SEO in Ireland

Ireland is an island country, which is part of the British Isles archipelago, inhabited by almost 5 million people. Known as the Emerald Isle, it earned its nickname from its evergreen meadows and vast, lush fields, spreading all over the country. The country has two official languages: English and Irish, with the former spoken by the vast majority of its citizens. Interestingly, only 4% of Ireland’s population speak Irish. As a member of the European Union, Ireland adopted the euro as its official currency in 2002 (replacing the Irish pound). The country’s largest city, which is also the capital, is Dublin.

Ireland is currently ranked third in the world in terms of economic freedom! What exactly does this mean? This means that Ireland is a country free from corruption, one that respects property rights and cherishes freedom of business, investment and trade.

93% of the Irish population has access to the Internet. Given this high Internet penetration rate, it is worth getting to know the preferences of the Irish when it comes to web-surfing devices. The Irish prefer mobile devices to stationary ones – more than 60% of searches on the Irish version of Google come from smartphones (data for March 2022):

• mobile (61.95%),
• desktop (34.82%),
• tablet (3.23%).

To make sure that your website is well prepared to attract new customers from the Emerald Isle, optimising it for mobile-friendliness is a must.

People in Ireland are keen to use social media, with the number of social media users reaching almost 80% of the total population (early 2022). The number 1 channel in Ireland is Facebook, with 91% of all Internet users (2021 figures):

• Facebook (91%),
• Pinterest (4%),
• Twitter (3%),
• Instagram (1%),
• YouTube (1%).

E-commerce market in Ireland

The value of the e-commerce market in Ireland in 2021 amounted to over 4 billion US dollars. Moreover, it shows no sign of slowing down. It is estimated that the annual growth rate in the coming years will be 6% (until 2025). The acceleration of Irish e-commerce has been undoubtedly influenced by the coronavirus pandemic and the resulting lockdown, which forced many consumers to change their habits and shift to online shopping.

The Irish are a consumer society. When making a purchasing decision, they look first at the quality of the product and only then at its price. In addition, they are willing to pay more if a given online shop is sustainable – ethical business practices are important to them. Recently, there has been a huge increase in the number of food products purchased online, especially among the older population in Ireland. Organic food is also a trend, with a growing number of vegetarians and vegans among the Irish in larger cities.

As regards the most popular e-commerce websites in Ireland, the US Amazon, the world’s largest online retailer, is number one. The top Irish industry leaders are as follows (2021 figures):

• amazon.co.uk (USD 406 million revenue),
• tesco.ie (USD 376 million),
• currys.ie (USD 248 million),
• argos.ie (USD 235 million),
• apple.com (USD 158 million).

Why start promoting your business in Ireland?

Ireland is the world’s third largest economy in terms of economic freedom. Add to this the high Internet penetration rate in this country and you have a very promising foundation for expanding your online business into this destination, especially with Ireland’s consumer society, which is increasingly interested in shopping online. Given these factors, there is nothing else to do but appreciate the potential of the country and start making money in the Emerald Isle. Cooperate with SEO360® to get a comprehensive strategy tailored specifically to your business.

Link building in Ireland

Valuable link building is one of the basic elements of effective SEO. If you are thinking about expanding your business into the Irish online market, you need a well thought-out strategy in this area. How should you do it? Below you can find some valuable tips:

Acquiring quality links.

An extremely important factor in link acquisition is to ensure high link quality. It is easy to acquire a large number of low-impact links or links of dubious reputation. The trick is to develop a strategy for acquiring links that are valuable and come from quality portals.

Remember about link diversification.

Acquiring links leading to our website from various sources is an absolute must-have if you want to be better recognised by Google’s algorithms. This will help you avoid unnecessary problems in the form of penalties imposed by the aforementioned Internet leader. The most popular methods of acquiring links include sponsored articles, buzz marketing and social media mentions.

Develop a list of thematic publication sites.

When preparing your link building strategy, make sure that the places of publication of your articles are selected in accordance with the topics of your area of business. By doing so, you will increase your chances of inciting potential e-consumers to buy your product. In addition, you will be better viewed by Google, which does not like articles published on websites dealing with completely different topics, considering such practices to be unnatural.