IKEA's Mind Blowing SEO Hack

What is Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)?

In today's competitive online marketing, companies strategise to increase the visibility of a website by attaining a high-ranking placement in the search results page of a search engine (SERP)- found in search engines like Google, Yahoo or Bing.

Over the years, SEO has become a major challenge for companies as it is quickly evolving and increasing in competition. Organic search results are now being used too rampantly, causing a devalue of key words on the SERP ranking. Therefore, today’s marketers must continuously improve their SEO strategies and tactic to beat competition. There are a few standard SEO tips that companies can adhere to when they think about making their brand known. However, Ikea's “Retail Therapy” campaign was an creative initiative that took the differentiated path of focusing on a broader (and unexpected) content territory.

The "Retail Therapy" Ad Campaign

Developed by Swedish advertising agency Åkestam Holst in November 2016, IKEA introduced a highly disruptive and creative “Retail Therapy” ad campaign that would take competitors aback with their innovative search strategy.

Now, you're probably wondering what IKEA did that was so mind blowing and unconventional that pushed them up the SERP ranking. Well, here's how- as part of their 'Where Life Happens' campaign they kick-started a new website called 'Retail Therapy' showcasing some of their typical products, but with a little dash of finesse.

The Swedish advertising agency renamed some of IKEA's products (as shown above) after queries of relationship problems on Google's top searches, paired with the piece of furniture that could possibly solve their problem.

Furniture shopping can be proven to be test for some couple's relationship but with a play of humour, the company came up with over 100 unique names for products that will breakthrough the mainstream search strategies and brighten the mood of shoppers. For instance, a google search on "My partner snores" would show a day bed for one and a scissors called "My Son Plays Too Much Computer Games". Check out this video to understand more about the campaign and how they added customer value to their online marketing strategies.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZPpqJqfjBks

The Outcome of IKEA's SEO Strategy

This campaign brought about a heap of online buzz and received a lot of media coverage from multiple international news sources as well as interaction on social media. It was well received by the public as they took to the humorous route of advertising which led to consumers sharing links to the “Retail Therapy” products for their friends and families to see. Below is an example of a post with the trending hashtag that contributed to the social media buzz.

All in all, this campaign serves as a good example on how an innovative and creative SEO strategies can improve the drive of organisation's traffic to their website, allowing better visibility and increased awareness to their brand. Thinking as a consumer and using consumer language is the key to targeting a more focused target audience. Competing organisations pay close attention to product names and product descriptions as part of the standard SEO strategies but what makes IKEA stand out from the rest is being able to understand and empathise with their consumer market to create products that can solve their problems and using that to derive their product names instead of merely describing the product itself.

Personally, what interests me the most from this case study is the unorthodox method of marketing that IKEA has come up with to disrupt the SEO strategies in this highly competitive digital world.

I hope you have learnt something interesting in this week's blog post! I'd love to hear some of your thoughts about SEO in today's growing digital era and if there are any other organisations you've heard of that has done something as mind blowing and innovative as IKEA.

Till next time!

Megan