Åkestam Holst, in collaboration with IKEA, has launched a funny little SEO campaign. By changing product names on IKEA products to phrases like “My partner snores,” they aim to drive traffic from search engines. It’s a shame, though, that it’s poorly executed.
The initiative is incredibly fun, but the execution leaves a lot to be desired. Åkestam Holst and IKEA were somewhat clever when they named products with phrases they believed had high search volumes. Some examples:
- My partner snores
- My husband falls asleep on the couch
- She doesn’t want to cuddle
I really like the humor in this, even though it will likely drive traffic with poor conversion. At least they’ve had a little fun with everyone searching for these phrases. Or they could have if they had actually managed to get any rankings for them. For “My sister takes my things,” I currently see it ranked 9th. For “Difficult to wake up a teenager,” they are in 5th place. Otherwise, no rankings at all.
This, despite the fact that they have what could be described as one of the strongest websites in the world. With good SEO, they could totally dominate this segment, just as they do offline. Instead, they’ve made a series of really bad decisions along the way, such as putting everything on a completely new domain, using all-caps titles (wow, that didn’t look at all spammy), and writing content that often completely lacks relevant keywords.
Imagine if they had involved someone who knew something about SEO
Imagine if they had just brought someone on the project who had some basic SEO knowledge. I’m not saying they needed an expert, but someone with a fundamental understanding of it. Maybe they could have even secured a position for some of these phrases.
Magnus Bråth
CEO
Magnus is one of the world's most prominent search marketing specialists and primarily works with management and strategy at his agency Brath AB.