Before we start, follow me on Twitter and LinkedIn to be notified about new similar research and experiments.
In the guide about the best website traffic checker tools I mentioned that click-stream data is not as accurate as tracking code analytics data. So it is better to avoid using click-stream data checkers to track website traffic for your websites.
However analyzing competitors’ traffic is one of the most important and first elements of marketing strategies, and the success of your business greatly depends on its accuracy.
In this guide, I will be able to show quite accurately how close the Similarweb data is to reality. I will take 4 sites to which I have access to Google Analytics and Google Search Console and compare their traffic data with the same data in Similarweb.
// Use my Google Search Console Looker Studio, Google Ads Looker Studio, and GA4 Looker Studio templates to monitor all important traffic and SEO / PPC metrics for your websites more easily than in the native interfaces of GSC, Google Ads and GA4.
// Read how accurate is Semrush data.
// Don’t miss out on subscribing to my email newsletter, where I share my new Looker Studio templates and SEO experiments.
TL;DR: How Accurate is Similarweb Data?
- Similarweb usually exaggerates data on the amount of traffic by 2-3 times.
- Since this error will remain for most sites, you can fairly accurately estimate the traffic of your competitors and potential customers.
- The more traffic there is on a site, the more accurate the Similarweb data.
- It is important that Similarweb accurately reflects the dynamics of traffic decline and growth
- Data on the share of traffic by country and channel is inaccurate, but it fairly accurately reflects the ranking of countries and channels that bring more traffic and that bring less.
- Keyword traffic data is close to reality. 6 of the top 10 keywords according to Search Console are in the top 10 keywords in Similarweb.
- Data on the amount of traffic for keywords in Similarweb sometimes coincides with data on clicks in the Search Console and sometimes 2-3 times more or less.
Now let’s dive into the details of every website.
Copywritely.com
Period: Oct 2022 – Jul 2023.
Visites by Similarweb = 2.14M
Sessions by Google Analytics = 1.04M
So, Similarweb exaggerates traffic by 2 times. Important that Copywritely has enough traffic. This matters, since the more traffic, the smaller the error on the Similarweb side should be.
But it is important that if such an error remains the same on other sites, then this already makes it possible to fairly accurately estimate the traffic of competitors simply by dividing the amount of traffic by Similarweb by 2.
Additionally, if you compare traffic data by country and traffic channel, there are gaps and inaccuracies in this data, but the ranking of countries and channels is kept quite close to reality.
Copywritely traffic by channels from Google Analytics.
Copywritely traffic by countries from Google Analytics.
Let’s compare how accurate the keyword data is.
6 out of 10 top keywords according to Similarweb data are included in the top 10 keywords according to Google Search Console (GSC) data.
| Keyword | Traffic by Similarweb | Clicks by Search Console | Similaweb / Search Console |
|---|---|---|---|
| copywritely | 17,500 | 12,100 | 1.45 |
| words to minutes | 16,700 | 5,600 | 2.98 |
| ordenar alfabeticamente | 14,400 | 22,800 | 0.63 |
| duplicate content checker | 8,800 | 4,500 | 1.96 |
| редактор текста | 5,400 | 17,000 | 0.32 |
| redactor de textos | 3,500 | 3,800 | 0.92 |
In total, the keyword traffic data is quite accurate, despite the fact that the error in the data varies both up and down.
Sitechecker.pro
Period: Oct 2022 – Jul 2023.
Visites by Similarweb = 6.77M
Sessions by Google Analytics = 2.80M
So, Similaverweb exaggerates traffic by 2.4 times. But please note that the dynamics of traffic changes over the month are quite close to reality.
That is, you can rely on this data to assess how your competitor or potential client is doing.
Let’s compare how accurate the keyword data is.
Also, 6 out of 10 top keywords according to Similarweb data are included in the top 10 keywords according to Google Search Console (GSC) data.
| Keyword | Traffic by Similarweb | Clicks by Search Console | Similarweb / Search Console |
|---|---|---|---|
| sitechecker | 73,000 | 50,000 | 1.46 |
| hosting checker | 19,400 | 20,000 | 0.97 |
| site checker | 15,900 | 14,500 | 1.10 |
| seo checker | 13,400 | 9,700 | 1.38 |
| backlink checker | 12,300 | 7,800 | 1.58 |
| sitechecker pro | 11,500 | 6,700 | 1.72 |
Now let’s check 2 more sites with less traffic than Copywritely and Sitechecker have.
Kparser.com
Period: Oct 2022 – Jul 2023.
Visites by Similarweb = 887K
Sessions by Google Analytics = 345K
So, Similaverweb exaggerates traffic by 2.6 times. Fairly stable error on all sites I am checking.
Ivanhoe.pro
Period: Oct 2022 – May 2023.
Visites by Similarweb = 40K
Sessions by Google Analytics = 12K
So, Similaverweb exaggerates traffic by 3.3 times. But it is important that in March 2023 there was some kind of bug in the Similarweb, which showed a large surge in traffic that actually did not exist.
That’s it. Have any questions? Write them via chat or send me a message on LinkedIn or Twitter.