SEO case study · Dalmoru Skin · K-beauty skincare brand · Seoul
열 단계 루틴 · A ten-step routine for search
Exporting glass skin: a Seoul skincare brand's ingredient-led ecommerce growth
+262%
international organic revenue
14 months of ecommerce seo for a beauty & fashion brand in Seoul, South Korea. Four tactics, applied in order, like a routine: product feeds, ingredient pages, hreflang, product schema.
Step 02 / 10 · Foam cleanser · 폼 클렌저
Cleanse. The challenge: loved at home, invisible abroad.
Strong domestic sales but international shoppers found the products only via resellers, with no English ingredient information on the brand store.
Shoppers in London, Sydney and Toronto were searching for exactly what Dalmoru Skin makes: centella toners, rice-ferment essences, mugwort serums. But the brand store spoke only Korean to search engines, and the ingredient lists that international shoppers check first were locked inside images.
So resellers answered the query instead, at higher prices, with older stock and no control over the story. The brand was paying for its domestic reputation and handing the export margin to someone else.
- SKUs on the store
- 118
- English INCI lists
- 0
- Reseller share of brand SERP
- 72%
- Language Google could read
- 1
Step 03 / 10 · Exfoliator · 각질 제거
Diagnose. Exfoliate the store: what the audit lifted off.
- 01 · ContentCritical
Ingredient lists lived inside Korean-language product images
0 of 118 SKUs had crawlable English INCI text; full lists were JPG infographics.
- 02 · InternationalCritical
One Korean store, translated by a client-side widget
No hreflang, no /en/ paths; Googlebot saw Korean only, so English queries went to resellers.
- 03 · FeedsHigh
Merchant feed rejected for most overseas markets
38% of items disapproved: missing GTINs, KRW-only prices, no international shipping.
- 04 · TechnicalHigh
No Product schema, so no price, stock or ratings in results
Reseller listings showed star ratings and USD prices; the brand store showed neither.
- 05 · Brand SERPHigh
Resellers owned the brand's own name
7 of the top 10 results for “dalmoru” were marketplaces and resellers (72% share).
- 06 · TechnicalMedium
Variant URLs duplicated every product three times
Size parameters created 341 indexable near-duplicates with no canonical.
Step 04 / 10 · Toner · 토너
Balance. The strategy: four layers, in the right order.
Built on our Commerce SEO plan. Like a routine, the order matters: the store had to be readable before it could be found, and found before rich results could make it chosen.
- Layer 1
Hreflang
A server-rendered /en/ store per market, tied to the Korean original with reciprocal hreflang and an x-default.
- Layer 2
Ingredient pages
64 guides that answer the research query, then route to the products that contain each ingredient.
- Layer 3
Product feeds
A rebuilt Merchant feed with GTINs, local prices and shipping, plus ingredient attributes.
- Layer 4
Product schema
Product, Offer and AggregateRating on every SKU so the official store looks official in results.
Tactics on file: Product feeds · Ingredient pages · Hreflang · Product schema
Step 05 / 10 · Essence · 에센스
Infuse. Ingredient pages: the essence of the brand, in English.
International K-beauty shoppers search by ingredient before brand. Each guide explains what the ingredient does, who it suits, how to layer it, the full INCI context, and which products carry it. Korean names stay alongside the English for shoppers who search both.
병풀
Centella asiatica
Calming, barrier repair
/en/ingredients · 14 products
쑥
Mugwort
Soothing, anti-redness
/en/ingredients · 9 products
쌀 발효
Rice ferment filtrate
Brightening, glow
/en/ingredients · 11 products
달팽이
Snail secretion filtrate
Hydration, repair
/en/ingredients · 6 products
나이아신아마이드
Niacinamide
Tone, pores
/en/ingredients · 17 products
프로폴리스
Propolis extract
Nourishing, glow
/en/ingredients · 7 products
인삼
Ginseng root
Firming, vitality
/en/ingredients · 5 products
히알루론산
Hyaluronic acid
Deep hydration
/en/ingredients · 21 products
8 of 64 guides shown.
Step 06 / 10 · Serum · 세럼
Target. Hreflang and feeds: targeted at every market.
| hreflang | Market | Live |
|---|---|---|
| en-US | United States | M3 |
| en-GB | United Kingdom | M4 |
| en-AU | Australia | M5 |
| en-CA | Canada | M6 |
| en-SG | Singapore | M7 |
| ko-KR | South Korea (x-default) | M3 |
Merchant feed health
Supplemental feed attributes (key ingredient, skin type, routine step) let Shopping listings match ingredient queries, not just product names.
Step 07 / 10 · Sheet mask · 시트 마스크
Seal. Product schema: seal in the official store.
Structured data gave the brand store the same price, stock and rating signals resellers had been using to win the click. The modelled brand SERP, before and after:
megamart.example · reseller
Dalmoru Centella Toner 200ml – Free shipping
★★★★☆ 1,204 · $31.90
kbeauty-outlet.example · reseller
Dalmoru Skin – Korean skincare in stock
$29.50 · Ships from US
dalmoru.example · official
달모루 공식몰 | 달모루 스킨
No price, no rating, Korean only
seoul-beauty-box.example · reseller
Dalmoru review: is the toner worth it?
★★★★★ 88
dalmoru.example/en · official
Dalmoru Skin – Official store | Centella & rice ferment skincare
★★★★★ 4.8 (2,316) · $24.00 · In stock · Free returns
dalmoru.example/en/ingredients/centella · official
Centella asiatica in skincare: what it does, how to layer it
Ingredient guide · 14 products
megamart.example · reseller
Dalmoru Centella Toner 200ml
★★★★☆ 1,204 · $31.90
dalmoru.example/en/routines · official
The glass-skin routine, step by step
Routine · 10 steps
Step 08 / 10 · Eye cream · 아이 크림
Wait. 14 months, applied patiently.
- 01Month
Audit & INCI capture
Crawled the store, mapped 118 SKUs and transcribed every ingredient list into structured text.
- 02Month
Store architecture
Server-rendered /en/ subfolder, canonical rules for size variants, hreflang plan for six locales.
- 03Month
US launch
en-US live with x-default to Korean; first 12 ingredient guides published.
- 04Month
Feed rebuild
GTINs added, USD/GBP prices, shipping tables; disapprovals cut from 38% to 4%.
- 05Month
Product schema
Product, Offer and AggregateRating on every SKU; merchant listings eligible.
- 06Month
Ingredient hub
A–Z ingredient index linking guides to products; 30 guides live.
- 07Month
UK, AU, CA, SG
Remaining English locales shipped with local currency and returns copy.
- 08Month
Brand SERP
Organisation schema, official-store sitelinks, reseller price-match messaging.
- 09Month
Routine content
Step-by-step routine pages connecting ingredients to regimens.
- 10Month
Feed enrichment
Supplemental feed with ingredient attributes and skin-type labels.
- 11Month
48 guides
Comparison guides (snail vs centella) target the ingredient research moment.
- 12Month
CRO on PDPs
INCI accordions, how-to-layer modules, shipping clarity above the fold.
- 13Month
Refresh cycle
Re-crawl, prune thin pages, refresh top guides with new formulations.
- 14Month
64 guides, steady state
Ingredient library complete; reseller share of brand SERP down to 31%.
Step 09 / 10 · Moisturiser · 수분 크림
Glow. The glow: results after the full routine.
64
Ingredient guide pages
+412%
Shopping impressions
72% → 31%
Reseller share of brand SERP
+219%
Organic orders
Modelled scenario for a fictional business — not a client result. Rankings and traffic are never guaranteed; see our Terms.
International organic revenue, indexed to month 0 = 100
Month 14+262%
Reseller share of the brand SERP at month 14: 31%
| Query | Mkt | Before | After |
|---|---|---|---|
| dalmoru skin officialBrand | US | 6 | 1 |
| dalmoru centella tonerProduct | US | 9 | 1 |
| centella asiatica benefits skinIngredient | UK | — | 3 |
| rice ferment essenceIngredient | US | 41 | 4 |
| korean mugwort serumProduct | AU | — | 2 |
| glass skin routine productsCommercial | US | 58 | 6 |
| snail mucin vs centellaIngredient | UK | — | 5 |
| k beauty sunscreen ingredientsCommercial | CA | 77 | 8 |
Step 10 / 10 · Sunscreen · 선크림
Protect. Protect what you built. Get a plan like this.
International growth for a product brand is a routine, not a single treatment: readable stores, ingredient answers, clean feeds and structured data, maintained month after month. Commerce SEO packages exactly that.