Mikhail Volovich
Head of the Search Analytics Laboratory,
Ashmanov & Partners
The monopolization of Yandex and Google search results by large sites – marketplaces and classifieds – creates insurmountable difficulties for the promotion of smaller players. In some cases, it is wiser to use the capabilities of the marketplace than to compete with it for a place in the search results.
Analysts from Ashmanov & Partners surveyed marketers to find out what proportion of them place and promote offers on marketplaces, and which marketplaces, according to marketers, are more effective in terms of customer acquisition and sales.
More than 230 professionals from 5 industries took part in the survey: e-commerce, medicine, real estate, finance and auto sales.
How sites with a huge assortment began to dominate search in Yandex and Google
The search analytics laboratory “Ashmanov & Partners” studies the factors of ranking commercial sites in search engines, as well as the structure of search results. The most important trend of the last few years, according to the Laboratory, is dominance of major players in the TOP-3 Yandex and Google… In other words, if marketplaces and aggregators appear in a segment, they eventually push other players out of the search.
According to the research “Ranking Factors – 2019”, sites with a huge assortment in the TOP-3 of Yandex – almost 40%, in the TOP-30 – almost 20%, in e-commerce – more than half and more than a third, respectively; in highly monopolized real estate – 86% and 54%.
Until 2020, in the TOP-3 of Yandex, such a factor as “Huge assortment” showed rapid, almost linear growth. The main surprise of the last year – since the beginning of 2020, the schedule has turned down.
Experts expect that in 2021 the dominance in the TOP of “giants” in Yandex will roll back to the level of Google, where the share of monopolization is lower. This will enable smaller sites to find their niches.
Nevertheless, the use of marketplaces and classifications for additional promotion remains relevant, since they aggregate a significant share of search traffic and play the role of thematic search engines.
Share of presence and promotion of players in the marketplace
The share of players who post offers on marketplaces among the respondents is on average 60% and varies depending on the segment. Among the financial industry marketers surveyed, only 41% said they were in marketplaces. The share among representatives of e-commerce, medicine and real estate varies within 60% –66%, and among representatives of the car market, the share reaches 70%.
The share of players’ presence on marketplaces indirectly reflects the degree of competition on the sites. Another factor that reflects the degree of competition is the proportion of players promoting offers on marketplaces, that is, using advertising tools or optimization to drive traffic. Among surveyed e-commerce and automotive marketers, the share of players promoting offers in marketplaces does not exceed 35%; among medical and financial marketers the share is about 45%. The greatest activity was demonstrated by real estate marketers: 58.8% of survey participants answered that they were promoting offers within marketplaces.
The most effective platforms in terms of sales and customer acquisition
The survey participants were asked to choose from a list of 3 sites that they consider the most effective. For the players of the medical market, the choice included aggregators of medical services and review sites, for the players of the real estate market – classifications and agency websites.
The results were distributed as follows.
TOP-3 most effective financial marketplaces: Banki.ru (64.7%) Sravni.ru (64.7%), Fins.Money (11.8%).
TOP-3 most effective car marketplaces: Auto.ru (80%), Avito (60%), Drom.ru (55%).
TOP-3 most effective medical platforms: ProDoctors (64.1%), DocDoc (20.5%), Yandex.Health (20.5%).
TOP-3 most efficient e-commerce marketplaces: Yandex.Market (48.4%), Ozone (32.8%), Wildberries (25%).
TOP-3 most efficient real estate marketplaces in terms of sales: Cyan (76.5%), Yandex.Real estate (58.8%), Avito (41.2%).
Players assess the effectiveness of their presence in marketplaces differently
Among representatives of the financial market – 70.6% of respondents consider marketplaces to be effective in terms of sales and customer acquisition; among representatives of the car market – 60%, among representatives of the medical market – 46.2%.
76.5% of the surveyed real estate market players believe that real estate aggregators are more effective in attracting clients, and 15.7% – that agency websites. Among the representatives of the medical market, 41% of respondents answered that aggregators of medical services are more effective in attracting customers, and 33% believe that review sites are more effective.