Nine UK high street banks saw a decline in desktop organic traffic in Q2, with Virgin Money experiencing the steepest drop at -92%, according to ClickThroughMarketing.
The Q2 2025 benchmarking report for UK high street banks highlighted the importance of strong organic performance, as it helps websites rank above competitors for key transactional keywords.
This is especially important given that 93% of your customers won’t go past the first page of Google, therefore a bank’s failure to target essential keywords can impact conversion rates.
However, despite the significance, banks have reported a drop in organic traffic on desktop and 10 banks also saw a decline in organic traffic, with Metro seeing the biggest loss of -36%.
Google Universal Search Results are evolving as key opportunity to increase organic traffic by making pages more visible on the search engine results page. Notably, universal results often appear above traditional listings and attract more user attention.
Lloyds leads in Universal Search appearances, with a total of 50,196 results. The majority of results (44,300) come from the ‘people also ask’ section. This is closely followed by Barclays, with 48,391.
The report also found that when it comes to social media presence, HSBC has the most Facebook likes with 3.1 million and Barclays has secured the most Instagram followers with 70,500.
With over 44 million Facebook users in the UK in 2023 and UK digital advertising revenue on Facebook surpassing £2.6 billion in 2019, the report suggested that Facebook ads offer banks a key opportunity to reach new audiences and strengthen their branding.
However, the report noted that while followers provide high street banks with instant access to a large audience, it’s crucial they maintain a consistent social media strategy and actively respond to comments and queries to build trust with their audience.
The report also highlighted the importance for banks to ensure their websites are readable and accessible as 20% of people in the UK have a disability, including 2 million living with sight loss. Additionally, 1 in 12 men and 1 in 200 women experience some form of colour vision deficiency.
When websites don’t accommodate these needs, brands risk losing customers who will look elsewhere. Since banking is a universal service, high-street banks must ensure their sites are easy to navigate and trustworthy for everyone, including those with vision impairments.
In the report’s previous audit, TSB recorded 146 accessibility alerts. This quarter, it remains a bank to watch, with alerts rising to 148. TSB should conduct regular audits to identify and address the causes of these issues, according to the report.