2014 Bronze Best Use of Search, Natural and Paid-for

Client Diageo

How did the campaign make a difference? Our tiered SEO strategy is based on the keyword difficulty, trends and UX. While it generally aims for the most generic search terms, in the short term it has delivered quick gains and improved visibility of content which authority increases through linking from Diageo’s brand sites, PR and outreach.

Since its launch ago thebar.com has seen an average increase of 65% month on month of SEO traffic. Our multi-faceted approach has built the SEO reach from scratch, with no authority, relevancy or credibility in search engines in UK and the site has now had over 2.35million views.

Strategy The brand’s long-term online strategy is based on an ongoing three-month cyclical approach and constant review.

How

Quick wins included reviewing page titles, meta descriptions and headers based on keyword GAP analysis of new and seasonal terms and recipes.

Whilst the most popular and competitive terms built authority, a tiered keyword strategy drove immediate visits from organic search to pages related to individual drinks and cocktails.

A technical audit ensured the site was fully accessible. Existing content was optimised and new content ideas recommended, again based on the GAP analysis.

Domain link authority was improved by reaching out to other Diageo brands, Diageo PR, thebar.com US site, building links from relevant content on other authoritative sites and engaging in high quality SEO influencer outreach.

Creativity A visually appealing site was built without compromising SEO. Site structure, page mark-up and content were optimised according to a prioritised keyword strategy.

A creative approach developed new content and targeted landing pages. Specialist editors created content for the Cocktail Recipe and Spirits pages, heavily influenced by search behaviour data around cocktails, trends and occasions – all validated by expert mixologists. Recipes were written and optimised for search and CTR before being promoted externally.Search data inspired video content hosted on YouTube.

Thebar.com partnered with relevant lifestyle influencers such as jamesbondlifestyle.com, increasing the overall SEO visibility of thebar.com, attracting visitors and improving the overall social shares count.

Results Working within the Diageo Marketing Conduct and general alcohol marketing restrictions, the SEO outreach has not only helped with improving link profile but has also driven many referral visits and social shares.

Click-through from recipe pages significantly improved. The site was future-proofed from a semantic search point of view by implementing relevant structured data schemas – making search listings a lot more attractive and doubling click-through rates from the same ranking position. ‘Gin mojito’ attract 30% of available search traffic compared to the usual 10% received by a secondplace search ranking.

Links were secured from some amazing websites, with profound impact on SEO rankings and traffic.

Everything has resulted in ongoing SEO traffic increases – up an average 65% every month since launch.