Amazon Appears on Google Page One for 87% of Headphone Searches vs 4% for Running Shoes

An online store owner looks at a product search and assumes the fight is with Amazon. Count who actually holds the ten organic spots on Google's first page and the answer depends on what you sell. Search for headphones and Amazon is on the page almost every time. Search for running shoes and Amazon is almost never there: Nike, Adidas, On, Runner's World and running specialists fill the page instead.

That changes where a store or brand should aim. If Amazon and the other marketplaces held most of page one, the only route to product-search traffic would be to sell through them. They do not. The realistic competition is other brands, big retailers, review publishers and a Reddit thread or YouTube video, and which of those dominates changes sharply from one category to the next.

Marketplaces take 9.1% of Google's page-one results for product searches, and Amazon is nearly all of that, at 8.4%. Brand and independent store sites take 43.9%. Amazon appears on page one for 87% of headphone searches and 4% of running shoe searches, and in toys, pet food, eyewear and home decor, a single brand or specialist store holds at least twice as many #1 results as Amazon.

On September 23, 2026 we recorded Google's top 10 organic results (US, desktop) for 3,995 product searches on which Google showed shopping results, a sign the searcher wants to buy: 32,794 page-one results in all, along with each search's monthly Google search volume. We then studied 15 product categories in detail, from coffee, eyewear and fragrance to supplements, toys and watches, each with 50 to 260 searches, and compare each one with all product searches.

Page one means the ten regular results, not ads or shopping boxes. Every result is sorted by the type of website behind it. Marketplaces are sites where many independent sellers list products, such as Amazon, eBay, Etsy and Newegg. Multi-brand retailers are stores that sell many brands, such as IKEA, Best Buy, Sephora or Chewy. Brand and independent store sites are a single brand's own store or an independent shop. Publishers and review sites include news, review and reference sites. Social, video and forum sites include YouTube, Reddit and Pinterest. A share of page one counts results, so a site listed twice on one search counts twice. A site "appears on page one" of a search when it has at least one result there.

The marketplace share is almost entirely one company. Amazon had 2,752 page-one listings across all product searches, 8.4% of all page-one results and about 92% of the marketplace total. eBay had 167, Newegg 31 and Etsy 12. Temu and AliExpress did not appear on Google's first page for any product search.

For a store, "marketplaces" in organic search really means Amazon, and Amazon typically takes one slot on a page of ten. Social, video and forum sites together take more page-one slots than every marketplace combined. No broad category with at least 30 searches gives marketplaces more than 11.3% of page-one results: electronics and office supplies are highest, at 11%, and apparel is lowest, at 6.6%.

How often Amazon shows up depends on the product. It appears on page one for 87% of headphone searches and takes 11% of all headphone results, its highest share of any large category. Supplements and home decor follow at 83%. These are branded, standardized products, the same item wherever it is sold, and shoppers compare them on price and customer reviews, which Amazon has in bulk.

At the other end, Amazon appears on about half of eyewear, pet food and furniture searches, and on 2 of 50 running shoe searches, where it takes 0.5% of results against 8.4% across all product searches. Runners search by brand and model, such as "running shoes brooks" or "asics novablast 5 running shoes", and Google answers with the brand. Eyewear is sold on brand, fit and style, and pet food shoppers have strong specialist stores in Chewy, PetSmart and Petco.

Being on the page is also not the same as being on top. Amazon places 93 of its 179 headphone listings in the top three, but 22 of its 75 home decor listings. On the biggest fragrance searches it ranks no higher than #6.

Amazon is the site most often present, but rarely the one on top. In every category below, a brand or specialist store holds more #1 results than Amazon, except watches, where Rolex ties Amazon at 10.

Brand searches go to the brand. Bose's site is first for "bose headphones", searched 201,000 times a month, with Amazon at #6. LEGO holds #1 for "lego", searched 2.7 million times a month, with Amazon at #2. In running shoes, Nike, Adidas and On hold 35 of the 50 #1 results, and Amazon is not on page one for "running shoes by nike" at all.

Specialists win the broad searches too. Pepper Home holds #1 for "curtains", searched 201,000 times a month, where Amazon is not on page one. Pre-owned watch dealer Watchfinder holds #1 for "watch", searched 550,000 times a month, where Amazon ranks #9. Nap Lab places 14 of its 22 mattress listings in the top three, and Half Price Drapes 27 of its 28 home decor listings. These sites share a focus: one strong page for each product type and size, built to be the best answer for that search.

Brand and independent store websites take 43.9% of page-one results for product searches, more than any other type of site. How much of the page they get depends on the category, from about 58% for outdoor gear to about 27% for supplements and mattresses.

Outdoor gear is the most brand-led of the large categories. YETI has 77 page-one listings for outdoor gear searches, more than Amazon's 63, and tent makers Snow Peak and Kodiak Canvas hold #1 for tent searches: a shopper choosing a tent or a cooler wants the maker's own details on capacity, materials and warranty. Among broader categories, apparel is the most brand-led of all, with 65% of page-one results going to brand and store sites.

Mattresses and supplements sit at the bottom, for different reasons. In mattresses, retailers such as Mattress Firm and Costco take the room; in supplements, health publishers do.

Furniture is the most retailer-heavy category: multi-brand retailers take 44% of results, more than twice their 19.3% share across all product searches. IKEA has 177 page-one listings for furniture searches, more than Amazon's 146 and Walmart's 113. Furniture shoppers want many options side by side and to know what is in stock nearby, which is what large retailers are built for. Mattresses at 34% and home decor at 33% come next.

Publishers are the other big competitor. They take 35% of supplement results, the highest publisher share of the large categories, because a supplement search is often a health question first: what it does, how much to take, whether it works. Skincare is second at 28%, with The New York Times, Byrdie and Allure ranking next to the brands. In headphones, publishers take 27%, and RTINGS, a site that lab-tests headphones, has 125 page-one listings. In furniture, home decor and eyewear, publishers take about 5% of results, so the store's own pages have to answer the buyer's questions about size, fit and materials.

YouTube appeared on Google's first page for 36% of product searches and Reddit for 31%. Reddit often ranks high: it had 753 listings in the top three, and when it ranked, its best position averaged 3.3. Both vary widely by category.

Reddit ranks where buyers want to hear from other owners: what worked for their skin, what their dog eats, how a watch wears. It holds the #1 result for 19 skincare searches and 10 pet food searches. Among broader categories it appears on 59% of gaming searches and 44% of fitness searches, but 9% of apparel searches.

YouTube ranks where a product has to be seen or described: 53% of fragrance searches, the highest YouTube rate of any category, and 48% of toy searches, where build videos and unboxings show what a box cannot. Home decor is visual in a different way: Pinterest has 35 page-one listings there, and Reddit appears on 4.7% of searches, the lowest Reddit rate of any product category.

Stop treating Amazon as the main barrier in organic search, and check how strong it really is in your category. In headphones, supplements and home decor it is on most pages, so keep your Amazon listing complete and compete for the positions above it. In running shoes, eyewear, pet food and furniture it is missing from about half the searches or more, and the competition is other brands, retailers and publishers.

Build the page that wins #1, not a page that merely ranks. LEGO, Chewy, Half Price Drapes and Nap Lab take the top spot with one focused page for each product line, size and use people search for. Then cover the rest of the page: send products to the reviewers that rank in your category, publish buying guides and video where YouTube and publishers are strong, and answer questions openly where your buyers talk on Reddit.

The right mix changes from apparel to supplements, so start with your own searches. An ecommerce seo services plan begins by mapping who holds each page-one slot on your target searches, then builds the category, product and guide pages that can take them.

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