Traffic Trends for US Home and Garden Stores
Traffic Momentum Reverses Sharply in 2025
US Home and Garden e-commerce stores experienced a pronounced traffic correction throughout 2025, erasing gains made during a strong second half of 2024. Average monthly traffic peaked at 11,641.6 visits in November 2024 before falling steeply to 6,166.9 in January 2025—a drop of -47.0% in just two months. By January 2026, average monthly traffic had stabilized at 5,803.9 visits, representing a -8.6% decline compared to January 2025's already-reduced 6,166.9 figure. The 2024 autumn surge—where traffic climbed from 7,895.3 in June to 10,899.6 in September (+38.1%)—now reads as an anomalous peak rather than sustainable growth. Throughout 2025, monthly averages remained tightly clustered between 5,400.4 and 6,059.1, suggesting the segment has found a lower-traffic equilibrium rather than recovering toward prior highs.
Organic Search Dominates Channel Mix, But Is Losing Ground
In January 2026, organic search accounted for 94.0% of total traffic across US Home and Garden stores, with 33.9 million SEO visits out of 36.1 million total. This heavy reliance on organic discovery reflects the category's nature—shoppers researching products like furniture, gardening tools, and home décor tend to initiate journeys through search engines. However, organic search traffic is trending in the wrong direction, posting a year-over-year decline of -5.8%. This erosion could reflect intensifying competition from large-platform retailers, algorithm shifts, or reduced content investment across the segment.
Paid search contributed just 0.9% of traffic (328,711 visits), while paid social added 1.2% (426,686 visits)—both channels representing minimal diversification. Organic social delivered a more meaningful 4.0% share (1,428,141 visits), outpacing both paid channels combined and suggesting that content-led social strategies are a relative bright spot. Stores in this segment appear underinvested in paid acquisition, leaving them disproportionately exposed to the organic search headwinds now materializing in the data.
Revenue Declines Track Traffic Losses, With Compression Accelerating
Average store revenue followed a trajectory closely mirroring traffic. The segment's highest monthly average was $222,759.4 in November 2024, which by November 2025 had collapsed to $99,997.1—a year-over-year decline of -55.1% for that month. January 2026 came in at $111,680.2, a -8.8% drop from January 2025's $122,465.0, consistent with the traffic decline rate for the same period.
What is notable is that revenue compression has in some months outpaced traffic losses, implying that conversion rates or average order values may also be softening—not just visitor volumes. For example, between March and April 2025, traffic dipped marginally (-0.4%), yet revenue fell -3.5%, from $116,156.3 to $112,138.1. A similar pattern appears in the September–October 2025 window, where traffic fell -0.3% but revenue dropped -3.5%. These divergences point to weakening monetization efficiency that warrants attention beyond traffic recovery efforts alone. Stores in this segment should examine on-site conversion performance and pricing strategy alongside any initiatives aimed at reversing organic search decline.
SEO Performance for US Home and Garden Stores
Organic Traffic Trends Show Persistent Year-Over-Year Softness
US Home and Garden e-commerce stores averaged 5,452.9 organic search visitors in January 2026, reflecting a -5.8% year-over-year decline in organic traffic and a -1.4% contraction in organic SERP visibility. This downturn is particularly striking when set against the segment's performance peak: organic traffic surged to 11,455.7 in November 2024 before falling sharply through early 2025, and has since plateaued in the 5,000–5,500 range for most of the past year. The gap between the November 2024 high and the January 2026 reading represents a -52.4% reduction from peak levels, underscoring how dramatically seasonal momentum failed to recur in the 2025 autumn cycle.
The seasonal pattern visible in 2024—where SEO traffic nearly doubled between May (6,727.6) and November (11,455.7)—did not repeat in 2025. The September–November 2025 window, which drove the prior year's strongest organic gains, instead produced traffic readings of 5,129.6, 5,071.4, and 5,008.4 respectively—roughly half the comparable 2024 figures. This structural shift suggests either increased competition for high-intent home and garden queries, algorithm changes affecting category-level rankings, or a contraction in the store population capturing meaningful organic share.
Domain Authority Erosion Compounds Traffic Challenges
Average PageRank for the segment stands at 2.36 in January 2026, representing a -13.2% year-over-year decline. The trend data reveals a clear deterioration: PageRank peaked near 3.40 in October–November 2024, dipped sharply to 2.74 in early 2025, partially recovered to 3.31 by September 2025, then declined again to 2.36 by January 2026. This oscillating but ultimately downward trajectory points to instability in domain authority across the segment rather than a steady compounding of link equity.
The concentration of stores in the sub-50,000 monthly traffic tier reinforces this picture. With 6,202 stores in the under-50k category and only 12 reaching the 100k–250k band, the vast majority of Home and Garden stores operate with limited organic reach. Stores in the 100k–250k tier represent fewer than 0.2% of the measured population, highlighting how scarce meaningful SEO scale remains in this vertical.
Backlink Volume Grows but Fails to Lift Rankings
One apparent bright spot is backlink accumulation. Average backlinks rose sharply from 1,057.9 in September 2024 to peaks above 15,077.4 in March 2025, stabilizing in the 10,000–12,000 range through early 2026. As of January 2026, stores averaged 10,524.8 backlinks and 579.2 referring domains. The referring domain count has grown substantially from the 106.3 recorded in September 2024, suggesting broader link acquisition across the segment.
However, the disconnect between rising backlink volumes and declining PageRank and organic traffic is notable. Despite averaging over 10,000 backlinks per store in January 2026, domain authority continued to fall -13.2% year-over-year. This divergence may indicate that link quality—rather than quantity—is driving the authority decline, with a higher proportion of low-authority or irrelevant referring domains in recent link profiles. For Home and Garden stores looking to reverse the organic traffic slide, the data suggests that link acquisition strategies should prioritize domain relevance and authority over raw volume, while on-page and technical SEO investments may be needed to recapture the seasonal traffic peaks last seen in late 2024.
Paid Media Trends for US Home and Garden Stores
Paid Search Spend Remains Elevated but Contracting Year-Over-Year
US Home and Garden e-commerce stores entered January 2026 with an average paid search spend of $398.66, reflecting a sharp year-over-year contraction of -49.6% in paid costs compared to the same period in 2025. Despite this pullback, the segment continues to outspend global peers significantly: the segment's average Google Ads spend of $464.64 sits at 191.2% of the global average of $242.95, indicating that even in a period of reduced investment, Home and Garden stores maintain a structurally higher commitment to paid search than most e-commerce verticals.
Spend peaked in May 2025 at $689.60 before declining sharply through the holiday season—November 2025 saw spend fall to $335.09 and December to $331.36, the lowest points in the 14-month observed window. This counter-intuitive dip during the traditional holiday shopping period suggests the segment may not be heavily promotional or gift-oriented, with spring and early summer remaining the primary high-spend windows aligned with home improvement and gardening seasonality.
Paid Traffic Share Has Declined Substantially
Paid search traffic volume averaged 307.78 visits in January 2026, a -34.7% year-over-year decline versus January 2025's 275.32—though that figure itself was already well below the 2024 peak of 1,116.71 visits recorded in April 2024. The paid search percentage of total traffic stood at 3.2% in January 2026, identical to January 2025 and well below the segment high of 11.4% seen in April 2024, when paid search drove over one-in-nine site visits.
Throughout 2025, paid search consistently accounted for between 2.9% and 5.5% of total traffic, never approaching the elevated contribution rates seen in mid-2024. Total site traffic also declined year-over-year across most of 2025—January 2026's average of 9,750.17 visits compares to 9,008.35 in January 2025 (+8.2%), suggesting modest organic or direct recovery even as paid channels retrenched. The gap between spend reduction (-49.6%) and traffic reduction (-34.7%) implies worsening cost efficiency, with stores paying proportionally more per paid visit than they did a year ago.
Platform Adoption Remains Narrow, but Segment Outspends Globally
Only 19.8% of US Home and Garden stores ran Google Ads at any point this year, with 17.1% active in the most recent month—indicating a meaningful share of stores that ran campaigns earlier in the year have since paused. Meta Ads adoption is far thinner, with just 2.0% of stores active last month and 1.99% active at any point this year, pointing to a near-complete reliance on search intent-based advertising rather than social discovery formats.
Despite low adoption rates, those stores that do invest in paid media spend heavily. The segment's total paid media average of $1,791.54 is 193.0% of the global average of $928.11, and Meta Ads spend among active stores averages $3,688.86—128.7% above the global average of $2,866.26. This pattern suggests a bifurcated landscape: the majority of Home and Garden stores run no paid media at all, while the minority that do invest at above-average intensity, particularly on Google where keyword-driven purchase intent is well-suited to category-specific searches around seasonal home improvement projects.
Organic Social for US Home and Garden Stores
Instagram Presence Plateaus as Organic Social Surges
Instagram remains the dominant social referral channel for US Home and Garden e-commerce stores, contributing an average of 275 visits per store in January 2026 and representing 4.4% of total traffic. However, the raw volume has declined from its April 2025 peak of 337.9 visits (-18.6% over nine months), reflecting a broader softening in Instagram-driven referrals even as the share of total traffic holds relatively steady in the 4.0%–4.5% range. Posting cadence has edged down slightly, with stores averaging 2.1 posts per week in January 2026 compared to 2.3 the prior month (-7.1%). With an average engagement rate of just 0.026%, the data suggests that follower counts and posting frequency are not translating into strong audience interaction. The follower distribution further contextualizes this: the majority of stores (2,775) have audiences under 10,000, while only 106 stores have surpassed 250,000 followers—a steep drop-off that underscores the fragmented, small-scale nature of Instagram presence across this segment. Stores with 10k–50k followers (1,094 stores) represent a middle tier with growth potential, but without meaningful engagement lift, Instagram's referral ceiling appears constrained.
TikTok Delivers a Breakout Moment Heading into 2026
TikTok's traffic contribution underwent a dramatic acceleration in the final months of 2025, jumping from a 1.5%–1.6% share of total traffic through most of mid-year to 3.4% in December 2025 (averaging 299.6 visits per store) and sustaining a 3.2% share in January 2026 (258.96 visits). This represents a more than doubling of TikTok's traffic share compared to the 1.2%–1.3% range seen in early 2025—a notable structural shift. Weekly upload volume also climbed sharply, rising from 1.67 uploads per week in December to 2.32 in January (+38.8%), reflecting growing store investment in the platform. The timing aligns with seasonally heightened consumer activity and likely benefited from increased short-form video engagement around the holiday period. While the December spike may carry some seasonal inflation, the January retention of a 3.2% share suggests TikTok is establishing a more durable role in the traffic mix for this segment. Stores averaging 2.55 posts per week across platforms are allocating a meaningful share of their content effort toward TikTok.
Organic Social Builds Momentum as a Growing Traffic Source
Beyond platform-specific referrals, aggregate organic social traffic has been on a sustained upward trajectory throughout 2025, reaching 229.5 visits per store in January 2026—a 4.0% share of total traffic. This marks a dramatic transformation from the near-zero contribution recorded in January and February 2025 (0.5 and 0.6 visits respectively), with consistent month-over-month growth from April 2025 onward. The 3.5% share recorded in both November and December 2025 carried into January 2026 with a further increase to 4.0%, indicating that organic social is now a structurally embedded traffic source rather than a seasonal anomaly. The growth trajectory—from 79 visits per store in April 2025 to 229.5 in January 2026—represents a +190.5% increase over nine months. For a segment historically reliant on search and direct traffic, this signal is significant. As TikTok and emerging social platforms continue to mature as discovery channels for home décor and garden inspiration content, stores that are early in building consistent organic social habits stand to capture a disproportionate share of this referral growth.
Website Performance for US Home and Garden Stores
Lighthouse Performance Signals Weak Technical Health
US Home and Garden e-commerce stores recorded an average Lighthouse Performance score of 52.3/100 in January 2026, reflecting a -1.0% decline from the previous month's score of 52.4/100. This marginal but continued regression suggests that technical site quality is trending in the wrong direction heading into the new year. A score in the low 50s places the typical store in a zone that Google classifies as needing improvement, which carries meaningful implications for Core Web Vitals rankings and organic traffic acquisition. For a category where product imagery and rich content are essential to conversion, slow-loading pages represent a direct revenue risk.
Accessibility held steady month-over-month, with the current score at 86.7/100 compared to 86.3/100 the prior month, a marginal +0.9% improvement. While this is a positive directional signal, it remains a secondary concern relative to the more acute performance gap that stores in this segment need to address.
SEO Scores Remain Stable at a High Level
In contrast to performance metrics, SEO scores for Home and Garden stores are a clear bright spot. The average Lighthouse SEO score reached 91.3/100 in January 2026, with the current month reading at 91.8/100—a 0% change versus the prior month's 91.3/100. This near-plateau at a high level indicates that stores in this segment have broadly implemented SEO fundamentals: proper meta tagging, structured data, and crawlability best practices are well-established across the cohort.
The strong SEO scores stand in notable contrast to the weak performance scores, creating a split profile where stores are technically discoverable but may underdeliver on the user experience after click-through. This gap between SEO readiness and page speed optimization is a recurring pattern in content-heavy retail categories, where merchants prioritize visibility over load efficiency.
Catalog Size and Pricing Context
The SKU distribution for US Home and Garden stores skews heavily toward smaller catalogs. The largest bracket, stores carrying 0–250 SKUs, accounts for 3,503 stores, while only 247 stores operate catalogs of 2,500 or more products. This long-tail distribution suggests the segment is dominated by specialty and boutique merchants rather than broad-assortment retailers, which may partly explain why performance optimization has not been prioritized—smaller catalogs often correlate with leaner development resources.
Average product pricing has shown meaningful volatility over the past several months. Prices climbed sharply from $524.35 in August 2025 to $809.87 in September 2025—a +54.4% surge—before stabilizing in a range between $764.10 and $802.33 through January 2026. The January 2026 average of $802.33 reflects a +3.2% uptick from December's $777.73, suggesting continued demand at premium price points entering the new year. Given that average order values in this range represent considered, high-intent purchases, the cost of a poor page experience—measured in bounce rate and cart abandonment—is proportionally higher than in lower-ticket categories. This makes the current performance score of 52.3/100 a particularly high-priority issue for stores in the segment to resolve.