by SeanThe latestĀ Beauty Industry AnalysisĀ shows a sector thatās leaner, faster and more consumerācentric than ever.
Iāve dug through 100+ brands, three dataārich press releases and our full 69āpage Beauty Retailers report to pull out the numbers that matter and, more importantly, why they matter for your marketing plan.
TL;DR:Ā Superdrug still rules the roost for traffic, QVC wins brand recall, andĀ Revolution BeautyĀ is the rocket ship youāll want to watch.
Download our free Beauty Market report here. 100+ brands ranked across Search & Brand performance. Or read on for our beauty industry analysis.
Which beauty retailers are the most trusted?
Customer reviews remain the strongest trust signal in 2025. Our study blended Trustpilot star ratings with sheer review volume to crown the UKās bestārated beauty retailers:
| Rank | Brand | Avg. ā | Review volume |
| 1 | Allbeauty | 4.7 | 422,232 |
| 2 | Look Fantastic | 4.5 | 320,807 |
| 3 | QVC UK | 4.5 | 238,399 |
| 4 | Superdrug | 4.8 | 83,348 |
| 5 | Beauty Bay | 4.2 | 167,495 |
| 6 | Cult Beauty | 4.5 | 67,481 |
| 7 | Fragrance Direct | 4.7 | 38,035 |
| 8 | JustMyLook | 4.2 | 62,801 |
| 9 | Beauty Pie | 4.6 | 24,423 |
| 10 | Charlotte Tilbury | 4.6 | 13,688 |
Why you care:Ā Review volume feeds straight into reviewāsnippet SERP stars, boosts clickāthrough rate and helps Googleās review sentiment analysis decide whether your brand is YMYLāsafe. If youāre under 4.5āÆstars or subā10k reviews, bake automated review prompts into postāpurchase flows.
Which beauty brand is the most prominant?
Prominence blends branded search demand with raw social reachāyour share of voice across Google, Instagram, Facebook & X:
- QVC UKĀ ā 823k monthly searches | 6,871 ownedāsocial score
- Huda BeautyĀ ā 74k searches | 70,558 social (yes, 62āÆmillion followers)
- AvonĀ ā 110k | 42,323
- Charlotte TilburyĀ ā 450k | 9,581
- SuperdrugĀ ā 1.5āÆm | 2,452
- The Body ShopĀ ā 165k | 22,232
- Mac CosmeticsĀ ā 40.5k | 66,350
- CliniqueĀ ā 110k | 22,404
- La RocheāPosayĀ ā 110k | 20,607
- LāOccitaneĀ ā 110k | 12,933
Key takeaway:Ā High social followings donāt always translate into Google mindāshare.Ā SuperdrugāsĀ 1.5āÆmillion branded searches show what happens when paid, organic and social teams align around consistent campaigns and Core Web Vitalsāfriendly content.
Beauty organic visibility analysis
Top five beauty YOY trafficāscore climbers
- SuperdrugĀ +7% ā 3.75āÆm sessions
- QVC UKĀ +6% ā 1.20āÆm
- Elf CosmeticsĀ +44% ā 223k
- NotinoĀ +38% ā 193k
- Revolution BeautyĀ +54% ā 148k
Biggest beauty traffic declines
- Look FantasticĀ ā31%
- Cult BeautyĀ ā20%
- CliniqueĀ ā18%
- Feel UniqueĀ ā51%
- Urban DecayĀ ā86%
The broader market shrank by 3%. A reminder that aggressive growth is still possible in a downācycle if your technical SEO, page speed and keywordāgap strategy are tight.
Revolution Beauty Growth
TikTok trends + lightningāfast product launches = organic gold.Ā Revolution BeautyĀ spotted the viral buzz around Charlotte Tilburyās Magic Cream, released a budget ādupeā, built a 13k waitālist and watched branded keyword demand jump 2,015%. Their Jelly Blush now leads #TikTokMadeMeBuyIt searches.
See the full Revolution Beauty case study āļø
Traffic score vs. authority: sleeping giants & overāachievers in the beauty sector
Our report maps Ahrefs Domain Rating against organic traffic.
- Sleeping giantsĀ (high DR, low traffic):Ā BenefitāÆCosmetics,Ā LāOccitane,Ā Glossier,Ā The Inkey List,Ā and Huda Beauty. Fix thin content, internal linking, and page experience, and youāll punch above your weight.
- OverāachieversĀ (low DR, high traffic):Ā Superdrug,Ā Lush,Ā Revolution Beauty,Ā Beauty Bay,Ā Fragrance Direct. Double down on digital PR to secure highāauthority links and futureāproof rankings.Ā Click here to see how our Digital PR campaign for Just My Look achieved a combined reach of 894 million in just 1 month!
| Site | Visibility Order | Authority Order | Domain Authority | Organic Visibility | Rank |
| superdrug.com | 1 | 1 | 74 | 3751901 | 1 |
| qvcuk.com | 2 | 11 | 59 | 1197698 | 2 |
| lookfantastic.com | 3 | 6 | 61 | 722648 | 3 |
| charlottetilbury.com | 5 | 4 | 65 | 473072 | 4 |
| spacenk.com | 4 | 13 | 56 | 711176 | 5 |
| lush.com | 7 | 2 | 68 | 315141 | 6 |
| cultbeauty.co.uk | 6 | 16 | 53 | 458617 | 7 |
| harveynichols.com | 8 | 15 | 54 | 306421 | 8 |
| beautybay.com | 9 | 14 | 56 | 272825 | 9 |
| maccosmetics.co.uk | 13 | 10 | 60 | 221551 | 10 |
| uk.loccitane.com | 27 | 3 | 68 | 135999 | 11 |
| ghdhair.com | 19 | 7 | 61 | 176583 | 12 |
| thebodyshop.com | 26 | 5 | 63 | 137551 | 13 |
| elfcosmetics.co.uk | 12 | 19 | 51 | 223395 | 14 |
| jomalone.co.uk | 16 | 17 | 53 | 190667 | 15 |
| benefitcosmetics.com | 28 | 8 | 61 | 122018 | 16 |
| avon.uk.com | 11 | 25 | 49 | 227814 | 17 |
| allbeauty.com | 14 | 26 | 49 | 218081 | 18 |
| fragrancedirect.co.uk | 10 | 29 | 48 | 229723 | 19 |
| uk.elemis.com | 17 | 20 | 51 | 184653 | 20 |
| revolutionbeauty.com | 24 | 18 | 53 | 147781 | 21 |
| laroche-posay.co.uk | 18 | 27 | 49 | 181181 | 22 |
| clinique.co.uk | 21 | 22 | 50 | 156647 | 23 |
| glossier.com | 38 | 9 | 61 | 81700 | 24 |
| sallybeauty.co.uk | 20 | 31 | 48 | 160058 | 25 |
| notino.co.uk | 15 | 37 | 45 | 193417 | 26 |
| feelunique.com | 25 | 30 | 48 | 144809 | 27 |
| yslbeauty.co.uk | 22 | 39 | 45 | 154259 | 28 |
| Esteelauder.co.uk | 29 | 28 | 49 | 118964 | 29 |
| narscosmetics.co.uk | 23 | 38 | 45 | 148125 | 30 |
Page speed in the beauty industry
Shaving just one second off load time can have a tremendous impact on conversion rates, critical in a category where users bounce from site to site in less time than it takes to watch an instagram reel.Ā Learn more about page speed here.
Hereās how the sector stacks up in our beauty industry analysis:
Beauty Search demand analysis: products on the rise (and fall)
- šĀ lip stainĀ +177% (consider content on longāwear formulas)
- šĀ skinārenewing night creamĀ +164%
- šĀ korean skincareĀ +95%
- šĀ clear lip glossĀ ā39%
- šĀ retinol serumsĀ ā29%
Map these spikes against seasonal trends to craft longātail query-targeting content hubs. Our keywordāgap audit surfaced ālipstick balmā and āsalicylic acid cleanserā as lowācompetition, high search volume, beauty SEO opportunities, along with:
| Keyword | Order | Competitiveness Score | Local Monthly Searches |
| mascara | 1 | 10 | 21000 |
| lipstick | 2 | 5 | 11000 |
| salicylic acid cleanser | 3 | 9 | 7400 |
| face cream | 4 | 5 | 6000 |
| eye makeup | 5 | 6 | 4200 |
| vitamin c serum for face | 6 | 6 | 3800 |
| oat cleansing balm | 7 | 6 | 3400 |
| spf moisturiser | 8 | 8 | 3200 |
| waterproof mascara | 9 | 5 | 2900 |
| translucent powder | 10 | 7 | 2700 |
| non comedogenic moisturizer | 11 | 5 | 2500 |
| spf face cream | 12 | 7 | 2500 |
| loose powder | 13 | 6 | 2400 |
| eye serum | 14 | 7 | 2300 |
| lipstick set | 15 | 6 | 1900 |
Where should you focus next?
- Close keyword gaps.Ā Aim for subā10āÆkeyword difficulty phrases likeĀ āvitamin C serum for faceāĀ andĀ āwaterproof mascaraāā both carry >2.5k UK searches with low competition.
- Boost review volume.Ā Anything under 10k recent reviews screams low trust. Automate postāpurchase email nudges and consider onāsite incentives.
- Audit backlink profile.Ā Domain authority still underpins competitive beauty terms. A targeted digital PR push can secure placements on beauty publishers and lifestyle press.
- Improve mobile performance.Ā Prioritise image compression and criticalāCSS inlining to meet Googleās Page Experience audit benchmarks.
Get the full data & next steps
- Our beauty industry analysis is a summary write up of over 72 hours of data analysis. If you want every table, chart and keyword list,Ā grab the free 69āpage report hereĀ ā no spam, no strings.
- Need help turning numbers into revenue?Ā Explore our eCommerce SEO services
- Want more content like this delivered daily? Connect withĀ MichaelĀ orĀ myselfĀ on LinkedIn, where we share regular insights, practical tips, and industry analysis to help you stay ahead of the curve.
