Boodschappen.nl

The online popularity of the Boodschappen magazine has exploded thanks to a powerful combination of SEO and SEA. This has translated not only into impressive visitor numbers, but also into strong growth in advertising revenue for Boodschappen.

• +200% organic visitors
• Number of reviews: +114% in 2 years

About Boodschappen

You may already know Boodschappen as a magazine found in supermarkets such as Plus and Hoogvliet. But Boodschappen also shares countless recipes online. Whether you are looking for an easy recipe that you can quickly prepare after work or want to put on an elaborate spread, you will always find inspiration for a delicious meal at Boodschappen. Online, you can also create your own inspiration page or shopping list, making it even easier to find and prepare your favourite recipes again.

Since spring 2019, we have been fully committed to increasing the online visibility of Boodschappen.nl. During the initial period of the collaboration, the focus was on technically optimising the website for SEO. After establishing a strong technical foundation, the content team raised the quality of the content to the highest possible level to prepare the website for further growth.

The challenge

The aim of the collaboration was simple: to generate more high-quality traffic for the Boodschappen website. Boodschappen.nl is not an e-commerce website or a lead generator, but derives most of its income from advertising. The more people visit the website, the more interesting it is for advertisers, so we identified opportunities to make better use of the site's visibility potential.

When implementing SEA for Boodschappen.nl, we kept one objective firmly in mind: generating profitable traffic. This meant that CPCs had to remain low; otherwise, there was a risk that advertising expenditure would not be proportionate to the returns.

The strategy: SEO

Through extensive keyword research at the start of the SEO project, we mapped out the competitive landscape for Boodschappen.nl in full. Specific search intents, such as seasonal recipes, ingredients, preparation time and nutritional value, emerged from this research. In addition to content optimisation, we also delved into the technical details. The website was already strong, but by optimising loading times and URL structures, the user experience became even better.

After working on the foundations, the technical aspects and updating the existing content for more than a year, we went back to the drawing board based on the growth: how can we build further on what works? Our answer: content. Our specialists conducted further keyword research and an extensive competitor analysis, which served as the basis for assessing how easily Boodschappen.nl could by then be found for relevant terms.

The content strategy we developed based on the information gathered was not solely focused on organic visibility. Boodschappen is also a brand, and the content needs to fit the brand experience. When creating new content, we therefore did not focus blindly on keywords, but took into account what Boodschappen wants to convey. Every content update had to be not only findable, but also valuable and authentic for the reader.

The strategy: SEA

The SEA project for Boodschappen began with one objective: to attract affordable traffic. The three-month trial period exceeded all expectations, with strong results that clearly confirmed the added value of SEA. As a result, SEA not only became a permanent part of the strategy, but the project was immediately scaled up to achieve even more growth.

With SEA complementing SEO, we achieved perfect synergy. We used advertising for certain pages where it was more difficult to rank organically. This guaranteed visibility when organic traffic experienced a dip, of course always within the agreed CPC limits. The result? Steady growth in visitor numbers and an attractive position for advertisers.

Table 1: The growth in organic users year on year between 2019 and 2022 is shown as a percentage. It shows that Boodschappen.nl performed better in almost every month than in the same month a year earlier, with the exception of the COVID-19 pandemic, which had a major effect on the visitor numbers of Boodschappen.nl.

The results

The SEO and SEA strategies achieved their objective: organic traffic grew strongly and SEA further strengthened this growth. CPCs consistently remained below the agreed limit, ensuring that we generate profitable traffic.

Our long-term collaboration with Boodschappen has produced a wealth of insights. We continuously refine our strategy using this data, so that we can continue to provide Boodschappen.nl with sharp recommendations and effective returns.