Putting an Anti-Aging Skincare Brand on ChatGPT's Shortlist

The client is a DTC skincare brand built around clinically minded anti-aging products: eye serums, face creams, and moisturizers targeting dark circles, under-eye bags, wrinkles, and sagging skin.

By late 2025, skincare discovery was moving beyond traditional search results. Consumers were turning to Reddit, ChatGPT, and other AI-powered platforms to research products, compare ingredients, and decide what to buy. The challenge was not awareness. The brand needed to appear during the consideration stage, when users were actively comparing skincare products and deciding which solutions to purchase, across both Google Search and AI-generated recommendations.

We designed a Reddit-led SEO and AI visibility campaign focused on authentic product discovery conversations. The thesis: useful Reddit discussions can rank prominently in Google, generate ongoing engagement, and become trusted sources referenced by AI engines.

The campaign targeted five high-intent keywords, chosen because they reflect strong product research and purchase intent: "best eye serum for dark circles," "best face cream for wrinkles and sagging skin," "best anti-aging moisturizer for dry skin," "best cream for under eye bags," and "best dark spot corrector." Discussions were written in a natural user-to-user format, positioned the brand within relevant recommendations, and were optimized for Google indexing and AI citation potential.

In early October 2025, we launched five Reddit discussions across established beauty and skincare communities: r/SkincareAddictionLux, r/Skincare_Addiction, r/beauty, r/GracefulAgingSkincare, and r/30PlusSkinCare. Each discussion addressed a specific skincare concern while naturally positioning the brand within the conversation.

The discussions generated 223,000+ total views and 168 comments, led by the eye serum thread at 98,000 views and the under-eye bag discussion at 93,000. A further 33,000+ views landed in the latest 30-day period alone, months after publication: content that remains discoverable, not a short-lived social post.

On search, the discussions ranked prominently in Google for multiple high-intent queries, including "best eye serum for dark circles," "best face cream for wrinkles and saggy skin," and "best cream for under eye bags." Users searching those phrases are actively seeking solutions and peer opinions, one step from a purchase decision.

On AI, ChatGPT cited the campaign's Reddit discussion directly while including the brand's eye serum in an AI-generated product recommendation, placing the brand inside a comparison response at the exact moment a user was evaluating skincare products.

Ahrefs data showed measurable growth in AI mentions, estimated impressions, and AI share of voice following the October launch, with the strongest increases arriving in the months after publication. That delay is the mechanism, not a flaw: campaign content needs time to achieve search indexing, AI discovery, and citation pickup, and then it compounds. Impressions held steady through late 2025 before accelerating sharply in January and February 2026, passing 1.15 million.

The headline outcome is share of voice. The brand's ChatGPT AI share of voice rose from 67% to approximately 82% among tracked skincare competitors by February 2026, ahead of every other monitored brand in the recommendation queries where users compare products and decide what to buy. Because share of voice is measured relative to competitors, the brand was not just appearing more often. It was capturing a larger portion of all available AI search exposure.

Reddit was the leading cited domain behind the brand's AI visibility, driving the majority of citations and authority signals, while the brand's own website ranked second and surpassed YouTube. The campaign's primary channel is exactly the source AI engines reference most when producing skincare recommendations.