Powersports Industry Fails to Meet Google’s Basic Website Performance Standards
Joe Montgomery February 14, 2025
Executive Summary
Over the past three years, the powersports industry—spanning ATVs, UTVs, motorcycles, snowmobiles, and personalized water crafts—has experienced significant growth, with even greater expansion on the horizon. According to Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA) data, the $37 billion U.S. powersports industry is projected to nearly double to $69 billion within the next decade. As shoppers increasingly conduct extensive online research before visiting dealerships or purchasing online, understanding how powersports dealers and service providers are adapting to this behavioral shift is essential.
How are powersports OEM brands—brands like Polaris, Honda, Harley-Davidson, Yamaha, Suzuki, Kawasaki, BMW—and their dealers meeting consumer needs when it comes to the online shopping experience? How do the most sophisticated and well-funded dealerships, often supported by top marketing consultants and agencies, approach the online consumer experience? How viable is the current website technology for meeting Google’s basic performance and experience standards?
To answer these questions, Overfuel conducted its inaugural study of websites operated by powersports businesses in North America, including the Powersports Business list of the “2024 Best In Class” dealerships. Overfuel examined publicly available Google Chrome User Experience Report data to assess whether a website’s mobile and desktop versions passed or failed Google’s Core Web Vitals (CWV) Assessment in Origin Summary mode. Overfuel surveyed a total of 2,315 dealer websites in February 2025, and excluded any rental-only providers, marinas without personalized motor crafts for sale. Any sites that triggered a security warning from Google Chrome were excluded.
What are Google Core Web Vitals and CrUX?
In May 2020, Google launched a new basic standard assessment for website performance and user experience: the CWV assessment. Websites are measured on both mobile and desktop devices.
CrUX is the official dataset of the Web Vitals program. All user-centric Core Web Vitals metrics are represented.
Chrome UX Report, Chrome for Developers, 2024
CrUX data is collected from real browsers around the world, based on certain browser options which determine user eligibility. A set of dimensions and metrics are collected which allow site owners to determine how users experience their sites.
The data collected by CrUX is available publicly through a number of Google tools and third-party tools and is used by Google Search to inform the page experience ranking factor.
With nearly five years of the basic standard being active, Overfuel examined the performance of the powersports industry.
Failure to Meet Customer Needs
80.3% (1858 websites) of the 2,315 sites audited failed for mobile or desktop devices, or both. Less than 16% of the dealer sites Overfuel audited passed Google’s CWV for mobile and desktop.
The results place the powersports industry in a much better position than the Top 50 U.S. automotive group data study performed by Overfuel in 2024, which revealed less than 1% of top auto dealer websites passed Google’s basic standard. That said, with more than three-quarters of sites audited failing consumers, quick action is recommended.
The failure of powersports OEMs to ensure their dealer websites adhere to crucial website standards damages consumer trust while negatively impacting sales
Alex Griffis, CTO & President Overfuel
and brand reputation.
Common issues causing website CWV failure:
- Bloated website code from website vendors
- Under-resourced hosting infrastructure
- Third-party plugins, with chat plugins and cookie banners being the most common offenders
- Use of oversized images and videos
- Overuse of Google Tag Manager and Google Analytics containers
The Rewards of Passing Core Web Vitals
The analytics below are for a dealer whose site failed CWV, then transitioned to Overfuel and passed CWV. The site launch date with Overfuel was July 4, 2023.
Most Third-Party Plugins in Powersports Create Performance Challenges
Some website vendors may possess the technical ability to deploy a site that passes CWV but ultimately fail due to the third-party plugin requirements demanded by a general manager, marketing lead, marketing consultant, or agency.
Full disclosure: Overfuel has some dealer sites failing CWV because the OEM or someone at the dealership mandated using a third-party plugin against our recommendation, which breaks performance.
Key Takeaways and Conclusions
The big 3 takeaways from the Overfuel study are as follows:
- Powersports manufacturers are approving and/or mandating consumer-facing dealer website technologies that overwhelmingly fail to meet Google’s CWV, often profiting from the sale of tech while hurting a dealer’s ability to sell vehicles.
- Powersports dealer group leadership, store general managers and marketing leads, and many marketing consultants and agencies lack a general understanding of Google’s CWV and the negative impacts of failing the standard.
- The assessment failures identified in the powersports study were consistent across all major providers and brands.
The silver lining is the sheer amount of competitive advantage on the table for dealers, which could equate to unprecedented levels of converted consumers and topline revenue annually.
Alex Griffis, CTO & President
Overfuel
As significantly more consumers devote a meaningful portion of their shopping experience to online research or purchase, the powersport industry’s approach to website technology has reached a critical reflection point.
About Overfuel
For dealers seeking a competitive edge, our unique value lies in delivering websites that pass Google’s basic performance and user experience standard: Core Web Vitals. Our comprehensive SEO strategy goes beyond technical SEO, incorporating local-optimized content publishing, enhanced directory listings, Google Business Profile and Google Maps optimization, and review management to maximize local impact.
From day one, we’ve been dedicated to developing Google-performance-optimized replacements for outdated third-party plugins, and our commitment to innovation continues to drive us forward. Our UI/UX design is rigorously tested through ongoing heat mapping and behavioral analysis, ensuring an exceptional user experience for consumers.
Check out the Overfuel UI/UX case study featured by Microsoft Clarity (November 2023).