Industry Benchmarks
Understanding how your website compares to industry standards helps set realistic goals and prioritize improvements. Here are average SEO scores and common issues by industry.
These benchmarks are based on analysis of thousands of websites across different industries. Individual results may vary.
Average SEO Scores by Industry
| Industry |
SEO Score |
Performance |
Mobile |
Security |
| Technology / SaaS |
78 |
72 |
85 |
90 |
| E-commerce |
68 |
55 |
70 |
88 |
| Healthcare |
65 |
60 |
68 |
82 |
| Financial Services |
75 |
65 |
78 |
95 |
| Local Business |
52 |
58 |
62 |
70 |
| Professional Services |
62 |
65 |
72 |
80 |
| Media / Publishing |
80 |
50 |
82 |
85 |
| Education |
70 |
62 |
75 |
78 |
| Real Estate |
58 |
48 |
65 |
75 |
| Non-Profit |
55 |
60 |
68 |
72 |
Common Issues by Industry
Most Common
- Slow page speed (heavy images, scripts)
- Duplicate product descriptions
- Missing alt text on product images
- Thin category page content
- Faceted navigation creating duplicate URLs
Most Common
- Missing or incorrect NAP (Name, Address, Phone)
- No local schema markup
- Missing location-specific content
- No mobile optimization
- Missing or unverified Google Business Profile
Common
- JavaScript rendering issues
- Complex navigation affecting crawlability
- Thin landing pages
- Missing documentation SEO
- Login walls blocking content
Most Common
- Extreme page weight from ads/scripts
- Layout shift from ad loading
- Paginated content issues
- Duplicate content from syndication
- Poor Core Web Vitals
Page Speed Benchmarks
| Industry |
Avg. Load Time |
LCP |
FID |
CLS |
| E-commerce |
4.8s |
3.2s |
85ms |
0.18 |
| SaaS |
3.2s |
2.4s |
65ms |
0.08 |
| Media |
5.5s |
4.1s |
120ms |
0.32 |
| Local Business |
3.8s |
2.9s |
75ms |
0.10 |
Industry-Specific Priorities
| Industry |
Top Priority |
Secondary Focus |
Key Content Type |
| E-commerce |
Page speed & product schema |
Category descriptions |
Product pages, buying guides |
| Local Business |
Local SEO & Google Business |
Mobile experience |
Service pages, location pages |
| SaaS |
Content & authority building |
Technical SEO |
Blog posts, comparison pages |
| Healthcare |
E-E-A-T signals |
Schema markup |
Condition pages, doctor profiles |
| Financial |
Trust & authority |
Security |
Educational content, tools |
| Media |
Core Web Vitals |
Content freshness |
News articles, evergreen guides |
What Good Looks Like
85+
Excellent
Top 10% of websites. Strong competitive advantage.
70-84
Good
Above average. Solid foundation, room for improvement.
50-69
Average
Meets basic requirements. Significant opportunity to improve.
Setting Realistic Goals
- Start with your baseline - Know where you currently stand before setting targets
- Aim for industry average first - If below average, focus on catching up before trying to excel
- Consider your resources - Small teams should focus on high-impact, low-effort improvements
- Track competitors - Monitor how your direct competitors perform for realistic comparison
- Incremental improvement - Aim for 5-10 point improvements per quarter, not overnight transformation