Latest insights

• halfords.com has the best brand reach score in the industry
• liv-cycling.com has the best page speed across both mobile and desktop
• Sites that have grown considerably in SEO visibility YoY are: trekbikes.com and cannondale.com
• Sites that have lost visibility in the last year are: evanscycles.com and tredz.co.uk

2025 Cycling Industry Analysis

Buying a new bike isn’t a tap-to-buy decision. It’s researched, test-ridden, financed, fettled and often discussed with riding mates.

That long, high-consideration journey shows up in search: more queries, comparisons, and questions. This 2025 Cycling Industry Analysis distils what we found in the Salience Index for UK cycling. Who’s visible, which keywords are rising or fading, and how brand signals shape outcomes. I’ll call out the Canyon spotlight too, not for topping every chart, but for a journey that’s simply fantastic. Get the free 69-page report via our landing page if you want the complete data set.

• Analysis of leading UK cycling retailers and manufacturers
• Visibility, brand reach, reviews, page speed and keyword trends
• Actionable takeaways for 2025 SEO planning

Download the Full Report

Which cycling brands dominate organic visibility?

Top 10 by traffic score (Aug 2025 vs Aug 2024)

Industry variance: +11% average change in visibility across the market. A double-digit variance signals fluidity in rankings and buyer intent.

Market leaders diverge. Halfords continues to dominate thanks to catalogue breadth and SERP reach, while Evans Cycles and Sigma Sports show healthy momentum.

Segment matters. Multi-brand retailers (Halfords, Evans Cycles, Tredz, Sigma Sports) play differently from D2C manufacturers (Trek, Specialized, Canyon, Giant). Retailers win on category depth and high-volume queries; D2C brands win when they own topical clusters and long-tail intent.

Strategy split: If you’re a retailer, build comparison guides and capture high-volume head terms. If you’re a manufacturer, invest in content clusters around “best endurance frames”, “women’s gravel fit” and other job-to-be-done keywords.

Which cycling brands have the strongest digital brand awareness?

We blend branded search demand with owned social reach to model “brand awareness” across the sector. Here are the leaders:

Brand awareness and owned social score

Two archetypes emerge. Retailers like Halfords, Evans Cycles and Tredz have massive brand recall, while performance marques such as Specialized, Canyon, Trek, Cannondale and Cube rally engaged fan bases.

Owned social cushions volatility. Performance marques over-index on social reach; those communities insulate them from algorithm shifts by sustaining demand that doesn’t rely on generic SERPs.

Who has the most substantial social proof?

Social proof: Reviews and ratings

Social proof accelerates conversion. On big-ticket purchases, human validation matters. Review volume and sentiment guide shoppers and signal trust.

Cycling keyword trends: what’s growing, what’s fading?

Emerging product queries

• folding bike bags – 2,900 monthly searches; up +569%
• dirt jump – 5,400; +139%
• pedal assist electric bike – 1,000; +125%
• cheap full suspension mountain bikes – 1,900; +109%
• full suspension – 1,900; +85%
• full face mountain bike helmet – 8,100; +49%
• affordable electric bike – 9,900; +50%

Emerging brand queries

• Cube – 33,100; +22%
• Canyon – 27,100; +15%
• Trek – 22,200; +31%
• Winstanleys Bikes – 18,100; +22%
• Balfes Bikes – 14,800; +7%
• Cannondale – 12,100; +7%
• Condor Cycles – 9,900; +14%

Receding product queries

• bicycle shop – 110,000; −49%
• road bicycle – 27,100; −12%
• gravel bicycle – 27,100; −12%
• kids bikes – 33,100; −7%
• cycling helmet – 9,900; −18%

Receding brand queries

• Halfords – 2,240,000; −6%
• Evans Cycles – 135,000; −7%
• Chain Reaction Cycles – 40,500; −53%
• Merlin Cycles – 33,100; −18%
• Specialized – 33,100; −12%
• Wheelbase – 12,100; −18%
• Raleigh – 12,100; −13%

What’s behind the shift: E-bikes and MTB kit lead the surge. Rising queries cluster around e-bike practicality, protection and upgrades. Generic storefront queries are fading as users go solution-first.

How search behaviour is changing across road, MTB and e-MTB

Road used to dominate the generic head terms. Now, growth congregates in MTB kit, protection and e-MTB accessories. Riders ask less “which bike?” and more “how do I ride better, safer, farther?”

E-MTB queries show more practical intent: charging, battery care, drivetrain wear and brake upgrades. These are perfect to solve with short, confident paragraphs and visuals. The conversion path is different too: a forum-primed user lands on a guide first, not a product page.

High-competition keywords: the head terms everyone fights for

Head terms still matter, but they’re crowded. SERP features and shopping carousels squeeze click-through rates. Head terms are great for reach; not always for revenue.

Qualify intent fast: To turn head-term visits into wins, answer users’ first three questions without scrolling: size guides, range finders and comparison content. Then reinforce trust with reviews and clear warranties.

Visibility vs Authority: who’s punching above their weight?

Authority (links, mentions, history) still matters, but it’s not destiny. When we map traffic scores against authority, a few patterns emerge:

• High visibility, high authority: consolidate with SERP feature coverage and adjacent category expansion.
• High visibility, low authority: great site architecture and content doing the heavy lifting. Turn this into branded demand to become a “sleeping giant”.
• Low visibility, high authority: structural or intent mismatches. Fix category logic and internal links to release growth quickly.

Method notes: how we calculate Traffic Score

Traffic Score totals the estimated traffic a domain earns from all keywords it ranks for, based on rank positions, monthly volumes and position CTR models. It’s not your analytics; it’s a consistent proxy for growth and share. The job isn’t to obsess over the absolute number, it’s to spot direction, volatility and gaps between you and the market.

What this means for your 2025 plan

1. Shift from store-first to solution-first journeys. Treat category and comparison pages as your true homepage. Make specifications human, not just technical.
2. Lean into rising e-bike and MTB safety queries. Build accessory clusters and service pages that solve adjacent jobs: chargers, pads, helmets, drivetrain wear, suspension servicing.
3. Fuse brand and generic search. High brand search plus weak generic rankings usually signals a gap in category architecture and internal linking.
4. Make reviews do real work. Pull rating snippets and owner quotes into mid-funnel content, not just product pages.
5. Win the click, then win the session. If you chase head terms, ensure landing templates answer users’ first three questions without scrolling, then keep users moving with tidy internal links.