SISTRIX has been analysing the visibility of all domains with rankings on Google.co.uk, since 2010. The SISTRIX Visibility Index (VI) is ideally suited to comparing domains with each other and viewing changes over time. In this article we show you the top 100 most visible domains and analyse some of the changes seen.
- Latest UK domain analysis
- Major domain movements
- TikTok
- eBay
- Trustpilot
- Argos
- Retail Sector top domains
- Non-profit domains (org.uk) top 100
- Top News Media Websites in Google Search
- How can I grow a top-100 VI domain?
- IndexWatch
- A history of ranking domains: 11 years in 60 seconds
- What is the SISTRIX Visibility Index?
Here and fully updated for May 2024 we present the Top-100 most-visible websites on Google Search in the UK. Some analysis of major changes is provided below along with sector information from retail, non-profit and news media websites.
| Position | Domain | Visibility Index | Pos Change | Vi change | % change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | wikipedia.org | 7853.10 | 0 | 428.19 | 5.77% |
| 2 | amazon.co.uk | 3759.02 | 0 | 255.65 | 7.30% |
| 3 | youtube.com | 1729.24 | 0 | 332.04 | 23.76% |
| 4 | imdb.com | 1314.80 | 0 | 76.05 | 6.14% |
| 5 | cambridge.org | 1140.28 | 0 | 17.80 | 1.59% |
| 6 | merriam-webster.com | 1112.24 | 0 | 143.35 | 14.79% |
| 7 | britannica.com | 931.85 | 1 | 64.56 | 7.44% |
| 8 | facebook.com | 914.07 | 1 | 111.74 | 13.93% |
| 9 | instagram.com | 830.36 | 1 | 128.64 | 18.33% |
| 10 | ebay.co.uk | 815.50 | -3 | -94.47 | -10.38% |
| 11 | reddit.com | 677.92 | 19 | 396.08 | 140.53% |
| 12 | www.nhs.uk | 629.17 | 0 | 70.43 | 12.60% |
| 13 | fandom.com | 593.09 | -2 | 17.91 | 3.11% |
| 14 | etsy.com | 516.64 | -1 | -28.44 | -5.22% |
| 15 | nih.gov | 497.37 | 0 | 55.62 | 12.59% |
| 16 | dictionary.com | 487.63 | 1 | 82.96 | 20.50% |
| 17 | collinsdictionary.com | 444.82 | -3 | -97.37 | -17.96% |
| 18 | www.gov.uk | 404.27 | 0 | 16.19 | 4.17% |
| 19 | twitter.com | 373.48 | 10 | 86.82 | 30.28% |
| 20 | mayoclinic.org | 344.89 | 2 | 37.97 | 12.37% |
| 21 | linkedin.com | 341.56 | 2 | 38.53 | 12.72% |
| 22 | argos.co.uk | 339.14 | -6 | -87.99 | -20.60% |
| 23 | tripadvisor.co.uk | 333.57 | 3 | 43.16 | 14.86% |
| 24 | google.com | 326.36 | -5 | -31.38 | -8.77% |
| 25 | healthline.com | 324.93 | -1 | 32.24 | 11.02% |
| 26 | spotify.com | 314.71 | 1 | 24.38 | 8.40% |
| 27 | pinterest.com | 314.47 | -7 | -28.67 | -8.35% |
| 28 | microsoft.com | 303.56 | -3 | 11.81 | 4.05% |
| 29 | indeed.com | 295.95 | -8 | -33.49 | -10.17% |
| 30 | webmd.com | 295.46 | 3 | 47.79 | 19.29% |
| 31 | theguardian.com | 280.44 | 0 | 14.69 | 5.53% |
| 32 | genius.com | 277.82 | -4 | -11.02 | -3.81% |
| 33 | clevelandclinic.org | 275.35 | 2 | 31.27 | 12.81% |
| 34 | investopedia.com | 266.60 | -2 | 6.45 | 2.48% |
| 35 | pornhub.com | 257.15 | 5 | 38.54 | 17.63% |
| 36 | company-information.service.gov.uk | 244.93 | 0 | 7.42 | 3.12% |
| 37 | apple.com | 239.13 | 0 | 14.31 | 6.36% |
| 38 | bbc.co.uk | 238.02 | 5 | 35.54 | 17.55% |
| 39 | rottentomatoes.com | 237.42 | 0 | 18.51 | 8.45% |
| 40 | sciencedirect.com | 228.71 | -2 | 8.64 | 3.93% |
| 41 | wiktionary.org | 215.23 | -7 | -30.28 | -12.33% |
| 42 | bbcgoodfood.com | 215.17 | 2 | 17.18 | 8.68% |
| 43 | quora.com | 214.15 | 8 | 67.80 | 46.33% |
| 44 | vocabulary.com | 198.72 | 1 | 19.41 | 10.82% |
| 45 | screwfix.com | 196.21 | -3 | -7.66 | -3.76% |
| 46 | diy.com | 190.85 | 1 | 23.04 | 13.73% |
| 47 | medicalnewstoday.com | 172.49 | 6 | 31.63 | 22.46% |
| 48 | johnlewis.com | 161.81 | -7 | -42.31 | -20.73% |
| 49 | xvideos.com | 158.80 | 5 | 19.06 | 13.64% |
| 50 | currys.co.uk | 153.93 | 0 | 5.30 | 3.57% |
| 51 | next.co.uk | 150.56 | -5 | -23.13 | -13.32% |
| 52 | adobe.com | 142.09 | 13 | 28.11 | 24.66% |
| 53 | independent.co.uk | 138.50 | -5 | -21.55 | -13.47% |
| 54 | autotrader.co.uk | 137.51 | 6 | 15.42 | 12.63% |
| 55 | soundcloud.com | 135.15 | 2 | 6.15 | 4.77% |
| 56 | forbes.com | 127.79 | 6 | 8.93 | 7.51% |
| 57 | google.co.uk | 125.21 | 14 | 21.74 | 21.01% |
| 58 | steampowered.com | 123.93 | 0 | -4.11 | -3.21% |
| 59 | tiktok.com | 123.27 | 30 | 50.85 | 70.21% |
| 60 | discogs.com | 120.57 | -11 | -35.74 | -22.86% |
| 61 | cdc.gov | 118.58 | -2 | -4.47 | -3.63% |
| 62 | booking.com | 118.01 | 7 | 11.24 | 10.53% |
| 63 | goodreads.com | 116.29 | -2 | -3.61 | -3.01% |
| 64 | amazon.com | 114.69 | -8 | -20.32 | -15.05% |
| 65 | ikea.com | 112.22 | 15 | 21.22 | 23.32% |
| 66 | thesaurus.com | 106.92 | -11 | -31.07 | -22.52% |
| 67 | wikihow.com | 105.13 | -4 | -12.91 | -10.94% |
| 68 | tesco.com | 104.29 | 4 | 1.57 | 1.53% |
| 69 | marksandspencer.com | 104.21 | 21 | 33.56 | 47.51% |
| 70 | boots.com | 98.98 | 12 | 17.85 | 22.00% |
| 71 | dunelm.com | 98.98 | 24 | 32.51 | 48.90% |
| 72 | asos.com | 97.60 | -6 | -16.05 | -14.12% |
| 73 | hopkinsmedicine.org | 97.31 | 0 | 1.43 | 1.49% |
| 74 | oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com | 94.54 | -6 | -14.37 | -13.20% |
| 75 | pcmag.com | 89.73 | -5 | -14.91 | -14.25% |
| 76 | halfords.com | 88.98 | -1 | -5.72 | -6.04% |
| 77 | twinkl.co.uk | 88.69 | 8 | 11.76 | 15.28% |
| 78 | netflix.com | 85.86 | 6 | 8.54 | 11.05% |
| 79 | last.fm | 84.73 | -5 | -10.38 | -10.91% |
| 80 | europa.eu | 83.24 | 3 | 4.15 | 5.25% |
| 81 | istockphoto.com | 81.98 | 16 | 18.39 | 28.92% |
| 82 | nationalgeographic.com | 80.85 | 5 | 5.11 | 6.75% |
| 83 | nhsinform.scot | 77.37 | -6 | -15.14 | -16.37% |
| 84 | telegraph.co.uk | 76.21 | 4 | 2.25 | 3.04% |
| 85 | pinterest.co.uk | 76.10 | NEW | NEW | NEW |
| 86 | moneysavingexpert.com | 75.33 | 12 | 12.12 | 19.18% |
| 87 | goodhousekeeping.com | 74.41 | -23 | -42.30 | -36.25% |
| 88 | techradar.com | 72.97 | NEW | NEW | NEW |
| 89 | nationalcareers.service.gov.uk | 72.59 | NEW | NEW | NEW |
| 90 | unsplash.com | 71.01 | NEW | NEW | NEW |
| 91 | trustpilot.com | 70.70 | NEW | NEW | NEW |
| 92 | nytimes.com | 70.51 | -16 | -22.39 | -24.10% |
| 93 | allrecipes.com | 68.51 | NEW | NEW | NEW |
| 94 | medlineplus.gov | 67.77 | NEW | NEW | NEW |
| 95 | reed.co.uk | 67.60 | 5 | 4.47 | 7.08% |
| 96 | dailymail.co.uk | 67.55 | -10 | -9.27 | -12.07% |
| 97 | techtarget.com | 66.80 | -16 | -14.55 | -17.89% |
| 98 | rhs.org.uk | 66.75 | NEW | NEW | NEW |
| 99 | expedia.co.uk | 66.34 | NEW | NEW | NEW |
| 100 | study.com | 65.86 | NEW | NEW | NEW |
VI = Visibility Index – a measurement of organic search visibility.
Latest UK domain analysis
Since November 2023, there have been ten brand-new domain entries in the top 100:
- pinterest.co.uk
- techradar.com
- nationalcareers.service.gov.uk
- unsplash.com
- trustpilot.com
- allrecipes.com
- medlineplus.gov
- rhs.org.uk
- expedia.co.uk
- study.com
With this, a further ten have fallen out of the top 100 domains since November 2023. These are:
- adobe.com
- wikihow.com
- netflix.com
- last.fm
- trustpilot.com
- nytimes.com
- allrecipes.com
- medlineplus.gov
- dailymail.co.uk
- expedia.co.uk
The two domains that have experienced the most significant increases in Google visibility over the last 6 months are Reddit and TikTok, two key online sources of user-generated content.
You can find out more about the rise of Reddit in the Q1 edition of UK IndexWatch.
Major domain movements
TikTok
Google has not ignored the surge in TikTok’s usage and popularity. Following two core updates, a review update, and a spam update – all rolled out between November and April – TikTok.com’s search visibility has been steadily increasing (+70%).
An analysis of the directory-level data reveals significant growth in all areas of the app over the past six months. This includes the “discover” and “channels” sections, as well as the domain’s root folder, which houses TikTok user accounts.
Much of the domain’s success over the last month is a result of algorithmic improvements, which have consequently improved the relevance of brand and influencer names.
For example, on 6th November 2023, the top-ranking TikTok content for “Tyson Fury” was a user-created video. By 1st May 2024, the highest-ranking result for this query was Tyson Fury’s official TikTok profile. TikTok’s ranking for this query has climbed 58 positions (from 66 to 8).
In addition to improvements in branded searches such as “BBC iPlayer” and “Davide” (the Love Island UK star), Google has also recognised TikTok as a valuable source for various topics. These include life-enriching subjects like “calming music,” “high protein snacks” and “wood panelling,” as well as entertainment-related queries like “stupid stunts” and “Michael Jackson’s moonwalk.”
Overall, the TikTok domain has ranking increases for 41,677 keywords and acquired new search positions for 79,043 terms.
eBay
Although eBay remains in the top 10 domains, its visibility on UK Google has decreased by 10% since November 2023 and much more than that over the 12 month period shown below.
In January 2024, when we reviewed the visibility winners and losers for 2023, we highlighted eBay’s SEO difficulties, which were seemingly caused by modifications to the domain’s website architecture. You can find the full explanation of eBay’s SEO challenges here.
What we are observing in May 2024 appears to be a continuation of these previous issues. However, the website’s organic search health does seem to have stabilised and is looking more promising as we move towards Q3. Only time will tell if eBay can reclaim some of its lost visibility to sit in position 8 or higher of our top 100 domain list.
Trustpilot
A newcomer to the top 100 domains list, trustpilot.com has achieved a VI score of 70.7 as of May 2024 (+26% vs November 2023).
Since 2021, Trustpilot has made an effort to improve the quality and reliability of their reviews, investing heavily in fraud detection software to reduce fake reviews across the platform. In May 2022, it was reported that they removed roughly 2.7 million company reviews that their tool deemed inauthentic.
Fast forward to 2024, and it seems this clampdown is still in full flow. In fact, recently, Trustpilot seems to have turned the dials up on its detection software, with more users receiving emails from Trustpilot’s Content Integrity team questioning the authenticity of their reviews and informing them that their reviews have been removed.
This is undoubtedly a positive step in curbing businesses who’ve attempted to manipulate the system. However, for those who have left genuine feedback and received these emails, how many will have the want or time to respond and provide evidence of their transactions?
Regardless, Trustpilot’s approach to cleansing their platform of user-generated fakery is certainly helping improve their domain’s E-E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness & Trustworthiness) and consequently, their rankings for company review pages.
Argos
Like eBay, Argos has remained within the top 100 domains but its list ranking has dropped from 16th to 22nd position; experiencing a 21% visibility decrease compared to November 2023.
Since January 2023, argos.co.uk’s visibility on Google UK search has been gradually declining. This decline became more pronounced following the Helpful Content Update in September 2023, with the core and review updates in November adding to the losses.
Exploration of section-specific data highlights that the main areas that have experienced the most significant visibility drop-offs are “/sd” URLs, generated through internal searches conducted by users (e.g. https://www.argos.co.uk/sd/iphone-12/), and “/browse”, which contains SEO-optimised product categories (e.g. https://www.argos.co.uk/browse/technology/laptops-and-pcs/laptops/c:30049/).
This observation is a stark contrast from the promising performance we were seeing from these subfolders in 2022, as analysed in our rising leaders report. This shift reflects how Google’s standards have evolved since October 2022. Pages that were once considered high quality and user-serving are no longer perceived as such. It will be interesting to see how Argos’ SEO team adapts their strategy in the coming months to better meet the expectations of both users and Google.
Retail Sector top domains
There are the top 10 retail websites in the UK, including classifieds and marketplaces like Amazon and Ebay, TheRange and B&Q.
| Domain | Visibility Index | Retail Strategy |
|---|---|---|
| amazon.co.uk | 3945.87 | Marketplace |
| ebay.co.uk | 834.572 | Marketplace |
| etsy.com | 513.396 | Marketplace |
| argos.co.uk | 327.56 | Multi-brand Retail |
| diy.com | 204.938 | Marketplace |
| screwfix.com | 199.71 | Multi-brand Retail |
| next.co.uk | 163.794 | Multi-brand Retail |
| currys.co.uk | 156.151 | Multi-brand Retail |
| johnlewis.com | 149.411 | Multi-brand Retail |
| ikea.com | 121.157 | Direct to Consumer |
Non-profit domains (org.uk) top 100
The top 100 org.uk domains are (mostly) non-profit organisations. We’ve done some case-study analysis but below you can find the most recent Top 100 list below.
Top News Media Websites in Google Search
The table below shows the top 20 news media domains in Google UK organic search results. It’s important to remember that this is based on organic search results and doesn’t include the Top Stories box, Discovery or the Google News pages.
| Domain | Visibility Index |
|---|---|
| theguardian.com | 221.12 |
| https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/ | 153.62 |
| independent.co.uk | 121.06 |
| dailymail.co.uk | 65.83 |
| nytimes.com | 64.52 |
| telegraph.co.uk | 52.98 |
| mirror.co.uk | 47.58 |
| thesun.co.uk | 46.00 |
| people.com | 33.28 |
| cnn.com | 32.07 |
| news.sky.com | 31.76 |
| https://www.bbc.com/news/ | 26.59 |
| ft.com | 25.38 |
| bloomberg.com | 23.16 |
| standard.co.uk | 21.40 |
| metro.co.uk | 20.98 |
| thetimes.co.uk | 19.18 |
| businessinsider.com | 19.11 |
| finance.yahoo.com | 17.02 |
How can I grow a top-100 VI domain?
You’re not in the Top 100? Don’t worry! These domains represent an extremely small number of domains that rank. They are generally very mature, have a strong brand and usually cover an extremely wide range of topics. Be inspired by domains like therange.co.uk. 10 years ago it had a Visibility Index of just 0.56, representing 1/125th of the visibility it has today. The next.co.uk and goodhousekeeping.com domains are also good examples of ever-stable domains in the UK that one can take inspiration and ideas from. Look for good examples in your industry sector and learn from them.
IndexWatch
In our annual IndexWatch analysis, you’ll find a detailed list and analysis of the biggest winners and losers of the year. View all IndexWatch articles here.
A history of ranking domains: 11 years in 60 seconds
What is the SISTRIX Visibility Index?
We use a stable keyword set of 1.000.000 keywords (search phrases) and evaluate the first 100 search results on Google.co.uk to create a daily Visibility Index (VI) for desktop and mobile search. The keywords are chosen in such a way that they reflect the average search behaviour for the UK.
The results are then weighed by position and search volume for each keyword. Finally, we accumulate all the values for all the rankings found for a domain, which results in the SISTRIX Visibility Index.
SISTRIX has been calculating the Visibility Index scores with great accuracy and reliability since 2008. The VI is calculated for 30 different coutnries. On this page you’ll find more detailed information on the Visibility Index.
A free trial is always available.
Latest Update: November 2023: Updated top 100, and news media domain table and chart
