Search engines have proven to be invaluable by giving a deluge of answers to a plethora of questions. Almost anything can be “googled up.” While this technology has vastly improved our way of doing things with more efficiency and speed, it has also presented us with another dilemma — the overabundance of choices.
As a beauty brand marketer faced with this challenge, how do you ensure that your brand’s voice can be heard well and frequently amidst the cacophony of pitches and plugs of competition in the cut-throat beauty industry? Which among the SEO techniques and strategies should you deploy? How can you make sure that your SEO efforts ultimately measure up to the relevant digital marketing metrics, such as LTMs (customer lifetime value), click-thru rates, returning visitors, and so on? What better and more efficient way to determine how to stand out in the digital retail space than to look at some of the SEO best practices of Loreal, the global leader in the beauty business.
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With sales amounting to 28B USD in the year 2020, Loreal is easily the most successful and relevant brand in the cosmetics and beauty industry. While the company has great products, its perceptive decisions early on have made it the beauty behemoth that it is today. As early as 2005, the company was already bolstering its position in the digital economy with the use of algorithms to process images. They used this AI-powered technology to effectively analyze hair and skin loss conditions and enable a better understanding of their customers’ needs. Today, among the company’s effective SEO strategies are Voice Search, Artificial Intelligence, and Augmented Reality.
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Voice Search
In a 2020 report by ComScores, more than 50% of all smartphone users engaged in voice searches. That’s more than a whopping 2.14 billion (more than half of 14.28 billion) people. In the U.S. alone, there are an estimated 111.8M people who use voice technology to facilitate their searches. The digitally savvy marketing think tank of Loreal got wind of this idea early on and has since prioritized voice-targeted search as one of its focus digital activities.
To maximize the SEO capabilities of Voice Search, remember to use organic conversational language. How we go about our day-to-day verbal communication would be different from how we craft a written message. Voice Search language is more conversational, with longer keywords. Searches are also often phrased as questions, so your ranking would be boosted by including “how” and the four “W’s”, who, where, when, and how, among your keywords.
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Augmented reality
In 2020, amidst the economic challenges brought about by the pandemic, Loreal made a bold move to launch its first virtual makeup and filters for social media. Dubbed as “Signature Faces,” the whimsically fresh AR idea allows customers to savor the virtual experience of trying on cosmetic products. Wanting to strengthen its appeal to include a younger customer base, Loreal has made it not only desktop-accessible but also mobile-friendly.
The AR program can also be used for virtual meetings on various video platforms such as Zoom and Google Meets. This “light-hearted” innovation of “pretend” makeup can be a dense SEO marketing touchpoint for the company. It enables a spontaneous and organic sharing of information as the customer naturally learns about the various products and explores the different color schemes on offer while he or she goes through his or her commitment-free makeup trials.
The enjoyable overall AR user experience makes for a rewarding reason for the customer to keep coming back, which can also raise your score for the digital metric on returning customers and push your AR-based content up the SERP ranking.
Artificial intelligence
As the leader in the beauty industry, Loreal has also become an innovation driver by tapping various Artificial Intelligence or AI applications for more efficiency in decoding algorithms. This includes the use of generative adversarial networks or GANs that do away with the limitations of traditional on-page SEOs. This allows the company to create more effective strategies specially customized to meet the customer’s individual needs and wants. AI’s cutting-edge technology also saves time, money, and energy for the digital beauty marketer by automating many marketing roles and functions.
In addition, AI also enables the speedy processing of large amounts of cradle-to-grave data, which can only add value to your customer loyalty plan. Imagine being able to process personal data with every milestone in an individual’s lifetime. Lastly, leveraging on the capabilities of AI can also uncover hidden marketing opportunities from behavioral patterns that would otherwise have been undiscovered using more traditional SEO tools that are unable to keep up with the dynamism of constantly evolving algorithms.
This article was submitted by Luke Craig and written by Sophia Young. All rights reserved to techrecur.com
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Sophia Young is a content writer covering lifestyle and fashion topics. She’s actively participating as a guest blogger for various lifestyle blogs and has been co-authoring some articles of her colleagues. She’s currently enrolled in a content marketing course hoping to expand her knowledge in digital marketing.
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