Cosmo reaps SEO success

7th July 2008

Cosmopolitan magazine's UK website has seen unique visitor numbers double between October and May, according to new figures.

Nedstats research seen by Journalism.co.uk showed that the website managed to increase traffic by about 136 per cent during this period, largely thanks to a relaunch and a new search engine optimisation (SEO) campaign.

Alex Ballantyne, managing director of Hearst Digital, said that Cosmopolitan.co.uk had relaunched with a new platform that is more focused on SEO than previously.

"We're well ahead of the curve with Cosmo; it has been a fantastic response from the market," Mr Ballantyne said, adding that better search tags and promotional strategies across the magazine and various sites had also helped.

Hearst Digital's other web properties include Handbag, Netdoctor.co.uk, Bazaar, Good Housekeeping and Country Living.

It claims that its sites are used by a third of the female online population in the UK, gaining 40 million page impressions from about four million women a year.