CGars SEO Performance Report

Year-on-Year SEO performance analysis covering visibility, rankings, GA4, GSC, Bing, and AI discovery. (Jan 1 - Jan 31, 2026 vs same period 2025)

Overview

SEO Growth

GA4 Comparison

January performance reflects consolidation of Q4 gains, with continued dominance in search visibility and growing AI discovery signals.

AI Visibility & LLM Discovery

AI Visibility Trend

CGars is beginning to surface across AI-driven discovery platforms including ChatGPT, Google AI Overview, Gemini, and AI Mode.

AI visibility remains low overall, but mentions and citations have increased steadily since September, reflecting improved topical authority and content depth.

Unlike traditional rankings, AI systems prioritise entity consistency, structured content, and category-level authority. This allows CGars to be referenced even without holding position #1 rankings.

1. SEMrush Visibility & Rankings

Visibility Chart

Visibility 76.9% (+1.62%)
Top Competitor 29.07%
Market Position Dominant
Trend Stable

CGars maintained a dominant market position throughout January, reinforcing strong authority across premium cigar search queries. :contentReference[oaicite:0]{index=0}

Top Ranking Highlights

  • Henri Wintermans - Position #1
  • Henri Wintermans Cigars - Position #1
  • Cigars Online UK - Position #3
  • Luxury Cigars - Position #5
  • Best Cigar Shop UK - Position #1
Visibility remained consistently high across the month, reinforcing sustained authority following Q4 momentum.

2. Google Analytics (YoY)

Engagement Time

2m 10s (-12.7%)

Event Count

2.6M (-44.4%)

Organic Sessions

121K (-7.9%)

Direct Traffic

104K (+16.5%)

Direct traffic increased significantly, offsetting softer organic demand following the December peak.

Engagement remained stable despite lower event volume, indicating continued strong user intent and effective on-page optimisation. :contentReference[oaicite:1]{index=1}

3. Google Search Console

Clicks

96.1K (-16.4%)

Impressions

2.69M (-7.2%)

CTR

3.6% (-0.4%)

Avg Position

12.6 (Improved)

Desktop 20.2K
Mobile 73.8K
Tablet 2.1K
Ranking positions improved significantly, despite reduced click volume driven by seasonal demand.

4. Bing Performance

Clicks

3.1K (+11%)

Impressions

322K (-18%)

CTR

0.96% (↑)

Desktop 2.4K
Mobile 684
CTR improvements indicate stronger result relevance on Bing despite lower impression volume.

5. Summary & Takeaways

  • Exceptional SEMrush visibility maintained
  • Strong direct traffic growth
  • Improved average ranking positions
  • Stable engagement despite seasonal drop
  • Growing AI discovery and LLM citations
January performance reflects consolidation of Q4 growth, with increasing visibility across both traditional search and AI-driven discovery.