+125% YoY in organic traffic of a dermo-cosmetic brand – Cetaphil case study
Cetaphil is a great example of a company that we have attained a joint success with. This international brand of dermo-cosmetics, specialized in caring for and moisturizing sensitive and demanding skin, has achieved over 125% growth in organic traffic year on year. How have we jointly achieved this success?
Table of contents (7 minute read)
About our cooperation
Our activities for Cetaphil has started in April 2019 and has continued until now. During this period we have provided systematic and comprehensive SEO & content support for cetaphil.pl. One of our key objectives is to create Cetaphil’s brand image and increase product awareness among its target audience.
Thanks to our activities, so far we have achieved an increase in organic traffic by 125%, compared to 2019. Consequently, it helped our client strengthening the brand position in a difficult industry in Poland and establishing rapport with its audience.
“We’ve obviously wished for a measurable increase in SEO indicators when our cooperation with Whites Agency started. However, the results achieved month to month show how crucial it was for the Cetaphil brand to focus on optimizing the website’s traffic. It’s been over a year of the cooperation, which we started simultaneously with the launch of the new Cetaphil.pl website. I can say that although our cooperation requires mutual patience, consistency and does not give us a thrill, as the other marketing activities, it guarantees stable and systematic growth, which we value most. In my opinion, a key element of this success is also professional cooperation with Whites Agency – in a market saturated with so many agencies, finding a trustworthy business partner whose recommendations and actions can be relied on is of a great value.”
– Piotr Wasik, Head of Marketing Consumer, Galderma
About the client
Cetaphil was founded in 1947 to help people who care about beautiful and healthy skin. The Association of Aesthetic Dermatologists awarded Cetaphil the Pearl of Aesthetic Dermatology of 2018 for its high-quality products.
Challenges in the project
Poland is the sixth-largest cosmetics market in Europe and is growing fastest in the region. According to Deloitte, the forecast value of the cosmetics market in Poland in 2021 was nearly 5 billion USD. The biggest challenge of our Client is the very high competitiveness of cosmetic brands.
Our next challenge was the specific structure of cetaphil.pl – the website is translated into different languages with the same structure. Some changes have to be applied globally, which in turn limits optimization possibilities on the website.
Moreover, due to the product specifics, the website content needs to meet medical industry requirements. It’s an ambitious task. Since the beginning, we have known that getting satisfying results requires consistency in our actions, mutual understanding and the client’s patience.
Objectives of the cooperation
When planning and conducting activities for our clients we approach their businesses holistically. The synergy of actions in the areas of SEO and Content makes it possible to achieve a given client’s objectives in an effective way and with a long-term perspective.
We have defined as the key objectives of our cooperation:
- Increasing the website visibility on SERPs by adding a blog section with guided content.
- Addressing the needs and doubts of target groups related to facial skincare by creating expert content.
- Building the brand image and product awareness.
What have we done?
The analysis of keywords in TOP3, TOP10, and TOP50
At the beginning of our cooperation we carried out an analysis of competitors in terms of their visibility for the given keywords. It showed that in comparison with the aforementioned businesses cetaphil.pl has great potential for improvement in terms of the number of keywords by which competitive services are visible. It assured us that it’s worth taking action to utilize this potential and transform it into valuable traffic to our Client’s website.
Increasing website visibility by SEO support
By implementing the objectives defined earlier with the client, we have distinguished the priorities. Addressing those first can help to improve website visibility:
1. Content optimization on the client’s website:
- extending the content on the site as per good SEO practices – website content not only responds precisely to the needs and problems of consumers but also works to increase the volume of organic traffic on the website,
- managing cooperation with editors – we have selected collaborators through the lens of project needs and the subject of the client’s service. Thanks to this, we were able to provide not only properly optimized content, but also substantive value for the potential recipient. Furthermore, it has contributed to building brand trust,
- preparing content graphs – sets of primary and secondary keywords, which make up the backbone of content that is correctly optimized for SEO. Creating content in this way guarantees its high-quality. Thanks to that, the recipient is able to acquire content easily. Moreover, content saturated with high-potential keywords also works to increase the website’s visibility, which in turn is crucial to attain higher positions for search results,
- keyword potential research.
Thanks to mutual communication we have created an appropriate development plan for the website content. Non-branded keywords play a huge role among the keywords driving the most organic traffic.
2. Optimization of the website’s backlink profile – while conducting research and establishing relations with publishers, we have also built external Content Marketing – publishing content on verified, topically related publishers’ websites, referring to cetaphil.pl. Such actions additionally strengthened the website’s link profile and, ultimately, its visibility.
3. Current monitoring and website visibility analysis – periodic reports generated by Whites Agency author’s system. We are aware that following the client’s business objectives, various indicators may be important; hence each report is adjusted to the client’s individual needs. In the reports for Cetaphil we indicate such elements as:
- Organic traffic chart,
- PageSpeed Insights recommendations – a Google tool that allows us to check the performance and speed optimizations applied,
- click data – among others, the click through rate (CTR), which determines the effectiveness of keywords,
a number of keywords in TOP 3, TOP10 and TOP50.
Apart from the above, the Client report also includes information about the created content, external links obtained, and the optional comments of a dedicated SEO specialist. Thanks to this, our client receives comprehensive key information about the project, and we can respond to current questions or doubts, quickly.
4. Regular and transparent communication with the client.
Creating effective SEO content
The guided content we create is designed to meet consumers’ needs for the skincare and solutions to skin problems. Product placement in articles is very subtle so as not to distract consumers’ attention from the expert content. Moreover, when browsing cetaphil.pl, users access a compendium of knowledge with tips on how to take care of their skin to avoid potential dermatological problems, regardless of its type.
Strategic SEO support of the website
As an agency, we know that the key to building partner relationships is to focus on our clients’ needs. While delivering our services for Cetaphil in the area of SEO, our specialists remain at the client’s disposal. They are available both in terms of implementing the strategy and recommendations, as well as responding to current factors and the client’s needs. The scope of strategic support includes on-site SEO optimization, whose important operation is internal linking – these actions impact improving the website rank in search engines and the number of organic sessions.
Our specialists also take care of overall site monitoring. Having a dedicated SEO specialist for ongoing strategic support of the website is essential. This resolves emerging problems effectively and ensures stability, proper website functionality, and thus – our client’s business continuity.
What results have we achieved?
Organic traffic +125.22% compared to 2019
During the year of our cooperation, we’ve achieved over 125% growth in organic traffic on the client’s website. In April, 2019 there were 20 thousand organic visits to cetaphil.pl, while in March, 2020, there were almost 50 thousand. Furthermore, the number of organic visits in March increased by almost 15% on a monthly basis, which shows the dynamics of the client’s brand growth.
Overall traffic
The number of keywords in TOP3
The number of keywords that indicated the web page’s position within 1-3 search results (according to Senuto) was: 1011. The most dynamic growth has occurred from October, 2019 to the present.
The number of keywords in TOP10
The number of keywords within 1-10 search results was: 2465.
With our optimization activities we’ve focused on the potential of non-brand keywords. This, in turn, allowed Cetaphil to build an expert image in Google search results. Users who look for skincare and skincare challenges content – find the Cetaphil website, which also increases brand awareness.
What determines our success?
- The holistic approach to the website’s optimization needs and the client’s business objectives,
- combining and utilizing the synergies of SEO & Content activities – a constant balance between SEO and content on the site,
- our knowledge and experience in creating expert content,
- strategic support for the client by SEO specialists – ongoing communication, monitoring, and transparency in cooperation,
- a flexible approach and listening to target group needs – communication focused on solving a recipient’s specific problem, possibly by use of the product.
“The success of the implemented activities is based primarily on a holistic view of the client’s business and the challenges posed by the highly diversified dermo-cosmetic products industry. A great asset, and in fact, the key factor for success of our cooperation is the client openness and trust in our knowledge and experience. The transparent communication process, in turn, allows for optimization and creation of SEO content, while maintaining a high substantive value. When we started the project, we realized that we were facing quite a challenge, but the smooth cooperation and partnership on both sides enabled us to achieve great results and fulfill the potential we had noticed from the very beginning.”
– Sonia Oczadły, Account Manager Whites Agency