Legacy Brand, New Platforms: How We Dominated YouTube for an 80-Year-Old Water Company
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1.34M
Total views across YouTube content in 2024
887K
Views from YouTube Shorts
20.8%
Of all traffic came from organic search
We turned an industrial legacy brand into a content powerhouse with 1.34M+ organic views
Overview
Culligan is a water treatment company with over 80 years of industry leadership. When they partnered with NoGood to find growth on TikTok, they were determined to extend their success on modern marketing channels to YouTube. And so, we set off to do just that.
The Challenge
By 2024, Culligan had proven TikTok success, but faced a new challenge: how to translate that momentum to YouTube while building long-term search presence. The platform demanded different content strategies, longer attention spans, and SEO mastery.
Key obstacles:
- Platform transition complexity: YouTube Shorts vs. TikTok required different optimization
- Search competition: Ranking for water-related queries against established players
- Legacy brand perception on Google’s platform where authority and expertise matter
- Dual strategy needs: Entertaining Shorts content AND educational search optimization
- Longer content adaptation: Expanding beyond 15-second viral moments
- Culligan needed to own the water conversation across both social discovery AND search engines.
Services
YouTube Strategy Development & Deployment
YouTube Shorts Optimization
Search Engine Content Strategy
Video Production & Editing
Cross-Platform Content Adaptation
Educational Content Development
Performance Analytics & Optimization
Authority Building & Positioning
Strategy
Core Insight: YouTube isn’t just TikTok with longer videos; it’s the world’s second-largest search engine. We built a dual strategy capturing both entertainment discovery AND search intent across multiple platforms.
- YouTube-first optimization treating the platform as both social media and search engine
- Cross-platform SEO integration ensuring content ranked on Google, YouTube, and alternative search engines
- Intent-based content development creating videos that answered real water questions people were searching for
We pioneered “social search” – using YouTube as the primary search destination while driving traffic from traditional search engines. This created a content ecosystem where educational videos served both entertainment and search intent.
Search Performance Breakdown:
- 20.8% of total traffic came from search (YouTube + external search engines)
- 66.3% from social discovery (YouTube Shorts feed)
- 95.1% Google dominance among external search engines
- Multi-engine ranking across Google, Yahoo, Bing, and DuckDuckGo simultaneously
Content Innovation Examples:
- “How to Remove Hard Water Stains” – 124K views (educational authority content)
- “How Dirty Are Water Parks” – 25K views (trending topic adaptation)
- “Is Boiled Water ACTUALLY Safe” – 24K views (myth-busting content)
- “Still Water vs Sparkling Water” – 20K views (comparison content)
- “Hardcore Water Edit” – 18K views (trending meme content)
- Water trivia and educational content consistently driving 15K+ views each
How We Worked Together
We evolved from TikTok specialists to multi-platform search strategists, taking ownership of Culligan’s entire YouTube presence AND search ecosystem.
Developed content that worked simultaneously as entertainment (Shorts) and education (Search), creating dual-purpose assets that maximized reach and authority.
- YouTube Search Optimization: 178K views from people actively searching for water solutions
- External Search Dominance: 96K views from Google driving traffic to YouTube content
- Multi-Engine Ranking: Achieved visibility across Google, Yahoo, Bing, and DuckDuckGo
- Intent-Based Content: Higher watch times (1+ minute) on search traffic vs. social discovery
Built attribution systems tracking the complete customer journey from search query to consultation, proving YouTube’s role in the sales funnel beyond just awareness.
Created repeatable frameworks where educational content served both social discovery and search intent, maximizing every piece of content’s potential reach and impact.
Results
The bottom line: We didn’t just add another platform; we made Culligan the definitive water authority across YouTube’s entire ecosystem, from Shorts to Search.
Platform Dominance
- 1.34M total views across YouTube content in 2024
- 887K views from YouTube Shorts (66% of total traffic) proving short-form mastery
- 3M+ impressions with 3.95% click-through rate across all content
Social Search Authority
- 178K views from YouTube Search (13.3% of traffic) – establishing YouTube as primary search discovery
- 96K views from Google Search driving external traffic to YouTube content
- 279K total search-driven views (20.8% of all traffic) proving dual-platform SEO success
- 44K direct referrals from culligan.com showing brand authority integration
- 1+ minute average view duration on search traffic indicating high-intent audiences
Multi-Platform Search Dominance
- 95.1% Google search market share among external search engines
- Cross-platform ranking success across YouTube, Google, Yahoo, Bing, and DuckDuckGo
- Educational content authority with how-to videos like “How to Add Salt to Your Water Softener” (36K views)
- Search intent optimization with longer watch times for educational content vs. entertainment
1.34M
Total views across YouTube content in 2024
887K
Views from YouTube Shorts
20.8%
Of all traffic came from organic search
Top-performing creatives
Squad
Marina Chilingaryan
Sr. Community Strategist
Berkley Moates
Community Manager
Quinn Sherr
Content & YouTube Lead