SEO and GEO Project for Arla

Over 100 Years of Dairy Tradition

Arla Foods is an international dairy cooperative owned by dairy farmers. In the Netherlands, Arla sells products under brands such as Arla Bio, Arla Lactofree, Arla Skyr, Arla Cultura, and Arla Apetina. The website enhances the brand experience with product information, background content, and an extensive collection of recipes.

SEO and GEO Project for Arla

SmartRanking supported Arla with a combined SEO and GEO approach. The shared brand goal was to reach relevant consumers, provide reliable answers to their questions, and increase the likelihood that Arla would be recognized and considered when someone is choosing between different brands in the store.

Arla’s objective

The primary objective was to further build brand awareness. Arla wanted to be visible not only when consumers searched directly for the brand or a product, but also earlier in the customer journey: when they had questions about ingredients, uses, lactose-free foods, and recipes.

In addition, the website had to reliably convey brand values and product information without making claims that were not legally permitted. SEO and GEO were intended to reinforce existing marketing activities and provide greater insight into what consumers needed online and how AI models described the brand and its products.

The Approach for This Project

Search Query, On-Page SEO, and Search Quality

SmartRanking began with keyword research and content planning. For each page, we analyzed search intent, existing search data, and the page’s role in the customer journey. The content on product pages, brand pages, and informational content was refined, with a focus on being helpful and clear for the consumer.

Search Quality was a key component of the approach. In addition to content quality, SmartRanking examined navigation, timeliness, reliability, and the way the brand presented itself. Brand sentiment and recurring complaints were also taken into account to determine where information or positioning could be improved.

Recipes for Upper-Funnel Visibility

Recipes made it possible to raise Arla’s profile early in the exploration phase. SmartRanking optimized existing recipes and identified new themes and content opportunities. Throughout this process, we consistently sought to establish a natural connection between users’ information needs and relevant Arla products or brands.

The recipes continued to gain traction even after the introduction of AI Overviews. Between June and December 2025, the number of impressions for recipe pages in Google Search Console grew by 58.5% to more than 5 million impressions per month. As a result, this content remained a demonstrable source of reach and brand exposure.

Technical Risks in International Governance

When technical changes required central coordination, SmartRanking provided detailed analyses and priorities to the international headquarters. In the Dutch implementation, special attention was paid to monitoring broken backlinks and redirecting valuable links to ensure that the authority that had been built up was not lost.

SEO and GEO as a Combined Approach

SEO and GEO were not treated as separate organic search channels. Search behavior, visibility in AI models, and signals related to brand sentiment helped determine content opportunities and priorities. By making pages more helpful, clearer, and better substantiated, we created content that formed a stronger foundation in both organic search results and generative answers. In this way, the project contributed more broadly to Arla’s online brand presence.

The result achieved

The collaboration led to strong growth in reach and organic coverage. Over a 20-month period, from May 2024 through December 2025, the average year-over-year growth in website visitors was 288.9%. The number of search terms in the top 100 grew from 80,764 to 162,804 during the same period: +101.6%.

Visibility in the top 10 has also increased significantly. The number of search terms in the top 10 grew from 47,651 to 91,170 during that same period. We deliberately excluded the average keyword position from this analysis, as the keyword research was expanded several times based on competitor gap analyses.

The results show that SEO and GEO can deliver measurable value even for a major retail brand without direct e-commerce. Not through a definitive online revenue attribution model, but by increasing the brand’s visibility more frequently and at an earlier stage, better addressing consumer questions, and reaching a larger portion of the relevant search and AI ecosystem.