SEO in Bulgaria

Bulgaria is located in the south-eastern part of Europe. At the beginning of 2022, this charming place was inhabited by 6.87 million people. The internet penetration rate in this republic in the Balkans is 78%. This means that there are 5.36 million users connected to the network in Bulgaria. Their number, comparing 2021 to January 2022 statistics, increased by 4.6%.

Since 2007, Bulgaria has been a member of the European Union, thanks to which many trade barriers have disappeared, and exports are mainly carried out with the countries of the community. As far as employment is concerned, the service sector has the largest number of employees. With the economic growth, the habits and customs of Bulgarian consumers have changed. They are increasingly opting for healthy, organic food, while at the same time choosing smaller suppliers that offer better quality products than the supermarkets. At the same time, some of them are also choosing to shop online.

Bulgarians mostly browse websites on mobile devices, although desktops, which include both laptops and desktops, are still quite popular compared to other European countries (data for February 2022):

• mobile (55.45%),
• desktop (43.29%),
• tablet (1.25%).

In line with the above trend, let’s focus for a moment on the use of smartphones for surfing the Internet, specifically the use of social media. Just as the number of people using the benefits of the telecommunications space is growing, so is the group of social media users (3.5% growth in 2022 compared to 2021). If we want to describe this aspect in Bulgaria, we can confidently say that the undisputed king is Facebook! (data for February 2022):

• Facebook (97.74%),
• Instagram (0.81%),
• YouTube (0.47%),
• Pinterest (0.42%),
• Twitter (0.36%),
• LinkedIn (0.1%).

At the beginning of 2022, a total of 4.45 million users used social media in Bulgaria.

E-commerce market in Bulgaria

Bulgaria is the 2nd largest e-commerce market in Southern Europe. The Bulgarian customer is one of the wealthiest in the Balkans, which has its direct impact on the growing interest in online shopping. In 2017, they were worth 525 million US dollars, in 2020 the revenue had already reached 712 million US dollars, in 2021 it is close to a billion, and in 2022 it is expected to be over 2 billion US dollars. Going forward, it is worth noting that by 2025, according to Statista, the average annual growth rate is expected to be 12.74%.

It is significant that there is still a large group of recipients to be managed, due to the fact that the value of revenues from e-commerce in 2020, accounted for only 11% of enterprise revenues (the lowest in the entire European Union). In 2021, 35% of Bulgarians put at least one product in a virtual shopping basket, in 2022 this scale is expected to reach 48.1%, and by 2025 as much as 58.3% of the entire population.

As for the list of popular products sought by Bulgarians online, two categories, i.e. clothing and electronics, account for more than 60% of the e-commerce market. Bulgaria is a frequent tourist destination, but Bulgarians do not search for these types of services online.

Regarding the online shops with the highest turnover in Bulgaria, the top five are as follows (data for 2021):

• emag.bg (USD 144 million),
• technopolis.bg (USD 36 million),
• hm.com (USD 35 million),
• fashiondays.bg (USD 33 million),
• obuvki.bg (USD 25 million).

The leader, emag.bg, is the largest e-commerce site in Bulgaria. It has a wide range of products, divided into more than 20 categories, ranging from clothing to electronics and home appliances. The large assortment, as well as attractive prices, have attracted a large group of customers.

Why should you start promoting your business in Bulgaria?

When it comes to the size of the e-commerce market, Bulgaria, according to data from 2021 and with revenues of 988 million US dollars, ranks 67th in the world. In the ranking, it is behind Lithuania and ahead of, for example, Croatia. According to the forecasts described in the previous paragraphs, the Bulgarian e-commerce market is expected to develop further, which means that Bulgaria’s position in this ranking should also go up.

Bulgarian e-commerce in 2021 grew by a full 29%, thus contributing significantly to the global trend, estimated at the same level. Bulgarians value quality and good service. They approach online shopping with a bit of uncertainty, but if, afterwards, the result meets their expectations, we can gain a customer for the long term. It is a similar case of cooperation and acting with the customer as on the Romanian or Hungarian market.

Foreign online shops in Bulgaria have a chance to gain customers. Firstly, because of the underdeveloped local e-sales, secondly, because of the competitiveness and the quality offered. Very importantly, the costs of SEO in Bulgaria, compared to other countries of the community, as well as possible profits, are relatively low. If we strengthen our position in the search engine and convince the client, Bulgaria will start to be associated not only with pleasant holidays, but also with a place to run your business.

Link building in Bulgaria

If you want to establish your presence in Bulgaria, you should be well prepared. It is good to do a proper audit of the website and, above all, to optimise it for the new market of your goods. For effective SEO of your website in the Balkans, this process should be accompanied by quality link building.

Although in Bulgaria there is not much competition on the local market, links should still be placed on recognisable and good ranking websites. Of course, this is also important from the perspective of the market leader, Google, which “holds all the cards” at the top of the search results.

Solid content marketing should be supported by equally valuable buzz marketing on thematic forums. One should also not forget about social media, or more specifically Facebook (almost 98% share), where it is also worth placing relevant mentions, presenting the offer and maintaining constant communication with customers.