Traffic Trends for Canada Stores
Monthly Traffic Patterns and Year-Over-Year Shifts
Canadian e-commerce stores averaged 7,090.56 sessions per store in January 2026, reflecting a modest recovery from the segment's multi-month trough but remaining well below the peaks recorded in late 2024. Traffic climbed steadily through 2024, reaching its highest monthly average in November 2024 at 10,477.64 sessions—a level 47.8% above January 2026's figure. The segment then experienced a sharp contraction entering 2025, dropping to 6,660.11 sessions in March 2025 (-36.4% from the November 2024 peak) before stabilizing in a narrow band between approximately 6,660 and 6,963 sessions for the remainder of 2025. The December 2025 uptick to 7,227.11 sessions suggested a seasonal recovery, but January 2026 gave back some of that ground, settling at 7,090.56. Year-over-year, January 2026 traffic is down -2.8% compared to January 2025's average of 7,475.53, indicating that the 2025 compression has not yet fully reversed.
Traffic Source Composition in January 2026
Organic search dominates the traffic mix for Canadian e-commerce stores by an overwhelming margin. As of January 2026, SEO traffic accounts for 95.9% of total traffic, representing 38,825,430 visits across the segment out of a total 40,487,105. This heavy reliance on organic search is a defining characteristic of the segment, leaving stores highly exposed to algorithm changes and search trend shifts. Organic social contributes a distant 3.6% (1,455,274 visits), while paid search represents just 0.4% (159,339 visits) and paid social a negligible 0.1% (47,062 visits). The near-absence of paid channel investment suggests that the majority of Canadian stores in this cohort are either budget-constrained or strategically dependent on organic visibility. Organic search traffic YoY growth stands at -2.2%, meaning the segment's primary acquisition channel is contracting—a meaningful risk given how little diversification exists across other channels.
Revenue Trends and Traffic-to-Revenue Relationship
Average store revenue has followed a trajectory broadly consistent with traffic, though the compression has been somewhat more pronounced on the revenue side. January 2026 average revenue of $52,480.05 per store compares to a peak of $87,511.52 in October 2024—a decline of -40.0% from that high-water mark. On a year-over-year basis, January 2026 revenue is down -9.4% from January 2025's $57,887.36, a steeper drop than the -2.8% traffic decline over the same period, suggesting that revenue per visitor has also softened. Through mid-2025, average monthly revenue plateaued in the $50,600–$51,800 range despite relatively stable traffic, pointing to declining conversion rates or average order values rather than traffic loss alone. The December 2025 seasonal bump pushed average revenue to $53,906.91, a +6.1% lift over November, but January 2026 retreated again to $52,480.05 (-2.6% month-over-month). For Canadian stores to restore 2024 peak performance levels, traffic volume recovery alone will be insufficient—improving monetization efficiency across the funnel will be equally critical.
SEO Performance for Canada Stores
Organic Traffic Trends: A Sustained Pullback from 2024 Peaks
Canadian e-commerce stores averaged 6,799.6 organic search visitors in January 2026, reflecting a -2.2% year-over-year decline in SEO traffic and a -1.8% contraction in organic SERP performance. This marks a significant retreat from the segment's peak activity in late 2024, when average SEO traffic reached 10,372.5 in October 2024 and held near 10,319.8 in November 2024. Since that high-water mark, organic traffic has steadily compressed, stabilizing in a relatively narrow band between roughly 6,500 and 6,880 visitors per month throughout the entirety of 2025 and into early 2026.
SEO traffic consistently dominates total traffic for these stores, which is a defining characteristic of the segment. In January 2026, organic search accounted for approximately 95.9% of total average traffic (6,799.6 of 7,090.6), a proportion that has remained broadly stable across the observed period. The seasonal spike seen in September–November 2024—likely tied to pre-holiday shopping intent—did not recur in 2025, suggesting either increased competitive pressure in SERPs or reduced content investment among Canadian merchants during that window.
Domain Authority Under Pressure
Average PageRank for Canadian e-commerce stores stood at 2.22 in January 2026, representing a -10.4% year-over-year decline. This is a meaningful deterioration from the segment's recent peak of 3.17 recorded in both October and November 2024. Authority scores dipped sharply at the start of 2025—falling to 2.52 in January 2025—before partially recovering to 2.94 by August 2025, only to slide again through the final quarter of the year and into January 2026.
The declining PageRank trajectory aligns closely with the softening organic traffic figures and points to weakening link equity across the segment. With an average domain authority of 2.22, the majority of Canadian stores in this benchmark occupy the lower end of the authority spectrum, which limits their ability to rank competitively for high-intent commercial keywords without substantial content and link-building investment.
Backlink Profiles Show Volatility, Referring Domains Stabilize
Backlink volumes across Canadian e-commerce stores have been notably volatile. Average backlinks peaked sharply at 49,137.1 in February 2025 before declining steadily to 16,921.4 by January 2026—a drop of more than 65% from that peak over the course of roughly eleven months. This pattern suggests a small number of stores experienced large-scale link events (earned media, viral content, or partnership campaigns) that temporarily inflated segment averages, rather than a broad and sustained link acquisition trend.
Referring domain counts tell a more stabilized story. After peaking at 1,170.2 in February 2025, average referring domains declined but have since found a floor around 484–494 per store through the November 2025–January 2026 window. January 2026 saw an average of 493.7 referring domains, which represents a modest stabilization compared to the volatility earlier in the year.
The traffic distribution reinforces that this segment is dominated by smaller stores: 5,682 stores fall under the 50k traffic threshold, with only 11 stores in the 100k–250k range and just 5 exceeding 250k monthly visitors. This concentration at the lower end amplifies the impact of any algorithmic or authority-related headwinds on segment-wide averages.
Paid Media Trends for Canada Stores
Paid Search Spend Collapse Defines the Trailing Year
Canadian e-commerce stores have experienced a dramatic contraction in paid search investment over the 13-month period ending January 2026. Average monthly paid search spend peaked at $2,861.53 in January 2025 before declining sharply to $186.14 by January 2026—a year-over-year cost reduction of -92.6%. This trajectory was not gradual: spend fell to $461.66 by March 2025 and continued compressing through the remainder of the year, settling below $200 for the final two months of the tracked window. The segment's current Google Ads spend of $142.14 sits significantly below the global average of $242.95, representing just 58.5% of what stores worldwide are allocating to paid search. Total paid media spend of $544.93 similarly lags the global average of $928.11, reaching only 58.7% of that benchmark.
Paid Search Traffic Share Shrinks to Near-Negligible Levels
The decline in spend has translated directly into a collapse in paid search traffic contribution. In January 2025, paid search accounted for 8.4% of total traffic—the highest share in the tracked dataset—with an average of 1,702 paid search visits per store. By January 2026, that share had fallen to just 1.0%, with only 200.68 average paid search visits per store. Year-over-year paid traffic growth registers at -91.0%, closely mirroring the spend decline. For context, peak paid search traffic share of 7.9% was recorded in July 2024 (1,534.89 avg visits), suggesting that meaningful paid search investment in this segment is episodic rather than consistent. The sustained sub-2.0% paid search traffic share seen across every month from May 2025 onward indicates that organic and other channels have become the dominant traffic sources for Canadian stores by default, not necessarily by design.
Google Ads Adoption Remains Thin; Meta Ads Spend Near Parity With Global
Active advertiser rates reinforce the story of limited paid media engagement. Only 17.99% of Canadian stores ran Google Ads at any point in the current year, and just 13.83% were active in the most recent month—meaning fewer than 1 in 7 stores maintained an active Google Ads presence in January 2026. Meta Ads adoption is even more sparse, with 0.38% of stores active this year and 0.34% active last month. Despite this minimal Meta Ads penetration, the segment's average Meta Ads spend of $2,845.56 is nearly at parity with the global average of $2,866.26, reaching 99.3%—suggesting that the small cohort of Canadian stores that do invest in Meta Ads are spending at rates comparable to their global peers. The divergence between Google Ads and Meta Ads spend efficiency points to a bifurcated paid media landscape: a large majority of Canadian stores are effectively absent from paid channels, while a concentrated minority drives per-store averages upward within specific platforms.
Organic Social for Canada Stores
Instagram Presence and Engagement Patterns
Canadian e-commerce stores averaged 2.78 Instagram posts per week in January 2026, up from 2.66 posts per week the prior month — a modest but directionally positive shift of +0.12 posts per week. Despite this uptick in posting cadence, Instagram's share of total site traffic has trended downward over the tracked period, falling from a high of 6.6% of total traffic in April 2025 to 5.1% in January 2026. In absolute terms, average Instagram-driven visits declined from 708.77 per store in April 2025 to 297.17 in January 2026 — a -58.1% drop over nine months. This compression suggests that increased posting frequency alone is not reversing a broader decline in Instagram referral efficiency, a pattern consistent with platform algorithm shifts deprioritizing outbound link behavior.
Follower distribution reveals a heavily bottom-weighted audience base among Canadian stores. Of the stores tracked, 2,667 fall under 10k followers, compared to 1,338 in the 10k–50k range, 284 in the 50k–100k tier, 161 between 100k–250k, and only 96 stores exceeding 250k followers. This concentration at the lower end limits the organic reach ceiling for most Canadian merchants. The average engagement rate across stores sits at 0.022%, which is notably low and points to a challenge in converting follower bases — however modest — into active content interaction. Stores in the sub-10k cohort are likely experiencing the sharpest mismatch between posting effort and measurable traffic return.
TikTok Traffic: Stabilizing After Peak Growth
TikTok traffic for Canadian e-commerce stores followed a growth arc through mid-2025 before plateauing. Average TikTok-referred visits climbed from 29.76 per store in January 2025 to a peak of 297.36 in July 2025 — nearly a tenfold increase over six months. Since that peak, traffic has settled into a narrower range, reaching 152.54 visits per store in January 2026. As a share of total traffic, TikTok's contribution held relatively steady between 2.0% and 2.2% from August 2025 through January 2026, suggesting the channel has found a consistent, if modest, baseline contribution.
Weekly upload frequency declined slightly in the most recent month, dropping from 1.67 uploads per week in December 2025 to 1.59 in January 2026, a change of -0.08 uploads per week. This marginal pullback in content volume likely reflects typical post-holiday production slowdowns rather than a strategic retreat. With TikTok traffic stabilizing around 2.0% of total visits, Canadian stores appear to have incorporated the platform into their channel mix at a sustainable cadence, though significant upside remains for stores willing to increase upload frequency toward the 3–4 posts per week range associated with stronger algorithmic visibility.
Organic Social as a Rising Traffic Source
The most notable trend in the organic social data is its sustained growth trajectory throughout 2025 and into January 2026. Average organic social traffic per store was effectively negligible at 0.11 visits in January 2025, but rose steadily to reach 254.86 visits in January 2026 — representing a compound expansion that has pushed organic social's share of total traffic from 0.0% to 3.6% over twelve months. Month-over-month, organic social traffic grew from 234.29 visits in December 2025 to 254.86 in January 2026, a +8.8% increase, continuing an unbroken upward run that stretches back to mid-2025.
This growth stands in contrast to Instagram's declining referral numbers and TikTok's post-peak stabilization, implying that other organic social channels — including Facebook, Pinterest, and emerging platforms — are capturing a growing share of social-driven visits. The 3.6% organic social share recorded in January 2026 marks the highest point in the dataset, signaling that Canadian e-commerce stores are gradually diversifying their social traffic sources beyond the two dominant visual platforms.
Website Performance for Canada Stores
Lighthouse Performance Scores Signal Ongoing Technical Gaps
Canadian e-commerce stores recorded an average Lighthouse Performance score of 52.8/100 in January 2026, reflecting a modest but positive month-over-month trajectory. The current month score of 53.2 represents a slight improvement from the previous month's 53.0, though the overall figure remains well below what is generally considered a strong web performance threshold of 70+. For stores operating in a competitive cross-border environment where Canadian shoppers frequently compare experiences against US and global retailers, sluggish page load performance can directly erode conversion rates. The marginal gains observed suggest incremental technical improvements are underway, but the segment has significant ground to cover before performance scores translate into a meaningful competitive advantage.
Accessibility scores held relatively steady at 85.8/100 in the current period, edging slightly down from 85.9 the previous month — a -0.1% change that is largely negligible. While accessibility is the strongest-performing dimension among the three tracked metrics, this slight softening warrants monitoring, particularly as accessibility compliance expectations continue to rise in the Canadian regulatory environment.
SEO Scores Remain a Relative Strength
The average Lighthouse SEO score for Canadian stores reached 92.2/100 in January 2026, up from 91.99 the prior month. This near-zero change of 0% reflects a stable and well-maintained SEO foundation across the segment. Scoring in the low 90s places Canadian stores in a favorable position for organic discoverability, suggesting that metadata, crawlability, and on-page SEO fundamentals are being prioritized. Maintaining scores at this level is encouraging, particularly given the wide distribution of catalog sizes across the segment — from micro-retailers to multi-thousand SKU operations — where SEO consistency can be difficult to sustain at scale.
Catalog Size and Pricing Trends Reveal Market Maturity
The SKU distribution data reveals a heavily skewed catalog landscape. The largest cohort — 2,964 stores — carries between 0 and 250 products, while only 223 stores operate catalogs exceeding 2,500 SKUs. This concentration at the smaller end is typical of a market populated by boutique and specialty retailers, which aligns with the segment's average product pricing behavior. Average product prices have ranged from $239.00 in August 2025 to a peak of $347.45 in September 2025, before settling at $321.05 in January 2026 and rising again to $341.76 in February 2026. The August-to-February price range represents a +42.9% swing at its widest point, suggesting meaningful seasonal and promotional pricing variation.
The January 2026 average price of $321.05 reflects a -1.5% dip from December's $325.87, consistent with post-holiday markdown activity. The subsequent recovery to $341.76 in February points to a return toward premium positioning as promotional periods close. For stores in the 0–250 SKU range, higher average price points are often essential to sustaining revenue without scale, making performance scores all the more critical — slow-loading pages at premium price points carry a disproportionate abandonment risk compared to high-volume, low-cost alternatives.