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What goes up? What comes down? Winners & Losers of 2018

Which websites won big in the Google rankings in 2018? Which domains took a hit in their SEO Visibility? Searchmetrics can reveal the biggest winners and losers in Google.com’s organic search results for the past 12 months. Our analysis includes a presentation of 2018’s most important Google Updates.

Download the complete charts!

The data

For this study, we analyzed the development of SEO Visibility for all domains listed in our US index tracked over the course of 2018. The list is ordered according to the absolute increase or decrease seen by the website, when comparing the level at the end of 2018 with that of January 1st. We have filtered out adult and illegitimate streaming sites, as well as domains that have migrated.

Top 100 Winners

The year’s winners include several websites that focus on video content. The best-improved domain is one of Google’s own, as it is also part of the Alphabet conglomerate: The global roll-out of video carousels for a vast number of desktop search queries in the summer was the chief reason for YouTube’s SEO Visibility growing 79 percent over the course of the year. Many health websites also made the list of winners – as did several new domains emerging from about.com’s split, some of which were only launched during 2018. The most successful of these are verywellhealth.com, balancecareers.com and the thespruceeats.com.

If the top 100 have whet your appetite and made you hungry for more, you can download the uncurated charts of 2018’s top 1000 winners here:

Download the complete charts!

Rank Domain Gain of SEO Visibility absolute Gain of SEO Visibility in % Industry
1 youtube.com 19,275,338 79% Media&Events
2 amazon.com 1,825,009 21% E-Commerce
3 urbandictionary.com 1,250,072 50% Dictionary/Encyclopedia
4 britannica.com 1,024,709 44% Dictionary/Encyclopedia
5 indeed.com 975,870 76% Jobs
6 verywellhealth.com 957,839 new Health
7 quora.com 648,842 238% Q&A/Forum/Social Media
8 khanacademy.org 578,516 80% Other
9 webmd.com 576,903 21% Health
10 kansas.com 528,255 2758% Media&Events
11 mayoclinic.org 506,688 33% Health
12 healthline.com 431,159 31% Health
13 everydayhealth.com 405,910 138% Health
14 yahoo.com 348,921 15% Search/Portal/Mail
15 theatlantic.com 344,912 60% Media&Events
16 cnbc.com 339,765 41% Media&Events
17 thebalancecareers.com 315,210 new Jobs
18 city-data.com 294,337 228% Q&A/Forum/Social Media
19 msnbc.com 290,153 219% Media&Events
20 newyorker.com 260,725 81% Media&Events
21 thespruceeats.com 251,101 new Other
22 infoplease.com 250,932 210% Dictionary/Encyclopedia
23 theguardian.com 248,354 15% Media&Events
24 today.com 246,446 61% Media&Events
25 etsy.com 229,768 47% E-Commerce
26 cargurus.com 226,535 90% E-Commerce
27 allrecipes.com 221,180 19% Other
28 cambridge.org 219,379 17% Other
29 fox.com 218,224 332% Media&Events
30 medium.com 214,504 131% Media&Events
31 pbs.org 205,099 41% Media&Events
32 dailymotion.com 204,637 112% Media&Events
33 smithsonianmag.com 203,393 106% Media&Events
34 verywellmind.com 198,255 new Health
35 cbslocal.com 197,859 61% Media&Events
36 washingtonpost.com 196,286 16% Media&Events
37 bustle.com 194,204 200% Media&Events
38 psychologytoday.com 193,580 65% Health
39 yelp.com 191,792 11% Other
40 weather.com 190,391 26% Media&Events
41 howstuffworks.com 189,772 39% Media&Events
42 usatoday.com 187,613 13% Media&Events
43 macmillandictionary.com 186,233 49% Dictionary/Encyclopedia
44 screenrant.com 179,671 277% Media&Events
45 arkadium.com 177,987 998% Other
46 vanityfair.com 177,869 41% Media&Events
47 carfax.com 176,824 88% Other
48 collinsdictionary.com 175,329 30% Dictionary/Encyclopedia
49 nbcsports.com 172,211 87% Media&Events
50 nationalgeographic.com 166,641 28% Media&Events
51 gettyimages.com 156,585 91% Media&Events
52 unsplash.com 154,737 183% Other
53 tenor.com 151,399 524% Other
54 slickdeals.net 150,566 100% E-Commerce
55 wisdomquotes.com 149,663 565% Other
56 patch.com 146,921 131% Media&Events
57 indiatimes.com 146,757 79% Media&Events
58 msn.com 141,659 20% Search/Portal/Mail
59 rottentomatoes.com 139,607 10% Other
60 simon.com 134,881 53% Other
61 fool.com 134,803 85% Media&Events
62 vox.com 133,778 163% Media&Events
63 clevelandclinic.org 132,423 74% Health
64 thebalancesmb.com 130,669 new Media&Events
65 vocabulary.com 129,603 15% Dictionary/Encyclopedia
66 wichita.edu 127,327 1654% Other
67 livescience.com 125,227 39% Media&Events
68 spendwithpennies.com 124,723 274% Other
69 ajc.com 123,771 89% Media&Events
70 crazygames.com 123,398 40% Other
71 kwch.com 122,553 4229% Media&Events
72 yandex.com 122,448 498% Search/Portal/Mail
73 givingassistant.org 120,198 106% Other
74 bizjournals.com 118,863 54% Media&Events
75 verywellfit.com 117,901 new Health
76 marketwatch.com 117,654 30% Media&Events
77 nbc.com 117,544 39% Media&Events
78 realclearpolitics.com 114,641 147% Media&Events
79 digitaltrends.com 114,103 36% Media&Events
80 vulture.com 113,854 47% Media&Events
81 ducksters.com 110,452 116% Other
82 foodnetwork.com 109,671 12% Other
83 nfl.com 107,120 21% Media&Events
84 makeuseof.com 106,889 93% Other
85 stackoverflow.com 106,494 157% Q&A/Forum/Social Media
86 verywellfamily.com 105,454 new Health
87 bbc.co.uk 104,887 31% Media&Events
88 keepinspiring.me 103,682 175% Other
89 myspace.com 103,534 63% Q&A/Forum/Social Media
90 cosmopolitan.com 102,921 24% Media&Events
91 radio.com 101,613 128% Media&Events
92 academy.com 100,886 57% E-Commerce
93 akc.org 98,309 36% Other
94 thesprucepets.com 93,094 583% Other
95 thestreet.com 91,411 73% Media&Events
96 medicalnewstoday.com 91,340 12% Health
97 goodhousekeeping.com 91,299 28% Media&Events
98 hubspot.com 89,169 126% Other
99 thewrap.com 89,099 429% Media&Events
100 mediabiasfactcheck.com 88,905 747% Media&Events

Selected losers

The following table shows a selection of loser domains that suffered a significant decline in their organic visibility during 2018. As above, these are sorted by absolute change in SEO Visibility, but we have only included domains that lost at least 15% of their SEO Visibility. Please note that inclusion in this list does not necessarily mean that these websites have suffered an equivalent loss in traffic or turnover – this is just an indicator of how much less present they have become in the unpaid search results on Google.com.

Domain Loss of SEO Visibility absolute Loss of SEO Visibility in % Industry
dictionary.com -3,254,799 -62% Dictionary/Encyclopedia
pinterest.com -1,755,871 -57% Q&A/Forum/Social Media
thebalance.com -1,349,315 -84% Media&Events
apple.com -1,271,413 -21% eCommerce
huffingtonpost.com -1,212,708 -65% Media&Events
medicinenet.com -938,321 -71% Health
thesaurus.com -821,333 -43% Dictionary/Encyclopedia
groupon.com -773,297 -56% eCommerce
latimes.com -728,377 -69% Media&Events
thespruce.com -662,554 -76% Other
cnet.com -519,079 -29% eCommerce
dailymail.co.uk -518,548 -58% Media&Events
genius.com -500,098 -29% Media&Events
geniuskitchen.com -497,946 -76% Media&Events
github.com -489,760 -48% Q&A/Forum/Social Media
retailmenot.com -446,341 -32% eCommerce
lifewire.com -445,039 -40% Media&Events
buzzfeed.com -435,188 -76% Media&Events
emedicinehealth.com -425,262 -85% Health
drugs.com -394,969 -77% Health
nydailynews.com -389,041 -74% Media&Events
thesun.co.uk -362,579 -72% Media&Events
soundcloud.com -359,729 -51% Other
usnews.com -347,982 -21% Media&Events
fortune.com -319,343 -48% Media&Events
goodreads.com -310,294 -30% Other

The three most important Google Updates in 2018

In 2018, as you would expect and as has been the case in other years, it was Google Updates that caused the most significant fluctuations in the search results. Here’s an overview of 2018’s three most important Google Updates:

  • Google Core Algorithm Update: In March 2018, Google rolled out an officially-confirmed Core update. This caused great changes in the search results. Many webmasters had already suspected that an update had taken place in November 2017. In March, winners from the autumn got an additional boost, and losers dropped further. More information can be found in our blog post on the Google Core Algorithm Update.
  • Video carousels on desktop: In June 2018, Google stated showing video carousels in the desktop search results. The overall number of search results that included video integrations also increased.
  • E-A-T-Update: This official Google Update was rolled out in August 2018, and impacted website rankings based on “Expert-Authority-Trust”. In particular, YMYL (your money or your life) keywords were affected, for which false information in the search results could (potentially) have a negative impact on the user’s health or finances. An iteration of the E-A-T Update, that saw the algorithm altered slightly regarding YMYL searches, was released in October 2018. More information can be found in our blog post on the Google E-A-T Update.

Industry Overview of 2018’s Winners and Losers

For our industry analysis of 2018’s winners and losers, we have categorized the 250 domains with the biggest increase and the 250 with the biggest decrease in their SEO Visibility.

42% of 2018’s most successful websites belong to the category “Media & Events”. Above all, websites with video content saw big wins. As well as YouTube, we also find fox.com, pbs.com, bbc.co.uk and dailymotion.com amongst the winners. The primary reason for these websites’ success if the major Google Update in 2018, following which more video carousels were displayed in the desktop search results.

Websites in the health industry also experienced a lot of turbulence in 2018. Google’s E-A-T Updates in the second half of the year gave many health pages a boost – but at the same time many pages in this industry lost out, as they make up 8% of our 2018 loser list.

The most important search trends of 2018

Here, I would like to summarize the most important trends that helped shape Google search in 2018.

1.      Video content wins big

Google’s algorithm adjustment in June 2018 was the main contributing factor to YouTube’s 2018 success – the video domain was the biggest winner of the year in our analysis, with a 79 percent increase in its SEO Visibility. The Alphabet subsidiary benefited greatly from the integration of video carousels in the desktop search results, and an overall increase in the number of video results displayed.

It is not just YouTube. Other video publishers are also found among the websites with the biggest increase in SEO Visibility in 2018. These include fox.com, pbs.com, bbc.co.uk and dailymotion.com. With this update, Google greatly expanded the number of search queries that return videos in the results. As Searchmetrics’ data shows, 74 per cent of search results included a video integration in late September. Towards the end of 2018, the number of search results with videos dropped back to 62 percent. This is shown in Searchmetrics’ SERP Features data:

2.      Turbulence in the health industry

Your Money or Your Life: This motto had a big impact on the health industry in 2018. The Google E-A-T Update in August and its iteration in October caused enormous turbulence in the search results for sensitive topics i.e. for issues where incorrect information could potentially harm the health or financial situation of the searcher. Google raised its requirements regarding expertise, authority and trust, creating the name of the E-A-T Update.

The high search volume associated with many health-related queries meant that the fluctuation following this update was most visible for health websites – domains from this industry make up 8 percent of the year’s winners, but also 8 percent of the year’s losers.

The chart below shows the SEO Visibility of the health industry’s biggest winner and biggest loser: webmd.com is the winner, medicinenet.com the loser. You can see the big change in early August, which is when the E-A-T Update struck, and the continuation of the trend, particularly for medicinenet.com, in mid-October, where this domain experienced a second big drop.

Before the E-A-T Update, the domains were separated by around 1,300,000 Visibility points. By the end of the 2018, the difference was 3,000,000 points.

3.      About.com’s success story goes on and on

Today, about.com’s domain split – that saw the creation of a great number of domains, each with a clear topical focus – can be considered one of the most successful relaunches in the history of the web. Here you can view the entire website portfolio of the parent company, dotdash.com. Several of 2018’s winning domains are newly-founded second-level domain splits from what used to be the about.com universe. The leading lights are verywellhealth.com, verywellmind.com, verywellfamily.com, thebalancecareers.com, thebalancesmb.com and thespruceeats.com

We should point out, however, that some of the first-level domain splits have lost a great deal of Visibility: thebalance.com lost 84 percent; thespruce.com lost 76 percent of its organic visibility.

The following charts show us the Visibility of the three biggest domain splits coming from the about.com universe. The development in SEO Visibility for the health and wellness domains, verywell.com, the home/living domains thespruce.com and the finance domains, thebalance.com.

  • verywell.com
  • thespruce.com
  • thebalance.com

All of these have in common, that the previous main domain lost a great deal of SEO Visibility following the second-level split, and the second-level domains have seen continuous growth, even if they have not all, when combined, reached the Visibility heights the main domain enjoyed at its peak. If you want to learn more about about.com’s success story, then you can read the analysis in our blog post from May 2018: How About.com Got Its Groove Back With Domain Splitting

4.      Better content + better user experience = better rankings

What does about.com’s example tell us? Domains that have been amongst the losers in the past or that have wanted to improve their performance, are well advised to rework their content and optimize the user experience on their site. Google rewards clearly clustered content silos that combine excellent content with a top-drawer user experience.

If you are interested in using our Searchmetrics products more effectively, then you can arrange an appointment with our Digital Strategies Group to gain additional strategic support to increase traffic and sales for your domain. Our consultants will be happy to have a chat and explore your needs:

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