Skincare SEO Essentials: Costs, Strategies + Checklist

Skincare SEO is the process of making skincare web pages more visible in Google, meaning more organic traffic and sales for your business. Cleanse your skincare SEO strategy with our 10 expert tips, then check out our handy bonus checklist.

Want to promote your latest cleanser, serum, or body lotion to potential customers? It’s no longer enough to add a few photos to your website, write a product description, and hope for the best.

A high-quality search engine optimization (SEO) skincare strategy is the best way to enhance your online presence and stand out amongst the other beauty brands on the market.

Not sure how to get started with your skincare SEO? In this comprehensive guide, we’ll talk about how much SEO costs, the benefits, and how to use it to gain a competitive advantage.

(Plus, read to the end to get your free SEO for skincare checklist.)

What is SEO for skincare?

SEO for skincare is the process of optimizing a skincare website so that it’s more likely to appear at the top of the search results pages. This digital marketing strategy includes:

• On-page SEO: Optimizing website content
• Technical SEO: Optimizing a website’s functionality
• Off-page SEO: Earning backlinks and citations on third-party sites

Further reading: What is SEO Marketing? (+ Proven Success Secrets)

Why use SEO for skincare?

SEO allows skincare companies to reach their target audience and increase organic traffic.

Here are some specific reasons to implement SEO into your skincare marketing strategy.

• Increases brand visibility: Good SEO increases the chances of your web pages appearing on the first page of the search engine results pages (SERPs). The first organic result in Google gets nearly 19 times more clicks on average.
• Drives organic traffic: High search engine rankings lead to more website traffic. Paired with a positive user experience (UX), this can also mean higher conversion rates.
• Targets the right customers: SEO allows you to focus on keywords your target audience uses. This means you can prioritize the customers who are most likely to buy your skincare products.
• Builds trust: Search engines prioritize reliable and credible content, giving shoppers peace of mind.

How much does skincare SEO cost?

The average cost of SEO for skincare brands is between $500 and $30,000 per month. The cost depends on:

• Scope of work: A smaller skincare company that sells locally will have less complex SEO demands than a large international brand
• Business goals: Similarly, a skincare brand that has bigger goals and more objectives will pay more than a brand looking to maintain existing efforts
• Agency experience: An agency with specific expertise in the beauty industry may charge more

10 expert skincare SEO tips

Want to increase the chances of your skincare brand ranking on the first page of Google? Here are 10 expert tips to boost your search engine presence and entice potential customers to your site.

1. Target the right keywords
2. Start a blog
3. Establish trust
4. Write unique product descriptions
5. Launch a YouTube channel
6. Make your site more engaging
7. Generate backlinks
8. Focus on technical SEO
9. Optimize for rich results
10. Review and monitor your results

1. Target the right keywords

Keyword research is an essential part of the skincare SEO process. By optimizing your articles, product pages, and landing pages for the words your target audience uses, you can stand out in the SERPs.

“One major challenge when finding the right keywords is the high levels of competition in the skincare industry, both from established brands and up-and-comers,” says Kate Ross, SEO Specialist at Irresistible Me.

“Niche targeting is the key — find specific segments that may be underserved or have unique needs.”

Long-tail keywords are ideal for targeting unique keywords with high purchase intent. These are keywords over four words long. For example, instead of “best skincare products,” try “best organic skincare products for older skin.”

Another thing to remember about skincare SEO is that searchers may use alternative keywords to find products. For example, your night-time moisturizer may contain tocopherol, but potential customers are more likely to refer to it as “vitamin E.” While it’s important to showcase your scientific credentials, it’s also important to relate to your target audience.

Once you have your keywords, use keyword mapping to ensure you use your keywords across the right pages and that they work well together.

2. Start a blog

Adding a blog to your skincare or beauty website is a fantastic way to enhance your SEO. These are just a few reasons why:

• Your articles can target additional keywords
• High-quality content can attract backlinks from other websites
• You can internally link to other articles and product pages
• Search engines favor websites that are regularly updated
• You can use articles to establish yourself as a thought leader in your industry

One of the skincare blogs we love is L’Oréal Paris. The skincare brand posts regularly, focuses on topical content, and uses the blog homepage to promote relevant skincare products customers may be interested in.

(Image: L’Oréal Paris)

The articles themselves are great examples of skincare SEO, too. There are links to relevant articles and quotes from relevant experts to boost authoritativeness.

3. Establish trust

Google deems skincare a “Your Money or Your Life” (YMYL) topic, meaning the wrong information can negatively impact people’s health and safety.

The search engine demotes pages containing inaccurate and dangerous information in search engine results.

Google also uses E-E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness) to determine the quality of your content. The more credible it is, the better your online visibility.

Along with adding expert quotes, you can boost trust on your skincare website by:

• Citing research and studies quoted in reputable medical journals
• Partnering with credible organizations
• Showcasing mentions of your brand in trusted publications
• Creating author biographies for content creators

4. Write unique product descriptions

Creating relevant and targeted product copy is integral to your skincare SEO strategy.

It lets you:

• Add relevant keywords to your content
• Showcase the unique benefits and features of each product
• Avoid duplicate content penalties in the search engine results

Pro tip: Look at your product reviews and see what customers like most about your skincare items. Then, weave these words and phrases into your content.

5. Launch a YouTube channel

Did you know YouTube videos can rank in Google Search? If you have a well-optimized YouTube channel, you can increase your online visibility even more.

Not only this, but YouTube is the second most-used search engine after Google, with nearly 2.5 million monthly users.

Fenty Beauty regularly posts tutorials, strategically uses keywords in its video titles and descriptions, and creates stunning video thumbnails that entice people to click.

One way the brand could improve its SEO is by uploading transcripts to videos rather than relying on the ones YouTube automatically creates. Google crawls and indexes these transcripts, meaning improved search engine rankings for specific keywords.

6. Make your site more engaging

Good content marketing can boost your SEO efforts. Engaging, fun, and educational website content is more likely to get backlinks and shares on social media, which can lead to additional traffic to your site.

Here’s something we love by Olay. The well-known beauty product brand has a skin advisor quiz on its website. Answer a few questions, and Olay will recommend a skincare routine and products you might like.

You don’t have to create an interactive quiz — the perfect content for your brand could be an infographic, article, eBook, or a podcast. Understanding your target audience is essential.

It’s also important to regularly update your content to ensure it’s as up-to-date and accurate as possible.

7. Generate backlinks

Getting other websites to link to your pages has the biggest effect on your Google rankings.

Why? Trust is essential to the SEO process. Each high-quality backlink you get is an endorsement of your website. If other sites trust you, then the search engines will too.

Let’s look at Lush, a popular skincare and cosmetics retailer. The brand has over 56 million backlinks from nearly 80,000 referring domains, including highly regarded sites like Wikipedia, the BBC, the New York Times, and CNN.

An effective way to carry out link-building in the skincare industry is through influencer marketing. By working with trusted influencers and bloggers, you can get links back to your website.

8. Focus on technical SEO

Beauty SEO isn’t just about the keywords you use and the content you create — it’s about how fast and responsive your website is.

Technical SEO concerns how you optimize the functional elements of your site. This makes it easier for search engines to crawl and index your site, increasing your website’s visibility.

Technical SEO focuses on:

• Page titles and meta descriptions
• Page load speed
• Mobile responsiveness
• Internal linking and broken links
• Page redirects
• Duplicate content and canonical tags
• URL structure
• Structured data (schema)

We can carry out a technical SEO audit for your skincare website, providing recommendations that’ll boost your search engine rankings.

9. Optimize for rich results

Rich snippets add extra information to your search engine results, making them more appealing and clickable. The example below uses a rich snippet to show the product’s rating and number of reviews.

You can use structured data markup to enhance your search engine results. This is code added to your web page that provides search engines with extra context about your content.

There are different types of structured data. You can use it on product pages, articles, and “frequently asked questions” sections.

You can also use structured data for local SEO. If you run a brick-and-mortar store, use structured data to provide additional information about your business, making you more likely to appear in local searches.

10. Review and monitor your results

Finally, it’s critical to review, assess, and re-optimize your SEO efforts regularly.

Tools like Semrush, Moz, and Ahrefs can track your keyword rankings, so you can take swift action if your pages drop from the first page of Google to the second. At HawkSEM, we use ConversionIQ — our proprietary tool to track which keywords result in the most conversions.

“It’s vital to stay up to date with SEO trends and algorithm changes,” says Andrew Grella, CEO of Formen Makeup.

“We actively subscribe to SEO news and forums like The Moz Blog to stay on top of what is happening in the industry. We also engage in continuous testing and learning — our SEO team dedicates a lot of their time to experimenting with new trends and strategies.”

Want to know if your skincare SEO is working? Check out our guide to success.

Your SEO for skincare checklist

SEO for skincare products may sound daunting, but it doesn’t have to be.

Check out our free checklist to keep on top of your SEO strategy.

Identify keywords

• Use keyword research tools to identify words and phrases with low competition
• Prioritize long-tail keywords
• Use keyword mapping to group relevant keywords on the same page
• Use keywords in your page headings, body text, and alt text
• Develop engaging and educational content
• Understand what your target audience wants to see with a thorough content strategy
• Regularly review and revise your content to ensure accuracy

Start a blog

• Create a blog-posting schedule
• Link to relevant internal and external pages
• Ensure your articles are SEO-optimized
• Create a detailed bio for each article author

Focus on link-building

• Identify high-quality influencers to work with
• Create great content that people want to link to

Create a YouTube channel

• Add relevant keywords to your title, description, and file name
• Create a captivating thumbnail
• Upload a transcript to help with SEO and accessibility

Create unique product descriptions

• Consider the unique benefits and features of each product
• Look at customer reviews to get inspiration

Review your technical SEO

• Optimize slow-loading elements on your pages
• Audit your page titles and meta descriptions
• Make sure your site works well on mobile devices
• Implement structured data markup on relevant pages
• Give customers a reason to trust you
• Link to reputable medical journals
• Partner with trusted organizations
• Quote industry experts to add credibility

Review and monitor your performance

• Track keyword rankings
• Identify which keywords lead to the most conversions
• Understand what you need to do if you get outranked by a competitor

The takeaway

Want to become a leading skincare brand? Then it’s time to get your SEO in check.

Find the right SEO keywords, establish yourself as a trusted authority, and ensure your website is easy to use — you’ll soon reap the benefits!

If you don’t have the time or skills to focus on your skincare SEO, it pays to call in the experts.

When marketing your skincare ecommerce store, it’s essential to work with a partner who is an expert in ecommerce marketing and has the proper team, tools, and strategies in place to help you succeed.

If you want your skincare SEO to be as smooth and flawless as possible, we’re here to help. Get in touch today for your free, no-obligation consultation.

This article has been updated and was originally published in April 2024.

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