How New MTB Riders Increased Search Interest by +270%

Key Takeaways

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New MTB riders increased interest for “Mountain Bike” keywords by +270% during the time period of March to May 2020.

New Jargon For New Riders

• Different Searches: “mountain bike” search term increased by 270% during March to May 2020. 
• YouTube: “mountain bike” search term increased by 132% in March to May 2020.
• Online Retailers: Discovery based keywords were dominated by Dicks Sporting Goods, holding 29% of organic search traffic, for March 2020 to Feb 2022, respectively.

Established Search Habits

• Similarities: 2021’s MTB season saw a 92% increase in “mountain bike” from March to May, 2020. 
• Trek Bikes: Captured this audience showing a 172% increase in monthly traffic from March to May 2020. 
• Top Competitors: For discovery and interest organic search traffic, Trek Bikes and Bicycle Guider hold 18% and 33% for March 2020 to Feb 2022, respectively.

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New riders are unfamiliar with long standing jargon (e.g. mtb, downhill, XC, etc.). Increases in the search term “Mountain Bike” are taken as an identifying factor for what new riders deemed the most intuitive search term when entering the sport.

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A similar increase occurred with search terms used on YouTube when looking for mountain biking content, or information.

Although more sporadic, the increase in “mountain bike” specifically points to a new subset of the market.

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“Mountain Bike” related keywords are dominated by established online retailers. This is likely due to “mountain bike” being a product focused search. 

The AIDA model was used as a classification of keywords, but swapped the terms “Awareness” for “Discovery”.

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Still using the term “Mountain Bike”, informational searches lead to more lifestyle oriented online retailers, such as EVO and other bike focused websites. 

The desire and action category were excluded due to searches being very transactionally focused.

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Both Discovery and Interest keywords lists were analyzed in their entirety, resulting in a more holistic view of which websites captured the majority of traffic.

Although more sporadic, the increase in “mountain bike” specifically points to a new subset of the market.

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Trek Bike’s monthly traffic increased in tandem with “mountain bike” related searches on Google, totalling in a 172% increase in monthly traffic.

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Dicks Sporting Goods had a similar increase to Trek Bikes in 2020 with a 102% increase in traffic, but doesn’t show the same consistency in the subsequent season.

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Post-purchase search behaviour, using “mountain bike” search terms, are primarily maintenance and trail related.