The numbers behind vegan industry search — and what they mean for your plant-based brand

Before citing any figure from this page, understand where the data comes from. This matters for how you interpret the benchmarks.

Data sources used here fall into three categories:

• Public search tools: Google Trends, Google Keyword Planner, and third-party keyword platforms (SEMrush, Ahrefs, Similarweb). These reflect relative search interest and estimated monthly volumes — they are directional, not exact.
• Published market research: Reports from organizations like Good Food Institute, Bloomberg Intelligence, and SPINS that track plant-based retail sales and consumer behavior. These are cited where available and current as of the report date.
• Observed campaign benchmarks: Where we reference performance ranges (click-through rates, ranking timelines, traffic growth), these reflect patterns observed across campaigns we have managed. No client counts are implied or stated.

Key limitations to disclose:

• Search volumes fluctuate seasonally and by region. A figure accurate for North America may not apply to UK or Australian markets.
• Vegan search behavior evolves quickly as new terminology enters mainstream use (e.g., 'plant-based' largely replacing 'vegan' in food contexts over 2019–2023).
• Market research reports often have 12–18 month publication lags. Treat projections as directional, not definitive.

Benchmarks on this page vary by market, firm size, category, and existing domain authority. Use them as orientation, not as designed to outcomes.

The plant-based market has expanded from a niche dietary segment into a multi-category consumer movement. Published reports from Bloomberg Intelligence and the Good Food Institute have consistently documented growth in plant-based food retail sales, with the sector outpacing conventional food growth in several years prior to 2023. Post-2023, the rate of growth has moderated in some categories — particularly refrigerated meat alternatives — while continuing in others such as dairy alternatives and plant-based snacks.

What this means for SEO: as a market matures, search behavior shifts. Early markets are dominated by educational queries. Maturing markets produce more branded, comparison, and review-type searches. Vegan businesses entering now are operating in a mid-maturity environment — which means both higher competition for generic terms and greater opportunity for brand authority plays.

Category-level signals worth noting:

• Plant-based dairy (oat milk, almond milk, vegan cheese) has shown sustained search growth across multiple years.
• Vegan cosmetics and personal care searches have grown faster than food in several Western markets, per Google Trends data — suggesting the ethical consumer is expanding her basket beyond the kitchen.
• Vegan supplements and protein products show strong year-round search volume with predictable seasonal spikes (January, post-summer).
• Vegan apparel and home goods remain lower-volume but show high purchase intent per search session.

The practical implication: brands that publish content aligned with category-level growth — not just their own product terms — capture demand earlier in the funnel and build ranking momentum faster than brands focused only on transactional pages.

Understanding how vegan consumers use search engines is more useful than knowing raw volume numbers. The pattern matters more than the metric.

Three dominant query types drive organic traffic for vegan brands:

1. Informational queries: 'Is [ingredient] vegan?', 'What is a vegan alternative to [product]?', 'How to read ingredient labels for hidden animal products'. These queries have high volume and low commercial intent but build brand trust when answered well. They also earn backlinks from other content creators in the vegan space.
2. Navigational and brand queries: Direct searches for brand names and product lines. These indicate awareness and loyalty. Growing branded search volume is one of the clearest indicators of offline marketing working in concert with SEO.
3. Transactional and comparison queries: 'Best vegan protein powder', 'certified vegan sunscreen', 'vegan leather bag UK'. These carry high purchase intent. Competition is higher, but conversion rates from these queries are significantly better than informational traffic.

In our experience working with vegan businesses, brands that only optimize for transactional terms miss the majority of the funnel. The vegan consumer tends to research extensively before purchasing — partly because ingredient scrutiny is core to the lifestyle. A brand that answers the research questions earns the sale.

Seasonal patterns observed:

• January (Veganuary) produces the single largest annual spike in vegan-related searches across most English-speaking markets.
• Late summer and back-to-school periods show rises in vegan food prep and meal-planning queries.
• Q4 holiday periods drive gift-focused vegan product searches — particularly in beauty and lifestyle categories.

Planning content around these cycles, rather than publishing reactively, is one of the clearest advantages an SEO-informed content calendar provides.

The following ranges are based on patterns observed across campaigns we have managed, supplemented by publicly available industry benchmarks. They are not guarantees. Performance varies significantly by starting domain authority, content volume, link profile, and market competition.

Ranking timelines:

• New vegan brand websites with minimal domain authority typically require 4–8 months to rank on page one for low-competition, long-tail terms.
• Competitive terms ('vegan protein powder', 'best vegan meal delivery') can take 12–24 months for new entrants without an aggressive link-building program.
• Local vegan search terms ('vegan bakery [city]') tend to rank faster — often within 3–5 months with proper Google Business Profile optimization and consistent on-page signals.

Click-through rate context: Industry-wide CTR benchmarks from search studies (Sistrix, Advanced Web Ranking) consistently show position one results capturing 20–35% of clicks for most query types. Position three drops to roughly 10–15%. For vegan product searches, featured snippets and 'People Also Ask' boxes frequently appear — owning these placements can increase visibility without a top-three ranking.

Content and traffic patterns:

• Informational blog content typically drives 3–5x more organic sessions than product pages for comparable levels of optimization effort.
• Product pages with detailed ingredient transparency and certification information (certified vegan, cruelty-free, B Corp) tend to have lower bounce rates and higher time-on-page than generic product descriptions.
• Vegan brands that publish consistently (weekly or bi-weekly) build topical authority faster than those publishing in bursts.

These are directional benchmarks. Your specific numbers depend on your niche, domain history, and the consistency of execution — not on any single article or optimization tactic.

Search behavior is not static. Three trends are worth tracking as you build or refine your vegan brand's SEO strategy for 2025–2026.

1. 'Plant-based' is outperforming 'vegan' in many food contexts. Google Trends data shows that 'plant-based' has consistently outpaced 'vegan' as a modifier for food products in several markets over the past four years. This isn't a reason to abandon 'vegan' — it's a reason to use both. Content that speaks to 'plant-based' expands your audience to consumers who identify with the diet but not the broader ethical identity. Brands that only use 'vegan' in their copy may be missing a large segment of relevant search demand.

2. AI-generated search summaries (SGE/AI Overviews) are changing how informational queries surface results. For 'is X vegan' type queries, Google's AI features increasingly synthesize answers directly in the results page. Brands that want to appear in these features need well-structured, factually precise content with clear authorship and sourcing signals — not long-form articles with buried answers.

3. Voice and conversational search favors direct-answer content. 'What's a good vegan substitute for eggs in baking?' is a voice-natural query. Brands that structure FAQ sections, recipe introductions, and category pages to answer these directly benefit from voice search traffic and 'People Also Ask' placement — both of which are growing in the food and lifestyle verticals.

What stays stable: the fundamental principles. Clean site architecture, genuine topical authority, and earning backlinks from relevant vegan and food media remain the most durable drivers of organic performance. Algorithm updates tend to reward these signals over time, not punish them.

The table below consolidates directional benchmarks referenced throughout this page. These are ranges, not targets. Use them to calibrate expectations and identify where your current performance sits relative to typical patterns.

• Time to first page-one ranking (long-tail terms): 4–8 months for new domains with active content and link acquisition
• Time to competitive category rankings: 12–24 months, varies significantly by domain authority and link profile
• Informational vs. transactional traffic split: Many vegan brands see 60–75% of organic sessions from informational content, 25–40% from product/category pages
• Seasonal search spike — Veganuary (January): Search interest for vegan-related terms typically peaks in January; observed increases are substantial relative to other months, though exact multiples vary by specific term
• Vegan beauty search growth: Trending upward across Western markets per Google Trends — faster growth rate than plant-based food in several 2023–2024 comparisons
• Local vegan query competition: Low-to-moderate in most markets outside major metro areas; GBP optimization is high-use for brick-and-mortar vegan businesses
• Content publishing cadence for topical authority: Weekly or bi-weekly is associated with faster topical authority gains than monthly publishing, based on patterns observed across campaigns

Note: All figures are directional benchmarks, not guarantees. Results vary by market, starting domain authority, content quality, and consistency of execution. This is educational content, not a performance promise.

Data visualization note: If embedding this data in a report or presentation, Google Trends comparison charts (plant-based vs. vegan search interest, 2018–2024) and GFI retail sales charts are the most citable visual sources for this market. Link to primary sources rather than reproducing charts without permission.