Marketplace Deep Dive - Q2
How Chegg fights AI disruption, Eventbrite gains +34% SEO traffic, Homes.com invests $1 billion in brand
Welcome to the Q2 edition of my Marketplace Deep Dive! This quarter, we're seeing fascinating shifts in the SEO landscape that deserve your attention.
In this deep dive, I'll walk you through three compelling case studies that showcase different approaches to marketplace growth:
How Chegg is fighting back against AI erosion with their clever new "Solution Scout" tool
Eventbrite's impressive 34% organic traffic lift through strategic UX improvements
Homes.com's remarkable brand transformation through a billion-dollar advertising blitz
Key takeaways
Social networks dominate growth: Reddit, Instagram, and X are leading the charge in visibility gains, with social networks showing the strongest absolute growth in Q1 2025.
App stores and job sites face steep declines: Both Google Play Store's removal of apps not meeting spam guidelines and Glassdoor's continued 70% visibility drop since the 2023 March Core Update highlight the volatility in these sectors.
Programmatic SEO isn't universally declining: While G2 and other software review sites continue to lose ground, platforms like Spotify and Ziprecruiter maintain strong programmatic SEO performance, suggesting Google's preference varies by industry.
Work with AI, not against it: Chegg's clever pivot with Solution Scout shows how to add value in an AI-dominated landscape by addressing specific pain points (hallucinations) rather than competing head-on.
UX improvements directly boost SEO: Eventbrite's 34% organic traffic gain through better filters and contextually relevant modules proves that user experience enhancements translate into search visibility.
Before we jump in, as a reminder, here’s what I covered in the Q1 Marketplaces Deep Dive:
Marketplaces function as "SEO Aggregators" requiring technical optimization at scale, with the industry growing 8% in traffic over the last year, primarily driven by social networks and crypto platforms.
Technical SEO is paramount for marketplaces handling massive content volumes, with Zillow receiving 35 million Googlebot hits daily across 120 million property pages.
User experience directly impacts SEO performance, exemplified by Zillow's map improvements generating more "good clicks" that Google's algorithms reward.
AI disruption is transforming the marketplace landscape, with companies like Chegg losing 99% of stock value and 500,000 subscribers following ChatGPT's release.
Successful marketplace strategies include diversifying inventory (Getty Images), balancing SEO with brand advertising (Zillow), and evolving from pure ad monetization to capturing transactional value (Zillow's "super app" strategy).
Industry Trends
SSI Check
The SEO Site Index (SSI) is a database of ~500 websites I track across different industries to understand where Google gives real estate in the search results and why.
In Q1 of 2025, 3 industries saw more absolute growth than others: social networks, entertainment, and local search.
Reddit, Instagram and X drove most growth in the social networks category.