SEO in Croatia

Croatia, or rather the Republic of Croatia, is a small Balkan country located in South Eastern Europe, with access to the Adriatic Sea. With over 1,200 islands, Croatia is a real paradise for sailors! Its countless charming beaches, crystalline warm bays and well-maintained marinas are sure to impress anyone who visits this picturesque destination. The country is inhabited by over 4 million people, 80% of whom are Internet users. Its capital, Zagreb, is also the largest city in Croatia. The vast majority of the country’s population speaks Croatian. Interestingly, in some općiny (municipalities), the languages of national minorities are also recognised as official languages, including Serbian, Hungarian, Italian, Czech and Slovak.

Croatia was the last country to join the European Union community in 2013. However, it has its own official currency, the kuna (HRK), divided into 100 lipa.

Given the high percentage of Croatians who have access to the Internet, it is worth finding out what their preferences are regarding web-surfing devices. Croatian users predominantly choose mobile devices – they are used by more than half of Internet users (data for March 2022):

• mobile (55.73%),
• desktop (42.73%),
• tablet (1.53%).

More than 70% of Croatia’s inhabitants are social media users. The most popular channel among them is Facebook, with 87% of all users (data for 2021):

• Facebook (87%),
• Pinterest (6%),
• Twitter (4%),
• Instagram (1%),
• YouTube (1%).

E-commerce market in Croatia

The Croatian e-commerce market reached 960 million US dollars in 2021. Moreover, it is estimated that revenues from online shopping in this country will grow in the coming years.

Let’s get to know average Croatian e-consumers. The most important factor influencing their purchasing decision is the price. Croats are more likely to buy from a given online shop if it has its brick and mortar counterpart – trust in the brand is of crucial importance. Although average Croats support local entrepreneurs in traditional shopping, they do the opposite online, choosing international brands ever more frequently. Moreover, they still have a relatively low level of confidence in online shopping and thus choose cash on delivery most often.

When analysing the interests of Croatian e-consumers, let’s take a look at the top e-commerce websites generating the highest turnover in the country (data for 2021):

• ekupi.hr (USD 66 million),
• zara.com (USD 40 million),
• bauhaus.hr (USD 35 million),
• pevex.hr (USD 35 million),
• sancta-domenica.hr (USD 31 million).

As can be seen, Croatians choose not only native platforms when shopping online; the second most popular website generating the highest turnover in Croatian e-commerce was Zara.com, the flagship brand of the Spanish holding company Inditex.

Why start promoting your business in Croatia?

Since Croatia joined the European Union in 2013, e-commerce in the country has been on the rise. This trend is expected to continue in the coming years, giving us a chance to take by storm a market that is accustomed to shopping online. Moreover, as a result of the coronavirus pandemic and lockdown, the number of new e-consumers has increased significantly, with a large proportion of the elderly. Debuting your business on the thriving Croatian e-commerce scene will help you to increase the number of potential customers. If you get high positions in search results, you will gain more trust from Croatians, which will translate into increased sales and profits for your business. So let’s get started!

Link building in Croatia

Lind building is an intrinsic element of positioning. When properly thought-out, link building activities lay the foundation for success in getting your website to the top of the Croatian Google search engine.

The golden rule of effective link building is diversification of links, i.e. acquiring them from various sources. The most common methods of such activities in Croatia include the following:

• Creating valuable content

Creating valuable, relevant content on your website may become a ‘natural’ method of acquiring links. A user who reads the content posted on your website and finds it worthy of attention or recommendation is more likely to share the link to your website on their own website, blog or social media channels.

• Link exchange

Link exchange, or relational link building, is a common method which, simply put, means that you offer to post a link to someone else’s website if they do the same for you.

• Sponsored articles

This method is extremely common among link building activities. Creating and publishing high quality, factual text about your products or services is an excellent method for acquiring links in Croatia and, at the same time, building brand awareness and increasing brand recognition on the market. However, you should remember that publishing sponsored articles on popular, quality external portals is expensive, so you should allocate an appropriate budget for such actions.

• Buzz Marketing

Buzz marketing means creating and publishing short posts on Croatian online forums with a link to your website.

• Guest articles

By authoring and publishing a text on popular industry portals in Croatia, you can achieve a double benefit: first, you will build your image online by publishing relevant content; second, by mentioning your website or your bio in the content, you will acquire an additional link to your website.

• Interviews

As above, giving an interview can be a way to gain double benefit: self-promotion and acquiring a link to your website.

• Reviews

The most popular way to get reviews and links to your website is to work with a well-known Croatian blogger/YouTube user who will test your product and post a review with a link to your website.