When searching for products to buy via safe shopping online, users of Google will be more likely to encounter the items they are looking for listed on Amazon than on any rival site.

This is according to new statistics from Searchmetrics which show that the US retail titan is surging further ahead when it comes to search visibility, increasing its foothold by just over a fifth in the past 12 months.

It is perhaps unsurprising that such a strong brand would continue to enjoy an uptick in search activity and interactions, but it is nevertheless an important indicator of just how influential Google can be on the success of a particular site.

The study also found that while Amazon’s reign is unchallenged, there are other victors in the search visibility stakes. Etsy, the platform which allows people to sell their handcrafted creations to an international audience, rose in visibility by 47 per cent over the course of 2018.

This counterpoint of e-commerce success shows that there is room for sites of many kinds in the current retail climate, with mainstream offerings like Amazon existing side by side with their more esoteric counterparts.

Another retail brand which enjoyed growth in its search engine prominence last year was Aliexpress, the international offshoot of Alibaba which allows customers from the UK and elsewhere around the world to buy items which were previously only available in China.

Alibaba is one of Amazon’s biggest rivals, with a strong foothold in its native land and plans for global expansion that might cause problems for its American competitor in the future. It may need to overcome some issues with consumer trust and a prevalence of phoney products on its shelves, but this should not be enough to prevent it from growing rapidly in 2019 and beyond.