Composite Doors Are Totally Killing It In Online Search

I love the Google Trends tool. It’s a great, free online tool which allows you to enter a search term and see how many people in your area are searching for what you have entered.

Like the web nerd that I am, I use Google Trends for our own industry, to see what what is making big moves and what isn’t. Although not official, down the phone or form filling research, I do believe it gives us a hint at how a particular product is performing in online search.

So for the purpose of this post, I chose the term “composite doors”, because the product is popular and I know that it is a household recognised product. The results are simple, composite doors are absolutely killing it online!

Up, up and up some more

Take a look at this graph from Google Trends which goes back to 2005:

That’s an impressive chart, whichever way you look at it. Since the composite door was introduced to the UK market, the product has seen exponential growth unlike anything we have seen for a very long time in this industry.

Looking at the chart, the rate of growth in search term use has become faster every year too. It shows no signs of stopping. This chart also shows us how important the internet is when it comes to composite doors. Manufacturers need to make the most of the traffic generated by the product to help push their brands and products to home owners as well as installers.

But how does the search traffic compare to other major door materials?

Composite vs aluminium vs timber

Aluminium and timber have both gone through strong comebacks in recent years, so it will be prudent to take a look at how composite door searches compare to these other two materials:

Key: Blue – composite doors | Red – aluminium doors | Yellow – timber doors

For a while, composite doors were a firm third, still a fair old way behind timber and aluminium in the search wars. But then the recession years came, and that seem to turn the tide for composite doors and since then it has gone on to make search traffic for the other two materials look very ordinary.

But I will caution this; timber and aluminium doors more often not are reserved for the higher end of the residential market, and home owners know this. Not everyone can afford timber or aluminium doors money. The composite doors market has given home owners an affordable, yet aesthetically pleasing option which doesn’t cost quite as much. Hence one of the reasons they’ve become so popular.

That’s timber and aluminium, but what about PVC doors? Well that depends on the search term used.

PVCu or uPVC?

Composite door searches either do very well or very badly, depending on the comparison search term used. Take a look:

Composite doors vs PVCu doors

Key: Blue – composite doors | Red – PVCu doors

That is not a good chart. But look at what happens when you compare it to uPVC:

Key: Blue – composite doors | Red – uPVC doors

Composite doors wipes the floor with PVCu search terms. A more modern way to describe the materials. But the more traditional uPVC search term is still on top versus composite doors, but not by a big margin. The gap is certainly closing in the chart above. So I’m not quite sure which of the last two charts is the safest. Although if you took an average of the two I think composite doors would come out on top there too.

All of the above shows just how strong the composite door has become within the wider home improvement market. It rate of growth has been staggering. Home owners have really tuned into the product and are clearly spending time searching for the product online. Insights like this are important for companies making them to make sure they stay on top of the curve and make the most of this great opportunity to sell more product and increase profit margins.