SEO in Iceland
– what should you know?
Iceland consists of several islands and is situated on the border between the Arctic Ocean and the Atlantic Ocean. It is one of the northernmost inhabited places on earth. The “Land of Ice”, as the name suggests, is 11% covered by glaciers. The geographic landscape is enriched by numerous volcanoes, bays and fjords. In Iceland, you can experience full-day of light in summer and 24 hours of darkness in winter.
Iceland, mainly due to its unique climate, has a population of only 370,000 people. 99% of them have access to the Internet! Overall, about 66% of all Icelanders live around the capital, Reykjavik. Over 90% are concentrated in urban areas, making Iceland one of the most urbanised countries in the world.
“The Land of Ice” is not a member of the European Union, but is connected to the central market through the European Economic Agreement (EEA). As for the economy, one of its most important service pillars is tourism. There are direct flights to this charming island from, for instance, Gdańsk, Warsaw and Budapest.
Almost all Icelanders use the Internet. Through which devices do they connect to the web? Let’s see (data as of April 2022):
- Desktop (54.45%),
- Mobile (42.54%),
- Tablet (3.01%).
At the beginning of 2022, the number of social media users in Iceland included 96.2% of the total population (14.2% increase between 2021 and 2022). Most of them use Facebook (data as of April 2022):
- Facebook (81.26%),
- Pinterest (5.78%),
- Twitter (5.68%),
- Instagram (3.93%),
- Reddit (1.24%),
- YouTube (1.19%).
The presence of a company’s profile on Facebook is obviously an additional opportunity to present its offer, a place for ongoing contact with prospective as well as regular customers of our shop.
370,000
Iceland population
99 %
of the population has access to the Internet
365,000
Internet users
93,8 %
of users use Google
Search engines in Iceland
In Iceland, by far the most popular search engine is Google, which is used by nearly 94% of Internet users (share as of April 2022):
- Google (93.86%),
- Bing (3.51%),
- DuckDuckGo (1.31%),
- Yahoo! (0.8%),
- Ecosia (0.24%),
- Yandex (0.18%).
When it comes to web browsers, more than half of Icelanders use Chrome to read interesting content (data as of April 2022):
- Chrome (54.16%),
- Safari (25.25%),
- Edge (6.26%),
- Firefox (6.06%),
- Samsung Internet (4.24%),
- Opera (2.31%).
In terms of search engines, Google is the leader in Iceland. Among browsers, the share of individual ones is more heterogeneous. Apart from the most popular Chrome, every fourth citizen of the Country of Ice uses Safari.
E-commerce market in Iceland
Icelandic e-commerce in 2021 generated revenues of USD 303 million. In terms of size, it is the 95th largest e-commerce market in the world, growing by as much as 16% year-on-year. As for e-consumers, they made up 57% of Iceland’s total population last year.
Icelanders use the Internet frequently and like to shop via the Internet. Their virtual shopping basket contains products from both local and foreign suppliers. Often the prices of the latter are much more attractive, though of course a high delivery charge must be added. Nevertheless, the total cost and lack of availability in the country argue in their favour.
Iceland is not a member of the European Union, but it abides by its regulations related to e-commerce. Reducing customs duties on non-native products and streamlining delivery have only boosted international e-commerce. In 2017, 63% of Icelanders who shopped online took advantage of offers from foreign shops.
Users
What do the Icelanders most often put in their virtual shopping cart? Let’s see:
Online shopping
When it comes to payment methods for online shopping, most Icelanders use payment cards for this purpose:
It can be seen that the categories of products Icelanders are interested in online are highly diversified, and thus, half-jokingly, it can be said that they search and buy literally everything online.
As far as the most popular e-commerce companies are concerned, i.e. those with the highest revenues in Iceland, the top 5 are as follows (data for 2021):
- elko.is (USD 44 million),
- ikea.is (USD 22 million),
- heimkaup.is (USD 10 million),
- asos.com (USD 10 million),
- rumfatalagerinn.is (USD 9 million).
Icelanders also include supporters of global e-commerce platforms, led by AliExpress, which offers cheap Chinese products. American and European retailers also find their customers on the islands, and are particularly valued for clothing, baby and children’s products, and sports equipment, including bicycles.
For international online retailers catering to Icelandic customers, the biggest challenge is the delivery of the ordered product. In addition to high shipping costs, or fees imposed by the local post office, 24% VAT is also added to most imported goods. All of these aspects, in addition to the value of the product itself, need to be factored into the total cost of the transaction.
Which domain should you choose?
Iceland has its own domain name, which is “.is”. The local representative of Google located under it, Google.is, was however rarely used in April 2022 (2.16%). Most users used the global host – Google.com (87.47%). Interestingly, Bing.com came in second (3.51%). The above statistics prove that if you want to start SEO activities in Iceland, you do not have to have a native extension. We should also find our place on this market with a foreign domain.
In addition, if we plan to develop our business internationally, it is good to consider a European community domain “.eu” or, for example, the global “.com”. Later, the chosen extension will only have to be supplemented with other language versions, for example: mypage.eu/is, mypage.com/se, mypage.com/no, etc.
Why should you start promoting your business in Iceland?
Iceland may not be a large country, but for its size it has great potential. Last year, the Icelandic e-commerce market grew by as much as 16%. This trend is set to continue in the coming years. 99% of the inhabitants of this unique place have access to the Internet and make great use of it, including when shopping.
It is predicted that annual revenues from the e-commerce market in Iceland could exceed one billion US dollars by 2025. This would be influenced by an increase in the number of people using online shopping to a level of up to 75%. If these predictions are confirmed, the average revenue per user will be as high as USD 3,500.
For some, Iceland may seem like a remote place with a population at the level of a medium-sized city. Indeed, with a population of around 370,000 people, it could be seen as such. On the other hand, however, if we compare the possibilities of this country and the benefits which may flow from introducing one’s business into this market, it may turn out that we will not find a city which could give us such a return on investment. Of course, much depends on the industry and the so-called cost of entry, but as the saying goes: “fortune favours the bold”.
Link building in Iceland
If you want to be noticed, and above all understood by Icelanders on the Internet, you should first prepare an Icelandic language version of your website. This is essential for further steps, such as choosing a keyword catalogue or optimising your website for search engine algorithms and user preferences. Our experienced Takumi 匠 will help with these issues.
SEO activities should include high-quality link building. The amount of money spent on link building will depend on the industry in which you operate, i.e. the competition in this category in the Icelandic market. It is also worth mentioning link diversification, which in addition to linking to interesting articles, should include posts on thematic forums or references in social media. As far as the latter are concerned, the use of Facebook in Iceland, at over 80%, proves the necessity of having a presence there showcasing your business and maintaining constant communication with potential customers.
The most comprehensive service
SEO360® ensures the most comprehensive service among other similar on the market, such as SEO or SXO, which has been confirmed by research.
Guaranteed sales increase
The service provides a guarantee of the final effect, an increase traffic and revenue / leads.
Hybrid settlements based on success fee
Once 100% of the original target is achieved, any results above are based on a success fee.
Guaranteed link maintenance
We do not remove acquired links even after the end of cooperation.
We work all over Europe
Under one contract, we can carry out our work for all European countries with the support of a network of quality partners.
Individual strategy
We prepare a comprehensive, extensive strategy in which we examine the real needs of consumers (customer insights) before starting any actions.
See how your website traffic and revenue will increase!
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SEO360®
regular SEO
How does the SEO process work in Iceland?
Strategy
It is the starting point for SEO360® actions, individually priced and created on the basis of the customer’s needs and expectations included earlier in the brief filled in by the customer. As part of our conceptual work, we establish the KPIs necessary for successful implementation of further stages of the project, in particular analysis, content marketing plan and estimations, which are the components of the strategy.
Analysis
In this step, we carry out all the activities verifying the current state of the selected website in terms of SEO and its potential in a given country when compared to the competition. At the same time, we analyse the full user path based on the customer journey. The result of the analysis is a large amount of data that can be used to implement further SEO360® steps.
Content Marketing Plan
Individually prepared for the industry represented by the Client and for the given markets where SEO360® activities will be conducted. It includes a scenario concerning the type of created content and the way of its distribution in order to reach the consumers with it precisely and to be one step ahead of the competition. Content Creators guarantee the successful implementation of this plan.
Estimations
An extremely valuable and final component of the strategy, where we estimate individual values related to the visibility of the website in the most popular search engine of a given country, taking into account the increase in traffic and, more importantly, the increase in conversions over a specified period of time.
Technical SEO
When starting proper SEO activities, one of the necessary steps to achieve final success is technical SEO, also called technical analysis or technical optimisation for SEO, i.e. the part of optimisation that does not concern content. It consists of all activities that affect the architecture and code of a website in such a way as to make it as friendly as possible to the most stringent search engine requirements and, at the same time, to stay one step ahead of the competition.
Content optimisation
Part of optimising a website for SEO, in addition to technical SEO, is content optimisation. Valuable content for the user is one of the key elements that will help to achieve high search engine visibility as well as increase conversions and thus revenue.
UX + CRO
As part of the SEO360® service, we provide analysis and optimisation of User Experience metrics with a particular focus on heuristic experiments and A/B testing as well as Conversion Rate Optimisation. In this way, we analyse consumer activity at each stage of their purchase process, increasing sales effectiveness.
Link Building
We conduct link building using the highest quality permanent links acquired from external sources or services, from reliable publishers with a guarantee of their maintenance even after the end of cooperation. As part of this process, we take care of the correct link profile, which brings end benefits.
Ongoing Data Analysis
In SEO360®, through advanced tools supervised by the Client Success Manager, we constantly measure the progress related to the evaluation of conducted activities, and on their basis, our customers have access to extensive reports 24/7.
Increase in traffic and revenue
The ultimate value of SEO360® is the increase in brand awareness, traffic, conversions and revenue generated from the service, which is significantly higher than in the case of ‘regular SEO’ and above all, it is long-lasting.
Data source:
- https://gs.statcounter.com/
- https://www.statista.com/topics/3079/iceland/#dossierContents__outerWrapper
- https://ecommercedb.com/en/markets/is/all
- https://datareportal.com/reports/digital-2022-iceland
- https://www.trade.gov/country-commercial-guides/iceland-ecommerce
- https://www.lloydsbanktrade.com/en/market-potential/iceland/ecommerce
- https://www.statista.com/outlook/dmo/ecommerce/iceland#key-market-indicators
Let’s stay in touch
+48 500 050 939
office@seogroup.pl
FAQ
To what extent is online marketing present and used in Iceland?
Although it is a small country, due to the ubiquity of the Internet, digital marketing in Iceland is well-known and, moreover, widely used. Not only larger companies, but also small and medium-sized enterprises have their profiles there, and use advertising to promote the products they offer. The larger companies act in a complementary way, combining their online presence with active conventional marketing, for example through billboards or the mass media.
