Using Digital PR to Improve Generic Keyword Rankings for Reebok in Multiple Markets
pieces of coverage across 5 EU markets | |
Links built across 5 EU markets | |
Links built across 6 markets |
Reebok wanted to grow its organic visibility across Europe. Unable to gain a ‘top 3’ place in the rankings for highly competitive generic terms, they wanted us to leverage the brand and utilise Digital PR in order to improve their positioning in the market.
Our key objective was to drive high-quality links, but also to test if these could drive incremental value and ultimately move the needle for Reebok’s branded & generic terms.
Read on to learn how we went about this and what we achieved.
Spotlight Campaigns
We created Digital PR campaigns that allowed us to target multiple markets across Europe including the UK, Germany, France, Italy and Spain.
For our key piece of content, we focused on Reebok’s ‘Training’ category and explored the world’s most popular fitness programmes and diets.
Using Google search trends, we collated a list of 30 different forms of exercise and nutrition plans. Drilling down into the interest each activity or diet had gained over the previous 12-month period, we took a deep dive into the following metrics for each:
- Articles covering them as a topic
- Google search interest for each
- Instagram hashtags linking to the trend or activity
- The number of followers/influencers posting about them
Based on all the data collected, we found that ‘HIIT’, ‘yoga’ and ‘cross-training’ were the three most popular fitness trends of the moment, whilst ‘intermittent fasting’, ‘plant-based’ and ‘keto’ were the most talked-about diets.
A second campaign looked at the ‘Global State of Fitness’. We gathered research from 66 targeted cities across the globe and analysed the following metrics:
- Cost of monthly gym membership
- Percentage of people who cycle to work
- Percentage of public green spaces
- Percentage of the country’s population who go to the gym
- Obesity rate
- Level of insufficient physical activity
Results showed that Amsterdam, Copenhagen and Helsinki were the top three fittest cities overall, and sparked a lot of local debate in different countries.
When it came to our target market, we segmented the data for each location so that we could share insights at a regional city level. Naturally, this bespoke tailoring of content for local press in each destination allowed us to win coverage across the EU.
The Results
Prior to the Digital PR activity going live, Reebok held a top 5 ranking position for highly competitive, non-brand key terms. Through creative campaigns and link-building, we successfully lifted Reebok’s ranking position and achieved the following outcomes:
- +1.2 places for terms relating to the content
- +2.2 places for each branded term (competing with established resellers like ASOS)
- 64% increase in YoY traffic for related keywords
- £82,800 in incremental revenue driven by improved rankings (that’s an additional £1,899 per link built!)
- 130 pieces of coverage across all five territories
The UK was our best-performing market, with 41 links built in total. Spain generated 22 links from the ‘Global State of Fitness’ campaign alone, whilst in Germany (a notoriously difficult territory for link building) we gained 19 links in total with an impressive average DR of 64.