SEO in Germany

The population of Germany is 83.6 million. Nearly 93% of Germans have access to and actively use the Internet. Interestingly, the number of smartphones reaches 110 million, which means that every third German has two phones! The statistical Otto Normalverbraucher (the German equivalent John Smith) spends almost 4.5 hours a day on the net!

Year after year, users in this country increasingly prefer browsing the internet via mobile devices rather than via computers. In 2019, 11% more people used the “small” screen for this than the year before. On the other hand, the classic desktop continued to lose popularity, falling by 4.4%. It is also worth noting the definite decline of users surfing the web using tablets, which reached as much as -31%.

The most popular devices used by Germans:

• mobile phones and Smart TVs (92%),
• laptops and desktops (76%),
• smartphones (75%),
• tablets (38%),
• smartwatches (6%).

When it comes to operating systems on mobile devices, as in Poland, most users use Android (70%) and iOS (29% of traffic). The most popular applications used by more than half of Germans include WhatsApp (as much as 79%), YouTube (77%) and Facebook (64%).

Germans pay attention to order, design and quality. These qualities are also reflected in the SEO itself, and in particular in unique, comprehensive and question-answering content. The website itself should also have a clear template so interested parties can navigate it easily. Our neighbours most often buy electronics, clothes, toys and things they need to develop their passions online. You can read more about this in the section “E-commerce market in Germany” below.

E-commerce market in Germany

Germany is the 5th biggest e-commerce market in the world! Actually, this sentence should answer all questions and satisfy all doubts related to the idea of establishing and developing a market in a country which is a giant of electronic sales. The annual turnover of e-commerce reaches an exorbitant amount, i.e. more than 100 billion euro. No one needs to be convinced that there is a lot to fight for. Equally importantly, according to statistics about 66 million Germans buy online! Each of them spends on average EUR 1,424 per annum in this way.

The growth rate of e-commerce in Germany in 2019 was 11%. This is less than the global segment average (13%), but it is not a bad statistic. On the contrary, it can be said that Germany is already a mature and more established market than in the case of developing countries.

Which shops and shopping platforms are used by our western neighbours?

(annual turnover in 2019 in brackets)

• AMAZON.DE (EUR 9,278.1 million),
• OTTO.DE (EUR 3,200.0 million),
• ZALANDO.DE (EUR 1,441.0 million),
• MEDIAMARKT.DE (EUR 987.7 million),
• NOTEBOOKSBILLIGER.DE (EUR 878.5 million),
• LIDL.DE (EUR 757.3 million),
• BONPRIX.DE (EUR 601.1 million),
• CYBERPORT.DE (EUR 554.7 million),
• SATURN.DE (EUR 546.2 million),
• ALTERNATE.DE (EUR 524.5 million).

The English-speaking Amazon has for years held the leading position in terms of online sales in Germany. It has almost three times the turnover of the second in the ranking, the local Otto.de. However, these two players together account for almost half of the e-commerce turnover in Germany. The online equivalents of brick-and-mortar shops (such as Media Markt, Lidl and Saturn) are also gaining ground on the market. The “cake” is such a big and tasty titbit that it is definitely worth trying to grab even a small part of it.

Why should you start promoting your business in Germany?

The German market is certainly interesting and affluent. Importantly, our neighbours are already accustomed to on-line shopping and using commercial platforms. This, with a well-developed strategy and gradual development of the service area, provides a solid basis for the successful implementation of the expansion of our business. Germany, as we all know, is Poland’s neighbour which is also an advantage in terms of logistics and order delivery.

15% of German buyers do so using foreign offers. This means that the German consumer does not choose only domestic products. They attach great importance to the appearance and above all to quality, which in the end can tip the scales and convince the user to choose our product range.

The benefits of SEO in Germany:

• increased sales, i.e. higher profits,
• more affluent, less conflicted customers,
• increased brand awareness and recognition,
• if you offer quality products, you will gain regular and loyal customers,
• continuous development based on the preferences of the new market,
• unlimited possibilities.

Expanding your business area is certainly a challenge, but also an opportunity. An additional market means the direct opportunity to acquire new customers, and further increase the scope of sales and ultimately profits. If your product delivers the quality they are looking for, you can expand your customer base for years to come. It is also a good idea to make such a move before your competitors do, in order to build your position in advance and become a leader in a new area. Continuous growth, expansion of your offerings, and expansion of your business are all benefits that allow you to let your imagination run wild. But it’s not that far off, in the end it all depends on ourselves.

Link building in Germany

When it comes to link building for the German market, it relies in particular on gathering quality links from thematic websites. Importantly, it is the high quality, not the sheer quantity of links that counts.

Links to publications prepared by journalists or press releases themselves are among the most popular ways of acquiring links in Germany. Editors are quite happy to link to source material. The text itself, however, must first and foremost carry value and verified information. The same applies to link placement with business partners. If the cooperation proceeds as planned and is satisfactory for both sides, Germans often place links to their business partners on their websites. One of the most important and valuable forms of link acquisition is sponsored articles. In Germany, they are not sneaked in as part of the regular content, unlike in Poland. Their quality is also at a high level and they often contain professionally prepared text based on expert studies and sources and thus form an important part of the respective website.

Other forms of link acquisition in Germany:

• Links from cooperation with blogs (usually thematic, text or comment with link),
• Links from social media (used, but without translating into organic results),
• Links from partnerships with educational websites (sharing of teaching materials/documentation),
• Links acquired from PBOs (similar model as with business partners),
• Guest posts (tutorial services, blogs of other entities or information platforms).