The Q1 2026 benchmarking report for UK pet insurance brands has just been published. Learn how these top 11 companies perform across the digital space.
The latest Q1 2026 benchmarking report for UK pet insurance has just been published. It covers the largest 11 UK pet insurance companies, including ManyPets, Animal Friends, Petplan UK, Healthy Pets Insurance, Waggel, Napo Pet Insurance, Pinnacle Pet UK, Vetsure for Vets, Petgevity UK, Agria Pet Insurance, and Fetch Pet Insurance.
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 UK pet insurance companies to expand brand exposure, increase organic traffic, devise a keyword strategy, and more. This report identifies limitations that some companies are experiencing and how they can reduce them 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 leader board
For a glance into just 6 of the metrics we evaluated these top 11 pet insurance companies 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 pet insurance companies or request a copy of the report for the full review.
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 under-perform. 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.
Q1 2026, the average monthly budget wastage across these UK pet insurance companies was £58,962 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 £43. 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, Napo Pet Insurance reported the lowest monthly cost-per-click (CPC) at £15, and Healthy Pets Insurance reported has the highest at £198.
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, Home Emergency Assist has the lowest estimate monthly ad spend at £1,250, and British Gas has the highest at £3,720,000.
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. UK pet insurance companies should regularly assess their linking strategy to ensure they’re not directing customers to dead ends, where they can become frustrated and potentially leave the website.
In our previous audit, Petplan UK received the most 404 errors (201). This quarter, Petplan UK has made some great progress to reduce their 404 errors to 15. Currently, the company with the most 404 errors is ManyPets (a total of 306). Users typically visit a website with a specific goal in mind, such as finding information, purchasing a product, or reading an article. When a 404 error prevents them from accessing the desired page, their goal cannot be fulfilled. As a result, they are more likely to exit the site and look for an alternative source.
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. UK pet insurance companies should use a mobile-friendly website theme to help increase the site speed, especially given that consumers are likely to leave a website if it takes longer than 3 seconds to load.
In our last audit, Petgevity UK reported the slowest mobile site speed (23). This quarter, Petgevity UK has increased their mobile site speed to 43, no longer putting them at the bottom of the leaderboard. Currently, the mobile site speed ranges between 64 and 23, with Pinnacle Pet UK the company to watch. Taking mobile site speed into consideration helps websites meet the expectations of modern users. By ensuring pages load quickly and efficiently on smartphones, businesses can create a smoother, more reliable experience that encourages visitors to return in the future.
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. All UK pet insurance companies should aim for backlinks from various high-authoritative websites with their target audience, which requires them to create relatable, accurate, and engaging content that other websites will want to link to.
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 report, Healthy Pets Insurance received the lowest DA score (30). This quarter, Healthy Pets Insurance remains the company with the lowest DA, though they’ve since slightly increased their score to 31. Websites can strengthen their domain authority by building relationships with other reputable sites in their industry. Guest blogging, collaborations, and partnerships can help generate natural backlinks and increase a website’s exposure to new audiences.
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 can expect to see a fluctuation of organic traffic year on year, especially given the cost-of-living crisis. Brands should focus on following an effective keyword strategy to help increase their findings in search engines as consumers search for a pet insurance company.
Three brands reported a drop in organic traffic on desktop, with Fetch Pet Insurance flagging the biggest loss (-43%). On mobile, five brands reported a decrease in organic traffic, with Napo Pet Insurance seeing the biggest drop (-55%). Website design and responsiveness can affect how a site performs on mobile compared to desktop. If a website is not fully optimised for mobile devices, users may struggle with navigation, slow loading times, or content that does not fit properly on the screen. Search engines recognise these usability issues and may rank the site lower for mobile searches, which can reduce mobile organic traffic compared to desktop.
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. 'Reviews' and people also ask are both great options for UK pet insurance companies, who can demonstrate customer satisfaction and product styles directly from the SERP.
Petplan UK continues to secure the most Universal Search appearances (23,882) — an increase from 15,828 previously. The majority of their appearances came from ‘people also ask’ (9,700).
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. UK pet insurance companies will want to ensure they're including phrases for pet owners, such as terms including 'pet insurance signup, ‘pet insurance for dogs’, or ‘pet insurance low excess.'
Petplan UK continues to secure the most longtail keyword appearances for position 3 (2,953) — an increase from 2,432 previously. Petplan UK also continues to secure the most longtail keyword appearances for position 4–10 (8,819) — an increase from 7,233 previously. Longtail keywords can make it easier for websites to create highly targeted pages. Instead of trying to cover many topics in one piece of content, businesses can develop pages that focus on specific questions or themes. This can improve clarity and make it easier for users to find exactly what they need.
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.
We’ve included screenshots of Petgevity UK’s sponsored Facebook posts. This UK pet insurance company included vertical videos — showing they’re optimising their posts to mobile users.
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. Posting to social media consistently is a great opportunity for companies to announce the latest news and updates while also building a trusted community with followers. Companies should also focus on tracking their total engagement to assess whether or not their followers are interacting with their posts.
Petplan UK secured the most Facebook Likes (157,500) and the most Instagram followers (37,400). Facebook was the most popular social media platforms of all brands. Pinnacle Pet UK received the highest total engagement rate (492,250) and the highest average engagement (10,701).
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. UK pet insurance companies should ensure they are not excluding visually impaired customers on the basis of having a non-accessible site and must ensure that all consumers are able to browse services with ease.
In our last audit, Animal Friends reported the most accessibility alerts (155). This quarter, Animal Friends remains the brand to watch, and they’ve increased their total to 158. Poor heading structure and document hierarchy often generate accessibility alerts and harm how consumers scan and understand content. Clear headings help all users orient themselves, not just those using screen readers. Without this structure, pages feel disorganised and cognitively demanding, reducing comprehension and 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.
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