SEO

Around the turn of the millennium, Danes started using Google. Before that, Danes used Jubii and Altavista, but they quickly realized that Google delivered better results when they needed something. Google quickly became the Danes' preferred search engine.

Already around the year 2000, the first Danes were also starting to look at SEO. One of the first Danes to experiment with it and learn from abroad was Thomas Rosenstand, author of the book SEO-LEX, the most thorough Danish textbook on search engine optimization.

What is search engine optimization?

Search engine optimization consists of several parts. Basically, it's about:

• Keyword analysis
• On-page SEO
• Off-page SEO

Keyword analysis

Keyword research is about identifying the words that your users are searching for and that also generate meaningful visitors (i.e. visitors that can convert).

It doesn't make sense to rank #1 in Google for a word if there is no volume (i.e. if people aren't searching for it). A classic SEO example is that Danes looking for a new faucet will Google for "faucet" and not "fixture". So if you as a plumbing company want to sell faucets and colloquially call it "faucets", it's not necessarily an advantage for you to be #1 on "faucet". You'll probably get more visitors who want to buy by ranking #1 on "faucet".

There are plenty of examples of webshops that have gotten their keywords wrong over time and have gained many more visitors by choosing the right keywords and keyword variations.

If you want to know more about keyword research, you can download an e-book on the subject here.

On-page SEO

On-page SEO means "the part of the work that happens on your page". It involves technical things like that:

• Your page should be responsive
• Your site should have SSL enabled
• Your page should load quickly
• Your HTML must be correct and semantically correct
• You need to have structured data on your page

But it also involves non-technical things like:

• You need to write a good title and meta description that people will click on
• You need to write unique good descriptions on your page
• You need to make sure you write words that Google can read. For example, if you write "We sell winter and summer tires", Google won't know that the page is also about "winter tires"
• Your primary keyword/search phrase must appear in specific places on your page

Good on-page SEO is the foundation for all your SEO work. Without the foundation in place, it makes no sense to throw money and energy into off-page SEO.

Off-page SEO

Off-page SEO is the part of the work that takes place away from your own site (i.e. on other people's sites). Basically, it's just links from other people's pages to yours.

It's both fun and hard work, and when your on-page work is in place, it's these links that move you forward in the search results.

Why is SEO important?

For many online shops, SEO is the place where they can pick up customers as they begin the customer journey. Quite often, people Google the product they want or the problem they have. If you're looking for a specific camera, you'll often Google the camera brand and model and usually choose results from page 1. In cases where the user has a recognized need, search engine optimization is a really good place to start as a webshop.

If the user has an unrecognized need, search engine optimization rarely helps. It could be products that the user doesn't know they need. It could be teeth whitening or shapewear. The user may not even know the product exists and therefore won't Google it.

We know online marketing in Shoporama

We've been working with online marketing ourselves for decades. As the only shop system in the country, we have spoken multiple times at conferences such as Marketingcamp, SEOday, Shopcamp, Digital Marketing, E-commerce Manager, Ecommerce Day, Web Analytics Wednesday and many more.