It’s been a crazy year for SEO. This year’s analysis of Google winners and losers shows significantly greater fluctuations than in previous years. Which UK websites rode the Google wave successfully in 2021? And which sites splashed and crashed? Additionally, what impact did the year’s two major Google Core Updates, the June/July Core Update and the November Core Update, have on rankings on Google.co.uk? Read on for more info on the analysis.
Google Update Rally: Many of 2020’s losers made the 2021 winners lists
Google giveth and Google taketh away. One of the negative trends seen in the past few years is clusters of websites being penalized by the updates. Then the algorithm is revised, and previous losers are back on top. We identified trend among some of the music and podcast sites we analyzed, for example. While discogs.com, last.fm, and spotify.com were among the biggest losers in the May 2020 Core Update, the July 2021 Core Update gave these sites a boost right through till the end of the year. This meant they ended 2021 with a clear increase in SEO visibility compared to pre-2020 levels.
Google Summer Party 2021: the June/July Core update had a big impact
The Google Core Update June/July 2021 caused near record movements up and down the SERPs and was a real summer rollercoaster ride for some sites. Rarely has the SEO visibility for domains gone through the roof like this. The losses, on the other hand, were comparatively moderate. And this is what the visibility histories of domains on Google UK (Google.co.uk) look like when Google’s algorithm is feeling really, really generous:
Searchmetrics looked at developments over the summer and came to the conclusion that this Google update was rather an unusual one. Among the losers were many sites with good content, including some from the YMYL and travel sectors.
In contrast, the second core update of the year was comparatively moderate. Google’s Core Update November 2021 also drew some ire from the SEO community as it came right in the middle of the biggest sales period of the year — Black Friday on November 26. The winners from this update were mainly Wikis and dictionaries.
Google Social Network Award 2021: Instagram top, Pinterest flop
If Google were to have a social network award, it would most certainly have gone to Instagram in 2021. In absolute terms, Instagram achieved an unprecedented rise in SEO visibility in our index for Google.co.uk. For Pinterest, on other hand, it was all downhill. Pinterest was one of the biggest losers in 2021. This trend is the same across all the countries we analyzed. Instagram seems to be getting a lot right, while Pinterest seems to have fallen out of favor with Google.
The Top 100 Google Winners of 2021
Google’s 2021 winners came from a wide variety of different sectors. While previous years saw some ups and downs in areas such as dictionaries, health and finance, the patterns in 2021 are much more diverse. The following are examples from various sectors that recently made the 2021 list of Google UK winners:
- Wikis: It was a good year for Wikis and dictionaries. These sectors had ups and downs in recent years but they were almost all winners in 2021.
- Dictionaries: britannica.com, wiktionary.org, collindictionary.com, thesaurus.com
- Films: imdb.com, tvtropes.org, rottentomatoes.com
- Music: discogs.com, rateyourmusic.com
- People: wiktionary.org, biography.com, thefamouspeople.com
- Entertainment: Most certainly due to the pandemic and increased demand, numerous portals from the video and music streaming sectors ended up Google winners in 2021, such as spotify.com, tvguide.com, netflix.com, and last.fm. Games sites such as gameforge.com, crazygames.com, and xbox.com also saw gains in 2021.
- Publishers: Numerous publishers also saw their numbers go up significantly in 2021. These include, e.g., mirror.co.uk, dailymail.co.uk, thetimes.co.uk, cnbc.com, and cnn.com.
All the Top 100 Google Winners in 2021:
| Rank | Domain | SEO Visibility Increase (absolute) | SEO Visibility Increase in % |
| 1 | instagram.com | 821,850 | 42% |
| 2 | imdb.com | 595,023 | 29% |
| 3 | britannica.com | 511,181 | 52% |
| 4 | google.com | 499,887 | 17% |
| 5 | twitter.com | 387,383 | 23% |
| 6 | collinsdictionary.com | 301,948 | 86% |
| 7 | spotify.com | 297,888 | 98% |
| 8 | linkedin.com | 286,615 | 18% |
| 9 | apple.com | 278,748 | 19% |
| 11 | tvtropes.org | 263,402 | 401% |
| 12 | mirror.co.uk | 257,666 | 47% |
| 13 | cambridge.org | 221,248 | 24% |
| 14 | amazon.co.uk | 205,568 | 7% |
| 15 | rottentomatoes.com | 205,146 | 36% |
| 17 | gov.uk | 180,246 | 18% |
| 18 | wiktionary.org | 173,867 | 58% |
| 19 | dailymail.co.uk | 159,574 | 27% |
| 20 | metro.co.uk | 146,598 | 60% |
| 21 | mayoclinic.org | 137,528 | 50% |
| 22 | live.com | 132,681 | 28% |
| 23 | fandom.com | 124,128 | 11% |
| 24 | discogs.com | 113,684 | 62% |
| 25 | argos.co.uk | 105,522 | 15% |
| 26 | quora.com | 104,562 | 151% |
| 27 | johnlewis.com | 97,280 | 28% |
| 28 | thetimes.co.uk | 89,767 | 92% |
| 29 | webmd.com | 89,621 | 23% |
| 30 | biography.com | 88,477 | 64% |
| 31 | makeuseof.com | 88,235 | 259% |
| 32 | crazygames.com | 83,542 | 27% |
| 33 | lexico.com | 82,615 | 50% |
| 34 | tvguide.com | 82,328 | 138% |
| 35 | netflix.com | 81,616 | 35% |
| 36 | cylex-uk.co.uk | 81,283 | 213% |
| 37 | clevelandclinic.org | 80,661 | 130% |
| 38 | last.fm | 80,168 | 137% |
| 39 | lifewire.com | 79,216 | 69% |
| 40 | thesaurus.com | 77,342 | 28% |
| 41 | gameforge.com | 75,072 | 252% |
| 43 | nidirect.gov.uk | 72,012 | 71% |
| 44 | parade.com | 71,614 | 220% |
| 45 | nytimes.com | 71,121 | 36% |
| 46 | xbox.com | 67,988 | 84% |
| 47 | alamy.com | 64,095 | 237% |
| 48 | rateyourmusic.com | 62,814 | 255% |
| 49 | genius.com | 62,269 | 29% |
| 50 | cnn.com | 60,569 | 55% |
| 51 | sky.com | 60,262 | 19% |
| 52 | plex.tv | 59,967 | 243% |
| 53 | medlineplus.gov | 59,176 | 124% |
| 54 | softonic.com | 58,874 | 34% |
| 55 | tiktok.com | 58,238 | 969% |
| 56 | dailyrecord.co.uk | 57,642 | 64% |
| 57 | gumtree.com | 57,203 | 24% |
| 58 | vouchercodes.co.uk | 57,005 | 121% |
| 59 | whattowatch.com | 56,024 | new |
| 60 | goodto.com | 55,927 | 412% |
| 61 | twitch.tv | 54,311 | 135% |
| 62 | rollingstone.com | 53,914 | 58% |
| 63 | microsoft.com | 52,609 | 9% |
| 64 | people.com | 52,547 | 96% |
| 65 | hotels.com | 51,380 | 53% |
| 66 | downdetector.com | 51,135 | 219% |
| 67 | justwatch.com | 51,106 | 164% |
| 68 | goodreads.com | 48,248 | 34% |
| 69 | lagged.com | 47,251 | 517% |
| 70 | skyscanner.net | 45,801 | 27% |
| 71 | asda.com | 45,129 | 24% |
| 72 | cnbc.com | 43,689 | 106% |
| 73 | etsy.com | 43,621 | 15% |
| 74 | steampowered.com | 43,347 | 16% |
| 75 | usmagazine.com | 42,375 | 229% |
| 77 | cdc.gov | 41,864 | 45% |
| 78 | radiotimes.com | 41,604 | 22% |
| 79 | kidshealth.org | 41,285 | 49% |
| 80 | flickr.com | 40,627 | 176% |
| 81 | twinkl.co.uk | 40,622 | 66% |
| 82 | campaignlive.co.uk | 40,120 | 75% |
| 83 | forbes.com | 39,466 | 16% |
| 84 | foursquare.com | 39,409 | 391% |
| 85 | similarweb.com | 39,334 | 135% |
| 86 | digitaltrends.com | 38,251 | 61% |
| 87 | ikea.com | 36,821 | 26% |
| 88 | disneyplus.com | 36,793 | 151% |
| 89 | thesun.co.uk | 36,775 | 5% |
| 90 | liverpoolecho.co.uk | 36,676 | 41% |
| 91 | marksandspencer.com | 36,556 | 29% |
| 92 | parkers.co.uk | 36,277 | 64% |
| 93 | webuy.com | 36,273 | 72% |
| 94 | chroniclelive.co.uk | 36,270 | 53% |
| 96 | tui.co.uk | 35,072 | 13% |
| 97 | expertreviews.co.uk | 34,845 | 72% |
| 98 | allinlondon.co.uk | 34,765 | 900% |
| 99 | thefamouspeople.com | 34,413 | 996% |
| 100 | loveholidays.com | 34,390 | 33% |
eCommerce 2021 – The Top 10 Google Winners:
| Rank | Domain | SEO Visibility Increase (absolute) | SEO Visibility Increase in % |
| 1 | apple.com | 278,748 | 19% |
| 2 | amazon.co.uk | 205,568 | 7% |
| 3 | argos.co.uk | 105,522 | 15% |
| 4 | gumtree.com | 57,203 | 24% |
| 5 | vouchercodes.co.uk | 57,005 | 121% |
| 6 | hotels.com | 51,380 | 53% |
| 7 | etsy.com | 43,621 | 15% |
| 8 | ikea.com | 36,821 | 26% |
| 9 | marksandspencer.com | 36,556 | 29% |
| 10 | parkers.co.uk | 36,277 | 64% |
The Biggest Google Losers of 2021
As always, there are not only Google winners in any given year. Here are some of the losers from 2021:
- Jobs: Some job portals in the UK index went down in 2021. These include reed.co.uk, simplyhired.co.uk, and jobsite.co.uk.
- E-A-T Websites: As in previous years, there are some sectors with greater ups and downs than others. These includes E-A-T content about health and finance. Examples of losers this year include healthline.com and patient.info from the health sector and money.co.uk and moneysavingexpert.com from the finance sector. The algorithm seems to be testing domains at certain intervals. So, these sectors can’t afford to rest on their laurels.
- Pinterest: Both Pinterest domains dropped down the list: pinterest.com and pinterest.ca. Incidentally, this trend not only applies to the UK. It was also a bad year for Pinterest SEO visibility in the Google SERPs in both the U.S. and Germany.
- And what about eBay and Amazon? The two U.S. e-commerce giants were at the top of the losers list. While Amazon’s .com TLD fell in our index, amazon.co.uk was one of the winners. After a strong upward trend in 2020, things went downhill in 2021 for selling platform eBay.
Here is a selection of the biggest Google losers in 2021:
| Domain | SEO Visibility Decrease (absolute) | SEO Visibility Decrease in % |
| amazon.com | -318,473 | -48% |
| ebay.co.uk | -260,138 | -15% |
| youtube.com | -241,583 | -14% |
| telegraph.co.uk | -210,570 | -38% |
| pinterest.com | -197,480 | -27% |
| google.co.uk | -109,509 | -17% |
| moneysavingexpert.com | -101,746 | -21% |
| ft.com | -95,961 | -30% |
| ebay.com | -92,419 | -74% |
| healthline.com | -72,600 | -13% |
| bt.com | -69,319 | -25% |
| money.co.uk | -54,316 | -51% |
| onthebeach.co.uk | -48,514 | -37% |
| popcornflix.com | -47,885 | -62% |
| agame.com | -46,369 | -43% |
| aha.video | -42,836 | -88% |
| pinterest.ca | -38,377 | -87% |
| reed.co.uk | -37,235 | -18% |
| openculture.com | -36,219 | -80% |
| marketingweek.com | -35,363 | -76% |
| usc.edu | -34,773 | -91% |
| ebookers.com | -34,731 | -68% |
| bing.com | -32,639 | -30% |
| mashable.com | -31,472 | -48% |
| carphonewarehouse.com | -31,415 | -33% |
| vulture.com | -31,136 | -39% |
| ofcom.org.uk | -29,870 | -54% |
| patient.info | -29,300 | -28% |
| webmail-provider.co.uk | -28,697 | -95% |
| simplyhired.co.uk | -28,635 | -96% |
| viamichelin.co.uk | -27,734 | -47% |
| vimeo.com | -26,845 | -69% |
| wickes.co.uk | -25,671 | -19% |
| hbr.org | -24,824 | -44% |
| teletextholidays.co.uk | -24,503 | -36% |
| springer.com | -23,945 | -62% |
| jobsite.co.uk | -23,179 | -31% |
| opodo.co.uk | -22,754 | -34% |
| oxfordstreet.co.uk | -22,650 | -74% |
| missguided.co.uk | -21,565 | -37% |
| dealchecker.co.uk | -21,014 | -36% |
| carandclassic.co.uk | -20,617 | -49% |
| emmasdiary.co.uk | -20,195 | -64% |
| thedrum.com | -19,663 | -42% |
| freemake.com | -18,402 | -43% |
| mentalfloss.com | -18,128 | -28% |
| reverso.net | -17,999 | -24% |
| virginholidays.co.uk | -17,911 | -27% |
| lottery.co.uk | -17,790 | -34% |
| crunchbase.com | -17,504 | -8% |
| yandex.com | -16,419 | -60% |
| historic-uk.com | -16,224 | -38% |
| hl.co.uk | -15,978 | -16% |
| dailymotion.com | -15,936 | -33% |