Sephora Is Working To Improve Black Items, Brands In Google Searches

In an extension of Sephora’s black beauty campaign launched last month, the beauty brand in a partnership with R/GA media is working to bring real black beauty to the top of Google search results.

Sephora is launching a Google search campaign in an effort to revamp the experience when a user searches Black Beauty on the search site. The initiative will not only improve visibility for the hair and beauty brand’s Black Beauty content and education, but Black-owned hair and beauty products and entrepreneurs as a whole.

“With this effort, we set out to change the search experience, and correct an overlooked error via a simple, but smart search hack,”  Ellie Bamford, SVP, Global Head of Media and Connections at R/GA told BLACK ENTERPRISE.

“Media has the ability to change people’s experiences, and this idea in particular will help shed bias and shine a light on bias that does exist in the everyday search experience today. Because when you search for Black Beauty, you should see Black Beauty, and not a horse.”

To execute this R/GA’s media team has devised a strategy to own the search experience on YouTube and Google to push Sephora’s Black Beauty is Beauty content to the top of searches and improve discoverability. R/GA also created a YouTube video highlighting social media bias and calling on people to use the hashtag #BlackBeauty.

When Google users currently search “K Beauty,” “French Beauty” or “J Beauty,” they see images of people and products from those cultures. However, when Black Beauty is searched users get information on a fictitious book about a horse, even though Black beauty and haircare products are more popular than ever.

Big makeup and beauty brands Maybelline and Ulta Beauty have released makeup lines specially for Black and dark-skinned women after Black female celebrities including Rihanna, Tracee Ellis Ross and others have created their own beauty lines with resounding success.