ABOUT

Since 2022, we’ve partnered with Merlin Entertainments to push the boundaries of search globally. Merlin Entertainments is the global leader in branded entertainment destinations, welcoming over 60m guests annually across 141 venues in 23 countries. They’re the owners of much-loved attractions like LEGOLAND®, Madame Tussauds and SEA LIFE®.

In 2025, we identified a critical growth opportunity: the "SERP" is no longer just a Google list. Traditional search landscapes are shifting. Our research revealed that 46% of Gen Z and 35% of Millennials - the primary cohorts for Merlin Entertainment’s global attractions - now prefer TikTok, Instagram and YouTube over traditional search engines. Without a unified social search strategy, Merlin was missing out on high-intent users exploring the digital ecosystem via vertical video.

By synergising SEO and Social strategies, specifically focusing on dominating brand, accelerating generics and informing future content, we could capture intent on the platforms where families and young adults actually "discover." We targeted 6 key attractions across the globe, focusing on YouTube, Instagram and TikTok to bridge the gap between social discovery and transactional intent.

We didn't just optimise content; we engineered it to be found. Our execution was built on a sophisticated testing and optimisation methodology that treated social platforms with the same rigour as a technical SEO audit.

We used in-platform search volume and 12-month demand trends to build a social search keyword strategy. We mapped specific hashtags and keyword categories to "themes" that resonated with different attraction audiences (e.g., "short breaks" for thrill-seekers vs. "educational fun" for families).

We conducted a deep-dive audit of Merlin Entertainment’s channel infrastructure and profile health. We identified technical friction points - like accessibility standards and metadata gaps - that were preventing algorithms from properly indexing their content.

We then completed a competitor & content gap analysis, also analysing which topics and user-generated content (UGC) styles were dominating the market. This informed our search-first creative briefs, ensuring all new content was optimised to rank the moment it was published. We didn't just optimise for the apps; we optimised for Google’s integration of social video. By aligning social keywords with traditional SEO, we aimed to occupy more real estate on the main Google SERP.

The campaign (which ran between July and October 2025) delivered an explosion in engagement and visibility, proving that social search is a powerful, scalable engine for performance growth. Notable results included the following: We achieved a +86% increase in total engagement (likes and shares) across all highly adopted venues. Madame Tussauds London saw a massive +1,037% increase in shares across YouTube, Instagram and TikTok, successfully capturing the high-intent tourist and family market.
LEGOLAND Florida Resort achieved a +169% increase in likes. Crucially, our optimisation pushed Instagram videos for the head term "LEGOLAND Florida" from the bottom of Page 1 to Position #4. Alton Towers achieved a +155% increase in shares. We successfully moved their YouTube content for the generic term "theme park short breaks" from Page 4 to Position #2 on the SERP. By improving the indexing of social assets, we’ve created a sustainable, evergreen traffic source that doesn't rely on constant ad spend. This project has provided Merlin Entertainments with a future-proofed roadmap and creative framework that ensures every piece of content they produce moving forward is an active performance asset, driving lower-cost acquisition through organic social discovery.