MAM
GUEST COLUMN: SEO trends that can be game-changers for the business
Mumbai: Search engine optimisation (SEO) is the practice of improving your site’s data to increase its traction when people are looking for products or services that are related to your business in search engines such as Google, Firefox, Bing. Yahoo, etc. This is facilitated by the result pages that pop up when a person types a particular keyword in relation to their search. The better visibility your pages have in search results, the more likely you are to garner attention and attract prospective and existing customers to your business.
How does it work?
Major search engines such as Google and Yahoo use virtual bots to crawl through different web pages, collecting and analysing data that is then refined into an index. This index acts as a bank of information that possesses data collated from web pages. The algorithms within this index then categorise the collected data by filtering the information that is requested by the user. The final results page is a result of hundreds of ranking factors or signals, determining the order of the pages that should appear in the search results for a given query. This intensive process is carried out in helping the user find an exact match to their keyword search. The success of your SEO depends on how user/keyword-friendly your website data is.
How important it is from a marketing perspective
SEO plays a critical role within digital marketing because people search for a trillion things in a day, often with a commercial interest in a certain product/service. ‘Search’ is a primary way of generating digital traffic towards your website, making it an essential part of your digital marketing strategy. Greater visibility and higher search rankings than your potential competitor can have a material impact on your ultimate goal. To summarise, SEO lays the foundation of a holistic marketing ecosystem.
Changing Trends
Since the internet culture is so dynamic, its tools and practices are constantly evolving. SEO is no exception as the concept is subject to so many technological advancements on a daily basis. The algorithms change frequently, keeping the businesses and digital marketers on their toes. This is why being aware of what’s coming down the pipeline is extremely important. It can help a business plan prevent possible penalties or a massive drop in its site’s ranking.
Mobile SEO: With an uncontrollable smartphone penetration, more and more people are getting their hands on a smarter cellular device. The one that allows them to do more than just calling, texting people. Billions of people conduct searches via their phones, making it a key target area for digital marketers. It has now proven to become one of the more influential SEO areas than a desktop. If you’re doing SEO for desktops and not for mobile, it might have a better impact on your desktop rankings however, your mobile rankings could be abysmal. Moving forward, marketers will have to focus on both desktop and mobile SEO to maintain their positions in the search pages.
Voice Search: With virtual assistants such as Siri and Alexa getting smarter by the day, voice-search interaction is definitely going to be the next big thing within the SEO market. It is going to revolutionise the way you interact with search engines. Virtual assistants and AI are on their way to making the search process more user-efficient by providing answers to questions prior to users asking them. This path-breaking technology is expected to transpose the SEO landscape for many businesses.
Intentional Content: This SEO trend/technique is evergreen. It creates the basis of your search results ranking. Unless you have content that is meaningful and relevant to the consumer, no level of optimisation could help you attract traffic to your website. A digital marketer needs to curate best-in-class intent content by keeping the user in mind. This can only be achieved after a comprehensive study of current keyword trends, followed by rigorous competitor analysis.
Video Content: YouTube has been increasingly impacting the SEO rankings of many businesses. This makes one realise the importance of effective video content within a digital marketing strategy. Analysts and marketers highly suggest that these videos should promote the target keywords and be optimized for search. Embedding a video on your landing page that targets the same keyword could also prove beneficial in this regard.
(Anoushka Adya is founder of Di-mention Studios, a digital marketing agency. The views expressed in the column are personal and Indiantelevision.com may not subscribe to them.)
Brands
Nykaa eyes majority stake in Deepika Padukone’s 82°E brand
Deal could help scale premium label as Nykaa sharpens its beauty play
MUMBAI: Nykaa is in advanced discussions to acquire a majority stake in 82°E, the premium skincare label founded by Deepika Padukone, according to media reports.
The proposed deal signals Nykaa’s intent to deepen its House of Nykaa portfolio while giving 82°E the scale it has struggled to achieve independently. Padukone is expected to retain a minority stake if the transaction goes through.
For Nykaa, the play is both strategic and timely. With a customer base of over 42 million, the company is betting on its strong distribution, logistics, and repeat purchase ecosystem to revive the brand’s momentum. The two sides already share a working relationship, with Padukone serving as Nykaa’s global brand ambassador since September 2025.
Launched in late 2022, 82°E entered the market with a premium positioning but has faced headwinds. The brand reported revenue of Rs 14.7 crore in FY25, down 30 per cent year on year, alongside losses of Rs 12.26 crore. Industry observers have pointed to steep pricing, a somewhat diffused brand identity, and intense competition from digital-first labels as key challenges.
The potential acquisition also reflects a broader shift in India’s beauty and lifestyle space, where celebrity-led brands are increasingly partnering with larger corporates to unlock scale. Alia Bhatt’s Ed-a-Mamma, for instance, sold a majority stake to Reliance Retail, while Katrina Kaif’s Kay Beauty has emerged as a standout success within Nykaa’s portfolio, clocking Rs 132.4 crore in FY25 revenue.
Nykaa itself has been on a strong growth trajectory. Its parent, FSN E-Commerce Ventures, reported a 156 per cent jump in net profit to Rs 68 crore in the December 2025 quarter, with revenue reaching Rs 2,873 crore.
Nykaa has been steadily building its portfolio through acquisitions such as Dot & Key, Earth Rhythm and Nudge Wellness, signalling a clear push to own and scale homegrown brands.
If the 82°E deal materialises, it could mark a fresh chapter for the label, blending celebrity appeal with corporate muscle. For Nykaa, it is another calculated step in staying ahead in an increasingly crowded beauty aisle.
