Digital Performance Analysis of Raw Pet Food Companies

With the demand for raw pet food on the rise, suppliers must be more competitive when it comes to their online digital presence, to ensure their competitors are not dominating the space that their products lie within. How to do this, I hear you ask? The below analysis addresses the search visibility, keyword reach, domain authority and referring domains of 6 industry leaders supplying raw pet food to consumers.?

The chosen 6 companies are as follow:

• Bella and Duke - https://www.bellaandduke.com/
• Paleo Ridge - https://paleoridge.co.uk/
• Natures Menu - https://www.naturesmenu.co.uk/
• Butternut Box - https://butternutbox.com/
• Natural Instinct - https://www.naturalinstinct.com/
• Pure Pet Food - https://www.purepetfood.com/

Organic Visibility

The above graph of visibility shows each of the websites when individuals searched for keywords relating to raw pet food. Search visibility relates to how easily a website can be found by individuals searching for specific terms or topics using search engines.

Evidently, Pure Pet Food has the highest search visibility however it’s interesting to note the general negative trend in their performance over the past 12 months. Due to their drop in visibility, Natures Menu comes in very closely with the second highest visibility after good growth following a dip in September 2023. Bella and Duke have evidently worked on their SEO strategy this year, dominating the likes of Natural Instinct and Butternut Box who now come 4th and 5th in this search visibility analysis. Paleo Ridge hasn’t seen much growth in the past 12 months so it will be interesting to see how they switch up their strategy going into 2024 to push organic sales online.

The brands in more depth...

Bella and Duke

Looking in more detail, Bella and Duke’s search visibility has increased largely since September 2023. They saw a slight decline in December 2022 / January 2023 and have plateaued for most of 2023 but in the 9th month of the year, they saw good growth. I am looking forward to seeing how they continue this growth going into the new year.?

Bella and Duke currently ranks for 47,357 keywords. With 5% of these keywords on page 1.

Paleo Ridge

Paleo Ridge hasn’t seen a dramatic increase in search visibility in the grand scheme of things, but when looking more closely, there has been a slight improvement. Focusing heavily on valuable and quality content, fixing any technical issues on the site and increasing the amount of backlinks will help their search visibility increase going into 2024.

Paleo Ridge ranks for 5913 keywords with 4.5% on page one!

Natures Menu?

Natures Menu have seen a good increase in the past 12 months overall however they did experience a few drops in visibility throughout the year, more specifically between the months of May and June and then again in August / September. Overall they have finished in a much better position than November 2022. Analysing the potential reasons for the drops in visibility can prevent it from happening again in the future however it’s interesting to note that some reasons are out of the control of the website owner.?

Natures Menu currently ranks for 9874 keywords with 13% on page one!

Butternut Box

After seeing some growth in search visibility between the months of April and July, Butternut Box’s visibility seems to have dropped off recently. The trend of the graph does seem to be increasing since September but they are still in a lesser position than November 2022. I’m looking forward to seeing how this brand adapts their digital strategy in 2024 to ensure this line is continuously going upwards.

Butternut Box ranks for 31,235 keywords with 4.5% on page 1.

Natural Instinct

Natural Instinct have seen good growth in the past 12 months, finishing in a better position than last year. When looking at the analysis as a whole, Natural Instinct are competing very closely against the likes of Bella and Duke and Natures Menu, so it will be intriguing to see who out of these brands puts a heavy focus on their organic strategy in 2024 to begin competing with Pure Pet Food and other larger organisations within the wider pet industry.

Natural Instinct ranks for 5182 keywords with 14% on page 1.

Pure Pet Food

Pure Pet Food currently have the highest visibility in the analysis even though their visibility has decreased in 2023. Whilst still being the leader, it opens up opportunities for other brands in this analysis to dominate, which on the general organic visibility graph, we can see Natures Menu are getting closer to Pure Pet Food. Looking in more detail with a third party tool, the drop in organic visibility seems to be in relation to a decrease in keywords on the site.?

Pure Pet Food ranks for 152,462 keywords with 7.5% on page 1!

Organic Keywords

Organic keywords play a crucial role in enhancing online visibility, contributing to SEO, ensuring content relevance and improving user experience. Unsurprisingly, Pure Pet Food rank for the most keywords with over 150,000. Bella and Duke come in second with over 40,000 closely followed by Butternut Box with just over 30,000. Natures Menu, Paleo Ridge and Natural Instinct all have under 10,000 keywords on the site, leaving a good opportunity for growth in 2024.?

Referring Domains

Referring domains contribute to improved search engine rankings and domain authority by providing authoritative and quality backlinks, enhancing a website's credibility and visibility online. The graph shows Bella and Duke and Butternut box with the most referring domains with over 1,200. Pure Pet Food come in third, showing a potential gap in their strategy as increasing this could help with their recent drop in search visibility. Again Paleo Ridge, Natures Menu and Natural Instinct all have similar amounts of referring domains therefore increasing their digital PR reach will reward their websites overall.??

Domain Authority

To boost domain authority, brands should focus on creating high-quality, relevant content, earning authoritative backlinks, and maintaining a technically sound and user-friendly website. Butternut Box’s DA is currently the highest at 64! Natures Menu (56) and Natural Instinct (52) come in second and third. Followed by Bella and Duke at 47 and Pure Pet Food at 45. Paleo Ridge have the lowest domain authority in this analysis at 42. Overall the DA of these websites is good but it is interesting to note the relevance that their content and backlinks have in their industry.?

Summary

This SEO competitor analysis of raw pet food companies showcases how different SEO strategies influence a website's overall search visibility, resulting in heightened web traffic. The brands present potential for expanding their organic online visibility and this can be done by allocating resources to digital PR, focusing on quality, and relevant content creation (especially targeting the "messy middle"), and then exploring additional channels like paid marketing, these brands can improve their prospects for online growth and expanding their customer base.

Pure Pet Food seems to be dominating the market out of these 6 brands but their recent drop in visibility have potentially left an uncertainty in the dominance of this brand! I’m interested to see how they switch things up in 2024 to continue their lead in the industry. Natures Menu’s organic visibility comes 2nd in search visibility so I would advise increasing the amount of organic keywords on the site to continue this amazing growth! Bella and Duke have seen good growth in the past 12 months, focusing on an increase in their organic keywords and have been rewarded with an increase in search visibility. Natural Instinct have seen growth but must continue this to ensure they are in a position to compete with the industry leaders. Despite Butternut Box’s drop in visibility, they still have time to adapt their strategy going into the new year to ensure they are putting enough resource into organic growth. Paleo Ridge have seen some growth this year, which is great, but focusing more on keyword reach, technical health and backlinks will put this brand in a good position to grow in 2024. Overall, this analysis has highlighted the huge opportunities for growth online in this industry! I’m keen to see where these brands will be in the next 12 months.