SEO in Italy

– what do you need to know?

SEO dla kraju Italy
Pozycjonowanie dla kraju Italy
SEO360® - Italy

Italy is the fourth most populous country in Europe. More than 60 million people live on the Italian peninsula, not only in Italy, but also in San Marino and the Vatican. Approximately 84% of Italians have access to the Internet. The economy in the homeland of pizza and pasta is doing very well; Italy has one of the highest GDPs in the world! Importantly for shops focused on online sales, it is also the 14th largest e-commerce market!

 

Italians browse the Internet mainly using computers and smartphones. Websites are hardly ever viewed via tablets (data for February 2022):

  • desktop (49.1%),
  • mobile (48.81%),
  • tablet (2.08%).

 

What do Italians pay particular attention to during the purchasing process? As said in the introduction, they are quite affluent Europeans, which translates into their requirements and preferences. They expect professional service, care at every step of the purchasing process and, of course, quality. Compared to, for example, the French, the English language should be more accessible to Italians. However, for native Italians, especially the older ones (60+), the Italian language offer should not be overlooked, especially when we consider that they like many things, including online shopping, to be effortless.

 

The typical Mario Rossi (the Italian equivalent of John Smith) enjoys life, is never in a hurry, and doesn’t worry about the little things. This pertains to the approach to life; when it comes to shopping things look a little different. Before making a purchase, almost 60% of Italians check and verify the information about the product they are interested in. They read opinions, comments and reviews of other consumers. At the same time, they like to discuss and bargain, not only in traditional shops, but also on the Internet. By answering their questions, even if only through social media, we will gain their favour, which may ultimately translate into a final purchase decision.

 

When it comes to social media, although Facebook has lost about 10% of its market share in recent years, it is still the undisputed leader among applications used to communicate, establish contacts, explore videos, photos, etc. (data for February 2022).

  • Facebook (64.43%),
  • YouTube (22.2%),
  • Instagram (4.79%),
  • Pinterest (4.23%),
  • Twitter (2.88%),
  • LinkedIn (0.41%).

 

It is worth noting, when compared to other countries, the relatively big popularity of YouTube, which is used regularly by 20% of Italians.

60 million

Italy’s population

84 %

of the population has access to the Internet

50 million

Internet users

94 %

of users use Google

    Search engines in Italy

    Italy is no exception on the map of Western Europe in terms of popularity of Internet browsers. The most popular search engine is Google (share for February 2022):

    As regards browsers, it is similar compared to neighbouring countries, i.e. Chrome is the most used. Safari, known mainly for its use on iPhones, holds second place with a market share of over 18% (data for February 2022):

    E-commerce market in Italy

    E-commerce in Italy is constantly growing. Currently, nearly 70% of internet users on the Italian peninsula shop online, and the number is growing every year. In 2023, the e-commerce market is expected to reach a turnover of approximately 20 billion euros. The average value of purchases is 85 euros per month. The fact that 40% of online purchases are made from foreign shops is also an encouraging statistic.

     

    The popularity of smartphones for web browsing automatically translates into online shopping. This is a scale worth noting, as so-called “mcommerce” accounts for as much as 33% of the online sales market. Equally important in online shopping is the preference for mobile applications, which are more popular than classic websites. This certainly sets Italians apart from other European consumers.

    Users

    What do Italians add to their virtual shopping carts? Let’s see which products they bought most often during the year:

    Let’s put together some more of the most important elements that influence Italians’ e-shopping decisions:

    • free delivery (92%),
    • free returns (91%),
    • transparency – including no hidden costs, clear description, etc. (90%).

     

    As for the last factor above, it has to do with the quality and transparency of the website itself, without which it is difficult to compete for user attention.

     

    Among the most popular e-commerce websites in Italy are:

    • amazon.it (USD 2.566 million),
    • zalando.it (USD 517 million),
    • apple.com (USD 358 million),
    • shein.com (USD 296 million),
    • esselungaacasa.it (USD 264 million).

     

    The vast majority of orders (92%) are delivered by courier. As for payment methods, their share is divided proportionally between PayPal, bank transfer, payment card and cash on delivery. The former is popular, as in Germany, due to additional guarantees and security of transactions.

    Which domain should you choose?

    As described in the first point about SEO, Italians are open to international solutions, including the use of English. However, in order to cater to a wider audience, it is advisable to choose a national domain, i.e. “.it”. Italians like comfort, they appreciate the use of their native language in the presented offer, they will respect and, above all, visit the site faster if it has a national extension.

     

    Of course, if we plan to expand our business to several foreign markets, it is worth giving serious consideration to global or European domains such as “.com” and “.eu”. Later, with further language versions, you will be able to expand them to other countries, i.e. mypage.com/it, mypage.com/fr, mypage.com/de, etc.

     

    Why should you start promoting your business in Italy?

    Italian e-commerce is gaining momentum year after year, with ever-increasing turnover. This is due to several elements, among which we can mention: the development of infrastructure related to Internet access, including fibre optics, the widespread ownership of smartphones (Italians are one of the world leaders in this aspect) and additional security and laws regarding online transactions.

     

    After Germany, Great Britain and France, Italy is the 4th largest economy in the European Union. Italians appreciate quality of service, the uniqueness of the product, and its originality. This is evident in their history and tradition of creating clothing trends. Almost everyone knows from which country such fashion industry leaders as Gucci, Armani, Prada and Versace come. It is worth remembering that the inhabitants of the Italian peninsula appreciate style and elegance.

     

    Although e-commerce is growing and gaining popularity, there is still a lot of room for development. This has to do with the rather weak online presence of domestic shops. Regarding the digital competitiveness of the members of the European community, according to the European Commission’s Digital Economy and Society Index, Italy ranks only 26th out of 29 countries included in the list. This is certainly an opportunity for entrepreneurs from abroad to establish themselves, find a niche in the market and build a group of regular customers.

    Link building in Italy

    Italy, in terms of openness of the e-commerce market and SEO, is an extremely attractive spot on the map of Europe. If you want to find a place for your business here, you should adopt a good strategy, one of the key elements of which is high-quality link building. If it goes hand in hand with equally important optimisation, the average position of our website should be climbing up the search results every month.

     

    Of course, we should not forget about the monopoly of the Google search engine and its algorithms and systems of ranking websites. In order to reach the full spectrum of recipients, our website should have the “.it” domain and contain an offer prepared in Italian. The same applies to links leading to it. Valuable domestic link sources with a good reputation and especially a quality rating in the eyes of Google will be appreciated.

     

    In Italy, just like in other countries, it is necessary to remember about link diversification. These should come first of all from quality websites, but also, for example, from thematically related forums or social media.

    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®

    SO

    regular SEO

    How does the SEO process work in Italy?

    1.

    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.

    2.

    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.

    3.

    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.

    4.

    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.

    5.

    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.

    6.

    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.

    7.

    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.

    8.

    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.

    9.

    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.

    10.

    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://ecommercedb.com/en/markets/it/all
    • https://www.polacywewloszech.com/2019/10/26/najpopularniejsze-branze-e-commerce-we-wloszech/
    • https://marketfinder.thinkwithgoogle.com/intl/pl_pl/guide/ingram-italy-guide/#overview
    • https://gs.statcounter.com/
    • https://internetlivestats.com
    SEO360® kontakt formularz kontaktowy SEO360®

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      FAQ

      What are the key elements for successful SEO in Italy?

      rozwiń

      As was indicated in the section on link building, the origin and quality of websites leading to our site are important. It is also good to focus on broad SEO, specifying the intention of the users. The “.it” domain is also important, as is a neat, clear and, above all, correctly prepared offer in Italian. It is important to bear in mind the shopping preferences of Italians, which usually revolve around the use of smartphones and, increasingly, dedicated applications. Thus, our website should be “mobile friendly” and optimised in this respect, as well as in terms of the accessibility of the service for users.

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