top 12 online opticians 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 best and poorest-performing UK online opticians or request a copy of the report for the full review.
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 Q2 2026, the average monthly budget wastage across these UK online opticians was £34,843 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 £10. 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, ASDA Opticians and Pharmacy reported the lowest monthly cost-per-click (CPC) at £2, and Leightons Opticians reported has the highest at £57.
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, Leightons Opticians has the lowest estimate monthly ad spend at £969, and Specsavers has the highest at £1,100,000.
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. Online opticians will want to ensure that key pages are easy to navigate to and access, such as prescription information, any trial packages they offer, or store locators.
In our previous audit, Scrivens Opticians & Hearing Care received the most 404 errors (15). This quarter, Scrivens Opticians & Hearing Care remains the online optician to watch, and they’ve since increased their total to 365. 404 errors can make navigation feel more difficult than it should be. Users expect websites to be intuitive, and broken links can make the experience feel clunky and unreliable.
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. For online opticians, they’ll want to ensure their site is fast, and well-prepared for customers to browse new frames on the go.
In our previous audit, Scrivens Opticians & Hearing Care, Specsavers, and Duncan and Todd Group were the brands to watch for mobile site speed (25). This quarter, these online opticians are reporting the following speeds: Scrivens Opticians & Hearing Care (49), Specsavers (41), and Duncan and Todd Group (44). All three companies saw an improvement from our last audit. Currently, the mobile site speed ranges between 61 and 30, with Leightons Opticians receiving the slowest score. Using responsive design techniques can improve efficiency. Properly scaled images and layouts ensure that mobile users aren’t loading unnecessary desktop-sized assets.
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. As the nine opticians in our report range from online-only, to well known, long-standing retail chains, we’d expect to see a wide range of scores in domain authority.
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, Black & Lizars received lowest DA score (25). This quarter, Black & Lizars remains the company to watch, and they continue to score 25. A strong domain authority can improve user trust. When people come across a website that consistently ranks well, they’re more likely to assume it’s reliable and authoritative, which can
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. We’ve noted that the cost-of-living crisis has impacted traffic levels in many sectors, with consumers putting off purchases of treats and expendables for later dates. However, as opticians provide essential items, we’d expect brands to be able to maintain performance year on year, even if they may be seeing a reduction in traffic to high end ranges, and more traffic to lower to mid-range products.
Five brands reported a decrease in organic traffic on desktop, with Black & Lizars seeing the biggest loss (-38%). On mobile, three brands reported a decrease in organic traffic, with Eye Emporium seeing the biggest loss (-58%). User behaviour differs between devices, with mobile users often favouring shorter sessions. They may quickly scan content and leave if it doesn’t meet their needs, which can influence engagement metrics tied to organic performance.
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. For opticians with high street branches, ‘Local Pack’ results are a useful way of dominating SERPs and ensuring they can capture attention from users still looking for an in-person experience.
Specsavers continues to secure the most Universal Search appearances (60,486) — an increase from 48,679 previously. The majority of their appearances came from ‘people also ask’ (29,000).
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. Online opticians may find it particularly useful to optimise for keywords showing both high-conversion intent, and information-seeking phrases that may be more often searched at the consideration phase.
Specsavers continues to secure the most longtail keyword appearances for position 3 (24,131) — an increase from 19,631. Specsavers continues to secure the most appearances for positions 4–10 (27,550) — an increase from 25,254. Websites shouldn’t ignore voice search when using longtail keywords. Voice queries tend to be longer and more conversational, so content should reflect natural language patterns. Additionally, it’s beneficial to update existing content with new longtail keywords. As search trends evolve, refreshing older pages can help maintain visibility and attract new audiences.
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. Facebook ads provide an opportunity for opticians to quickly reach audiences with offers, new lines, and key products they’re looking to push.
We’ve included screenshots of Specsavers’ sponsored Facebook posts. Social media content should have a strong hook at the beginning to capture attention, followed by concise and engaging messaging. Avoid overly long or complicated text that may discourage users from reading further.
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. Though Facebook advertising can be used to boost visibility for brands on the platform, having a strong portfolio of content to draw upon helps build a connection with your audience, as well as providing helpful content that guides them down the conversion funnel.
Specsavers secured the most Facebook Likes (383,400) and the most Instagram followers (83,900).
Twitter was the most popular social media platforms of all brands. Vision Express received the highest total engagement rate (4,525) and the highest average engagement (301).
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. Online opticians should be particularly mindful of having an accessible site, as being poorly prepared for visually impaired users could not only lose customer confidence but look very poor for their brand!
In our previous report, Leightons Opticians received the most accessibility alerts (55). This quarter, Leightons Opticians remains the online optician to watch, and they’ve since increased their total to 56. Though the increase is only by one point, this suggests they’re not aware of the disadvantages these alerts can have on their audience. Accessibility alerts on websites can interrupt the reading experience by appearing unexpectedly while users are trying to focus on content. These sudden interruptions can break concentration and make it harder for readers to stay engaged with the material.
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.