HEMA
HEMA x team5pm
A Cross-platform SEO Triumph: Dominating TikTok, YouTube and Google with Data
the challenge
HEMA wanted skyrocket online visibility using data-driven video SEO.
Ever since being established in 1926 HEMA has taken a core place within households across the Netherlands and abroad. The Dutch department store offers all sorts of products varying from clothing and food to household goods. In the latter, HEMA wanted to gain more online visibility using SEO. But search behaviour is changing. More and more consumers use video platforms like YouTube and TikTok to find new hotspots, tips and DIYs. Traditional text-driven search results have made place for video SEO. This offers huge opportunities for brands to influence masses of orienting consumers with optimised video content. But the question that remains to many marketers is: How do I know which video topics I have to create on which platforms, to gain top rankings? What does my audience on TikTok, Instagram or YouTube really want to see? With this challenge, HEMA came to us.
Search is changing. Consumers use video platforms, like TikTok and YouTube to find new hotspots, tips and DIYs.
Their goal? To skyrocket online visibility and increase organic traffic, impressions and SEO rankings on Google, YouTube and TikTok. With data-backed long-form and short-form video, the department store wanted to help consumers that are orienting online for a product or information around using one.
HEMA CASE MOVIE
Being one of the first brands to put data-driven TikTok creation to the test, HEMA has veered off the beaten path. With #1 organic TikTok rankings just 5 hours after publishing as the ultimate proof!
our solution
Using our video SEO tool TopicTree to get insight into the most potential video topics and trends to dominate the ‘household’ and ‘bathroom’ domain on TikTok, Google and YouTube.
- 1
Mapping out the most potential domains to rank high in and doing an in-depth competitor analysis
- 2
Creating long-form how-to content, as well as short-form, vertical life hacks, step-by-steps and DIYs – all tailored to the intent of the different video platforms
- 3
Clever organic distribution including landing pages and traffic newsletters to start ranking in Google, YouTube and TikTok
Spotting relevant video SEO opportunities for HEMA with the predictive power of TopicTree
We are born and raised on YouTube. This allowed us to develop a unique data-driven approach that secures results on multiple video platforms, in every phase of the marketing funnel. To know exactly which video topics had the highest potential of reaching the right audience, we started with first things first: data research. Not only using Google and YouTube, but also TikTok as a brand-new data set, we conducted an in-depth content analysis into relevant domains, such as ‘bathroom’ and ‘window decoration’. This data was collected with our brand new automated SEO technology, called TopicTree.

Born from the need to know for sure, TopicTree continuously tracks and analyses view and search behaviour data from Google, YouTube, TikTok, Amazon, Pinterest and Bing. It is a tech solution – a first in the market – that unites every single data touchpoint about a brand’s consumer in one place. Its predictive power allowed HEMA to get a list of most potential video topics and trends. Based on this data, we mapped out the most potential domains to rank high in; on Google, YouTube and TikTok. On top of that, we did a competitor analysis – taking a deep-dive into the different video styles, ranking positions and upload frequencies of HEMA’s biggest opponents. What are they doing online and what are missed opportunities? An important insight was that mainly creators were leading the field of ‘bathroom’ and ‘window decoration’ content on YouTube as well as TikTok. This offered huge opportunities for HEMA in claiming authority as a brand – the classic early mover advantage!
HEMA helps: a multi-channel help series that makes life at home easier with nifty tips and tricks
Our in-house production studio created the ‘HEMA Helps’ series. Help content, focused on making life at home easier with nifty tips and tricks for the household. Both long-form how-to content, as well as short-form, vertical life hacks, step-by-steps and DIYs were produced – all tailored to the intent of the different video platforms. For instance, on YouTube we published long-form help videos on different ways to hang your curtains, whilst TikTok content focussed on sharing curtain-related life hacks. This way, we’ve set a whole web of ‘HEMA Helps’ videos in motion that tapped right into the needs of online orienting consumers.

HEMA was one of the first brands to put data-driven TikTok creation to the test
With this new SEO-driven content strategy, the brand took on the challenge of broadening their viral content palette with informative help content. Being one of the first brands to put data-driven TikTok creation to the test, HEMA has definitely veered off the beaten path with this ‘HEMA Helps’ series. And with success. The first video gained #1 organic TikTok rankings within the ‘bathroom’ domain, just 5 hours after publishing!
HEMA gained #1 organic TikTok rankings just 5 hours after publishing!
On top of that, SEO-optimised landing pages were created on which the long-form YouTube videos were embedded. In monthly newsletters, extra traffic was guided to these SEO-optimised pages.
The Results
By combining TopicTree with data-driven content creation and a tailored distribution strategy, HEMA became front-runner on Google, YouTube and TikTok.
This new way of video SEO led to crazy results! Almost all videos on TikTok rank #1 on relevant keywords. Same counts for Google and YouTube, almost all videos rank in the top 3. We embedded relevant short-form content (TikTok and YouTube Shorts) on SEO-optimised landing pages, with which HEMA now even ranks in Google. These landing pages took on the algorithm by storm – with an average non-branded organic CTR of +389%. A total of watch time of 2.859,5 hours from which 1.828 hours came from short-form content – not longer than a minute.
As a SEO fanatic at heart, I am very proud of this case. Together with video agency Team5pm, we smartly used data to make life at home easier with SEO-optimised video content.
Project owners
Yara Mureau
Account Manager
yara@team5pm.com
Frank De Wit
Co-founder / Managing Director Agency
frank@team5pm.com
Stef Van Der Burg
Strategist
stef@team5pm.com