Weekly Organic & AI Search Update
UK Flooring Direct
Week of 10 to 16 October 2026 · vs. previous week & same week last year
A softer week as the new theme went live on 15 October. The wider keyword set held and stays well ahead of competitors
The headline
Organic clicks eased 5.2% week on week to 6,172. The site moved to its new theme on 15 October, and clicks were steady until then but stepped down from that day, an early pattern similar to Flooring Supplies after its launch. The top positions softened at the 17 October check: Top 10% coverage is 70% and fewer keywords sit in the top 5. The wider tracked set held, with more keywords in the top 30 and only three not ranking, and UK Flooring Direct remains well ahead of every competitor. AI sessions fell because of a change in how ChatGPT visits are tracked, explained below.
Organic clicks (GSC)
6,172
▾ 5.2% vs last week▼ 14.3% vs last year
Top 10% coverage
70%
▾ was 75% last week
Keywords in top 30 (of 204)
194
▲ was 190 last week
AI sessions (GA4)
85
▾ 43.3% vs last weekChatGPT tracking change
The numbers this week
Actual figures for this week and last week, with the change alongside. Source: Google Search Console.
| Metric | This week | Last week | vs last week | Last year | vs last year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Organic clicks | 6,172 | 6,508 | ▾ 5.2% | 7,201 | ▼ 14.3% |
| Average position lower is better | 15.0 | 14.1 | 0.9 lower | 13.6 | 1.4 lower |
What is behind the year-on-year change
This week is compared with a strong week in 2025 (7,201 clicks). Over a longer view, the year-on-year gap has narrowed from around 28% below last year in early summer to around 8% over the last four weeks. This week’s dip coincides with the new theme going live on 15 October, and we are monitoring it closely.
Search visibility
Tracked keyword rankings at the reporting week end (17 October check), with movement against last week. Top 10% coverage is keywords in the top 10 as a share of all 204 tracked keywords. Source: SE Ranking.
70%
Top 10% coverage
▾ was 75%
78
Keywords in top 5
▼ was 108
143
Keywords in top 10
▾ was 154
194
Keywords in top 30
▲ was 190
Top positions softened after the theme launch
The new theme went live on 15 October, two days before this ranking check. Several keywords moved from the top 5 into positions 6 to 30, so Top 10% coverage eased to 70%, with key category pages such as laminate, engineered wood and bathroom flooring slipping a few places from launch day. The wider set held: more keywords are in the top 30 (194) and only three are not ranking. Our early checks show the new theme carries the same mobile performance issues we identified on Flooring Supplies, and we are following these up with the development team.
Top 10% coverage vs competitors
Share of tracked keywords ranking in Google's top 10, from the latest Looker competitor set. UK Flooring Direct leads the market by a clear margin.
UK Flooring Direct
70%
Factory Direct Flooring
39%
Wickes
38%
DIY.com (B&Q)
33%
Wood Floor Warehouse
28%
Direct Wood Flooring
22%
AI traffic
Visits arriving from AI tools (ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, Claude and similar), pulled from GA4. This is actual sessions, separate from the AI search visibility tracking below, which is based on a focus prompt set.
AI sessions this week
85 ▾ 43.3% vs last week (150)▾ 36% vs last year (133)
AI sessions, weekly trend
Weekly sessions from AI tools (GA4). 85 this week, with the fall from 9 October concentrated in ChatGPT referrals.
Why AI sessions fell this week
AI sessions fell this week almost entirely in ChatGPT referrals, which dropped by around half on both UK Flooring Direct and Flooring Supplies from 9 October. This matches a fall reported across many websites from the same date, which industry sources attribute to ChatGPT no longer passing referral data, so those visits are likely now being counted as Direct traffic rather than lost. OpenAI has not confirmed this, so we are treating the dip with caution and will keep monitoring. Gemini and Perplexity visits were steady. AI sessions also fluctuate week to week and are relatively small numbers, so they are best read as a trend.
AI search visibility
How often UK Flooring Direct appears across the AI platforms we track. Link presence means cited with a link; Mention presence means named in the answer. Source: SE Ranking AI tracker, week to 17 October.
How to read these figures
These figures are measured across a focus prompt set, a fixed sample of prompts we track, not every possible query. Because the sample is small, the weekly numbers swing a lot and are best read as directional. The monthly report gives a more reliable picture of the underlying AI trend.
Google AI Overviews
Link presence23%▾ was 39%
Mention presence32%▾ was 35%
Google AI Mode
Link presence5%▲ was 0%
Mention presence8%▬ level
ChatGPT
Link presence8%▾ was 14%
Mention presence8%▾ was 16%
Gemini
Link presence0%▾ was 7%
Mention presence28%▲ was 12%
AI Overview link presence, weekly trend
Link presence in Google AI Overviews across the focus prompt set. 23% this week, within its usual range. No readings were taken during the tracking outage.
Mixed week across the prompt set
AI Overview link presence eased to 23% while mentions held at 32%, Gemini mentions rose to 28%, and ChatGPT eased. With a small sample these figures move a lot week to week, so the monthly view remains the more reliable guide.
What shifted the dial
- Clicks eased 5.2% to 6,172, stepping down after the new theme went live on 15 October; over four weeks the year-on-year gap is around 8%, down from 28% in early summer.
- Top positions softened after the theme launch (Top 10% coverage 70%), while the wider set held, with 194 keywords in the top 30 and a clear lead over competitors.
- AI sessions fell to 85, driven by a ChatGPT tracking change seen across many sites from 9 October rather than lost visitors.
Prepared by Fibre Marketing · Reporting week 10 to 16 October 2026, all figures final · Sources: Google Search Console, SE Ranking, GA4
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