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Market traffic drop
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Generic search drop
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The UK's No.1 Online Plants Industry Report
Across the 49 biggest sites in this index, traffic score fell 5% between July 2025 and July 2026, from 4,287,815 to 4,086,121. Brand searches for the 50 tracked brands fell 8.62% over the same three months, and 30 of the 50 fell. Search demand across the 9,677 product keywords we track fell 8.72%.
The decline lands unevenly across that keyword set. 941 of the 9,677 keywords are generic browse terms with no plant named in them, such as “house plants”, “outdoor plants”, “bedding plants”, “plants for garden” and “evergreen shrubs”. Those 941 terms fell 17.19% between April to June 2025 and April to June 2026, and 825 of them shrank. The 578 keywords that carry a botanical genus name grew 1.97% over the same three months.
People who want a plant now arrive at Google with the plant’s name already in hand. “Aquilegia alpina” rose 595.16%, from 1,240 searches to 8,620. “Geranium macrorrhizum” rose 97.01%, from 13,400 to 26,400. “Gaura plant” rose 94.87%. “Cranesbill geranium” rose 79.81%. “Phlox plant” rose 77.66%. “Guelder rose” rose 52.99%. “Viburnum tinus” rose 49.77%. “Astrantia major” rose 39.02%. “Hydrangea paniculata” rose 32.13%.
| Keyword group | Keywords | Change, Apr-Jun 2025 to Apr-Jun 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| Generic browse terms, no plant named | 941 | -17.19% |
| All tracked product keywords | 9,677 | -8.72% |
| Keywords carrying a botanical genus name | 578 | +1.97% |
Brand search volume across the sector fell 8.62% in the same three months, so part of the generic decline is smaller demand rather than demand moving to different words. The genus terms are what separate those two readings, because they grew while the terms around them fell.
The distance between brands this year is wider than the movement in the market. Crocus went from 125,736 traffic score to 239,696, a rise of 90.63%, and climbed from 9th to 3rd. That is 113,960 traffic score added in a year when the index as a whole lost 201,694. Roots Plants added 42,997. One Click Plants added 41,552 on a domain authority of 26. Grow Tropicals grew 303.42% and added 31,783 from 161 referring domains, which ranks 46th of 50 in the sector for referring domains. Marshalls Garden added 27,261, Hedges Direct added 14,836 and Paramount Plants added 14,084.
| Brand | Traffic score added | YoY change |
|---|---|---|
| Crocus | +113,960 | +90.63% |
| Roots Plants | +42,997 | – |
| One Click Plants | +41,552 | – |
| Grow Tropicals | +31,783 | +303.42% |
| Marshalls Garden | +27,261 | – |
| Index total, 49 sites | -201,694 | -5% |
Every brand in that table sells stock the sites around it also sell, and the gains arrived while total demand contracted, so the movement came from taking share of search rather than from a growing market.
There is a test worth running on your own site before you argue about the cause. List your top 100 landing pages, split them into pages named after a plant and pages named after a category, then compare how each group moved year on year. If the named pages held their traffic while the category pages fell, the split visible in the keyword data is already visible in your own analytics.
Crocus and Thompson & Morgan both hold a domain authority of 52. Thompson & Morgan holds 4,082 referring domains, the second largest link profile in the sector, and Crocus holds 1,354. Over the year Crocus climbed six places to 3rd and Thompson & Morgan moved from 3rd to 5th. One Click Plants added 41,552 traffic score on a domain authority of 26, and Grow Tropicals added 31,783 from 161 referring domains.
| Brand | Domain authority | Referring domains | Rank move |
|---|---|---|---|
| Crocus | 52 | 1,354 | 9th to 3rd |
| Thompson & Morgan | 52 | 4,082 | 3rd to 5th |
| One Click Plants | 26 | – | +41,552 traffic score |
| Grow Tropicals | – | 161 | +303.42% |
What separates Crocus from the sites near it is how many pages it holds at genus and cultivar level. Crocus publishes 67 genus pages under perennials alone, running from acanthus and achillea through gaura, kniphofia and verbascum. Its salvias page carries 129 distinct named salvias. Its plants menu runs a “Trending now” row holding three genus names, Salvias, Echinaceas and Hydrangeas, and salvias is the number one emerging product keyword in this edition at 40,500 searches a month.
If demand arrives at genus and cultivar level, a site needs a page at that level to rank for it. A retailer running six category pages and an internal search box has no page that can rank for “astrantia major” or “geranium macrorrhizum”, and the category pages it does hold compete for terms that fell 17.19%.
One limit on this reading. We can measure keyword volume, traffic score, domain authority and referring domains. We cannot see which pages earned the traffic. Genus demand grew, generic demand fell, and the brand with the deepest genus coverage grew most, so treat the link between those three facts as a reasonable interpretation of the evidence.
The competitiveness scores in this edition point the same way as the volume trends. “Viburnum tinus” takes 7,700 searches a month at a competitiveness score of 4. “Cherry blossom tree” takes 16,000 at 4. “Star jasmine” takes 11,000 at 10. In the high competition table, “house plants” takes 22,000 searches at a score of 34 and “snake plant” takes 47,000 at 55.
| Keyword | Monthly searches | Competitiveness score |
|---|---|---|
| viburnum tinus | 7,700 | 4 |
| cherry blossom tree | 16,000 | 4 |
| star jasmine | 11,000 | 10 |
| house plants | 22,000 | 34 |
| snake plant | 47,000 | 55 |
Three decisions follow from that table. Build the genus page first and link every cultivar page to it, because the genus term carries the volume and the cultivar terms carry the buying intent. Keep the category pages for navigation and internal linking, and plan next year on the assumption that most visitors will land on a named-plant page instead. Mark up product detail pages with product schema, because a name-led search carries a specific purchase in mind and a result that shows price, pot size and availability earns a higher click-through rate.
There is a fair counter-argument. Households have cut discretionary garden spend, impulse browsing falls first when they do, and that alone would produce a decline concentrated in the vague terms while deliberate, name-led buying held up. The decision is the same under either reading, because the searches that survived carry plant names and the pages that catch them have to carry the same names.
22,000 searches a month for “house plants” will stay a large term for years. The claim in this edition is narrower than that number suggests. Generic terms are the shrinking half of this market and the expensive half to win.
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