Best use of SEO: Femcare + Zenith
Client: Libresse
Agency: Zenith Global
Award: Best use of SEO, 2022: Gold
Brief
Libresse is a global taboo-breaking period care and feminine hygiene brand. In 2017, they were the first brand to feature period blood in advertising with their #Bloodnormal campaign. Since then, their commitment to progressive change-driving communications has not wavered. They break down cultural taboos and stereotypes, helping to create a world of intimate confidence.
Yet Libresse’s commitment to its purpose exists beyond just what it says in its advertising. It is embedded in everything they do and everywhere they show up. In this context, they came to us with a challenge. How could they be visible to all women+ looking for period-positive, inclusive content around topics like puberty, pregnancy and menopause?
Creating content is easy, but the real complication was creating content that resonates across all 46 Libresse markets globally. So, how could we facilitate pick-up in local markets? We had to make sure to respond to consumers’ search appetite while being true to the brand, no matter the language.
We were tasked to come up with an ambitious, yet scalable, and cost-efficient solution to tackle this challenge, accounting for the fact that Libresse operates in a highly sensitive product category where medical-related content must be handled carefully.
Zenith proposed a multi-market content strategy to produce new and optimised taboo-busting editorial at a global level to continue Libresse’s work – exposing the myths and facts surrounding the often-stigmatised topics surrounding intimate health. This included an ambitious transcreation and localisation project to ensure our SEO-optimised content was seen far and wide in all 10 Libresse pilot markets.
Solution
Zenith’s approach aimed to create powerful organic search-optimised editorial content at scale, backed by multi-language keyword research. We leveraged the power of our agency network by connecting with teams situated in each market to gather insights on local nuances. Together we undertook the mammoth task of creating and localising the content. This allowed us to publish across multiple markets and make this educational content accessible for all.
Number of Markets: 10 (UK, ZA, FR, IT, DE, KW, LB, JO, UAE, HU)
Number of languages: 6 (English, French, Italian, German, Arabic, Hungarian)
Number of local articles: 540
But how did we get there?
1. Created a global master keyword list for English-speaking markets that covered all relevant intimate care topics. No taboo was left unturned: period sex, after-birth discharge, period blood, vulvas, menopause symptoms, Female Genital Mutilation, period poverty, and beyond!
2. Transcreated this research into other languages. Using our network of local agency teams, identified high-volume keywords and crosschecked them with existing content to recognize market-specific gaps.
3. Used our local agency teams to get deeper insight into local nuances. Menstrual and sexual education is still restricted across many cultures. Local teams’ knowledge and research allowed us to address these barriers with sensitivity while staying true to the brand purpose.
4. Wrote global guidelines to make our writing on brand and accessible, no matter the reader. We knew dry medical explanations wouldn’t work – we needed a tone of voice that reflects our taboo-breaking brand attitude and engages our audiences. So, we developed a Written Content Playbook from scratch. This has since been adopted by Libresse as their standard for all text communications, from above-the-line advertising down to internal emails.
5. Created optimised content. We followed SEO best practice to create all pieces of content from the ground up, ensuring that they worked across multiple markets. We interlinked between families of similar content, and supported Libresse’s growing product ranges, including the release of sustainable period underwear.
6. Designed imagery that reflects a wide variety of women+. We wanted to represent real bodies — stretch marks, acne, blood clots and all. But we struggled to find imagery that was as diverse and inclusive as the Libresse brand is. So, we made our own. With the help of professional illustrators, we produced original imagery showcasing a diverse range of body shapes, ages, and abilities that reflect our global audience.
All of this was pulled together, reviewed, and uploaded to each market’s website. Everything was produced with a global mindset, to ensure our pages appeal no matter who our readers are, what gender they identify as, where they come from, what they look like or what taboos they deal with.
Results
Our consistent SEO-focused approach has led to a record-breaking year of organic results for Libresse.
The results so far:
1.1m total incremental organic sessions across the top 10 pilot markets since editorial content upload began August 2021 (177% traffic increase YOY)
We’ve empowered 900k individuals with the information they need to better understand their bodies and menstrual cycles
155k monthly organic clicks, a 39% increase YoY
123k keywords currently ranking on Page 1 of Google, a 59% increase YoY
7.2m monthly SERP impressions, a 55% increase YoY
Stand-out article ‘Is brown discharge normal’ achieved over 150k organic sessions across all markets in Q2 2022 alone
The content produced in this project accounts for 40% of the total website traffic as of Q2 2022, up by 135% YOY
The project has delivered an average Cost Per Click (CPC) of EUR 0.15 (based on total project cost), compared to paid search which has a CPC of EUR 0.91 across the same markets. Every month, organic traffic delivers clicks worth EUR 118,000 of paid search investment, and so far has generated up to €1m of free media. Currently, the whole project represents a ROI of 325%. And as the project will continue to deliver results at no extra cost, the CPC of organic traffic will decrease even further over time, while ROI will continue to grow.
“This project has enabled us to add business value and express our brand purpose in a way that is relevant for our audience, proving that pleasing business, readers, and algorithms can — and should — go hand in hand! The fantastic incremental traffic we’ve been getting in our websites has had a positive impact within the organization too, earning us recognition from higher management and convincing more markets to localize and scale.”