SEO in the Czech Republic

The Czech Republic is a landlocked country in Central Europe, bordering with Poland, Germany, Slovakia and Austria. It is inhabited by over 10.6 million people, 90% of whom have access to the Internet. The capital and largest city is Prague, and the country’s only official language is Czech. The country belongs to many international organisations, including the European Union, UN and NATO.

Internet users in the Czech Republic prefer stationary devices to mobile ones. Statistics show that almost 60% of searches on the Czech version of Google come from computers. The lead of desktops over mobile devices is yet not so significant, so you should make sure to adjust your website to the latter as well – mobile-friendly optimisation is just a must.

People in the Czech Republic like using social media very much. In early 2022, more than 8 million of all Czech citizens used social media, which translates into a market penetration of 80% considering the whole population. What channels exactly do Czechs use? Almost half of them (48%) use Facebook, followed by Pinterest chosen by 32% of users. Other platforms playing a role in Czech social media were (data for 2021):

• Twitter (8%),
• Instagram (6%),
• YouTube (3%).

As you can see, the country appears to be a promising direction for the expansion of your online business. Taking into account the high share of e-consumers among the Czech population and the dynamic growth of the country’s online market value, there is nothing else to do but to seize this opportunity today and start making money in Czech e-commerce.

Moreover, similarly to the Google Ads network, the local Czech search engine also makes it possible to run advertising campaigns in Seznam.

It is worth emphasising that although the percentage of Czechs using Seznam as a search engine is relatively low (10% of users, as mentioned before), the portal is a leader in the ranking of the most popular websites in the Czech Republic. As shown by the figures from Semrush, it generates almost 10 times more visits than Google.cz (and twice as many as Google.com).

To sum up, if you want to ensure an efficient and effective launch for your business in the Czech online market, make sure your strategy targets the two key search engines in the country: Google and Seznam. SEO360® will do this for you: our industry experts will prepare the right strategy.

E-commerce market in the Czech Republic

The Czech online market is experiencing a boom! Following the pandemic, the Czech Republic has become the number one e-commerce market in the entire European Union, with the fastest growth rate. Moreover, the number of online shops in the Czech Republic is now almost 51,000 (as of March 2022). Taking into account their number per capita, the Czech Republic is the leader in Europe! Expert analyzes show that the booming Czech e-commerce market will not slow down in the coming years! Estimates show that its revenues will increase from EUR 4.6 billion in 2021 to EUR 6.7 billion in 2023.

As regards the preferences of Czech e-consumers, the most popular segments of online shopping include the following:

• clothing and accessories (19% of annual e-commerce turnover),
• household and garden articles (13%),
• electronics and media (7%),
• foodstuffs (6%).

The statistical Jan Novák loves to use price comparison sites before shopping online. The product price does not play such a big role for him and is not the main determinant of his purchasing decision. What is important for him is same-day delivery, as well as recommendations of a given product from other e-consumers. Coming back to the above-mentioned price comparison sites valued by Czechs, it is worth having a look at the most popular ones (all of them being local ‘products’):

• Heureka.cz (53%),
• Zbozi.cz (42%),
• Hledejceny (3%),
• Srovnavame (2%).

What are the Czechs’ motives for shopping online? Let’s see:

• possibility of comparing products/services in an accessible and quick way (49%),
• convenience of shopping, e.g. no need to wait in lines in a brick and mortar shop (18%),
• lower price than in traditional shops (17%),
• wider choice of products (11%),
• time saving (10%),
• repeat shopping (5%).

Why start promoting your business in the Czech Republic?

Given the potential of the Czech e-commerce market, in which, as shown by the statistics, every second Czech made at least one online purchase in 2021, and whose revenues continue to grow, you should not hesitate to enter the game and start expanding your online business by conquering the online world of the Czech Republic.

Moreover, looking at the dynamics of its growth, with the value of the e-commerce market growing annually by more than a dozen percent, there is nothing left to do but appreciate the huge potential of the Czech Republic and start earning on your online business in the country of the Mole.

Link building in the Czech Republic

When properly thought-out and planned, a link building strategy is a big step towards success in getting your website to the top of Czech search engines. But how should you do it properly? Below, you can find some helpful advice.

An important element of link building in the Czech Republic is link diversification. You should make sure that you acquire them from various sources, using methods such as:

• “Natural” method of link acquisition

If you take care to create valuable and relevant content on your website, you will be able to acquire links for your website in a natural way. How exactly? There is a high probability that an Internet user reading valuable content on your website will be willing to share the link on their own website, blog or on social media channels. So let’s get down to work!

• Link exchange

This is another common form of link acquisition. As the name suggests, link exchange means sharing a link to someone else’s page on your website (or social media channel). In return, the other person will do the same for you.

• Guest articles

By publishing a text as its author on popular industry portals in the Czech Republic, 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.

• Sponsored articles

Sponsored articles, also known as advertorials, are one of the most widespread methods of link acquisition on the Czech market. Creating and publishing a high quality, relevant texts about your products or services is an excellent method of acquiring links in the Czech Republic while building brand awareness and increasing brand recognition on the market. When developing your plan to publish sponsored articles, think how to allocate an appropriate budget for these activities. Depending on the place of publication (portal), this cost will vary. However, it is not worth reducing the allocated resources to a minimum at the expense of quality because, as in many matters, the golden rule is the same: it is not quantity but quality that counts.

• Buzz Marketing

Buzz marketing means creating and publishing short posts on online forums in the Czech Republic with a link to your website. Each post with a link in it is another ‘point’ for your website.