SEO in Norway

The Kingdom of Norway is a Scandinavian country located in the northern part of Europe, bordering Sweden, Finland and Russia. It has a population of over 5.4 million, with 98% having regular access to the Internet. What can this world’s leading exporter of natural gas and oil be proud of? Its position as one of the richest countries in the world. It is commonly said that money does not bring happiness, or does it? Norway is actually also one of the happiest countries on Earth. One of the factors behind Norway’s prosperity is the idea of sustainable development of the country, implemented mainly in three areas: economy, environment and society. It goes without saying that the richest countries in the world are those that are well-located – natural resources do make a difference.

Norway’s capital and largest city is Oslo. The country has its own monetary unit: the Norwegian krone (divided into 100 øre).

When focussing on the high percentage of the population with access to the Internet, it is good to get to know the preferences of the Norwegians regarding web-surfing devices. Statistics show that more of the country’s users choose computers, as confirmed by the following figures (for March 2022):

• desktop (64.3%),
• mobile (33.83%),
• tablet (1.87%).

The inhabitants of Norway definitely like to use social media. In early 2022, more than 4.5 million of the citizens of Norway used social media, which translates into a market penetration of 86.5% (considering the whole population). What channels exactly do the Norwegians use? 64% of them use Facebook, which is followed by Pinterest, chosen by 20% users. The list of top channels playing a role in the lives of the Norwegians is as follows (data for 2021):

• Facebook (64%),
• Pinterest (20%),
• Twitter (8%),
• Instagram (4%),
• YouTube (2%).

E-commerce market in Norway

Norway is the 26th largest e-commerce market in the world, with revenues of 8 billion US dollars in 2021. The thriving condition of the country’s e-commerce industry is evidenced by the high ratio of e-consumers to the total population – in the past year (2021), 79% of them made at least one online purchase. The upward trend of Norwegian e-commerce is undoubtedly influenced by the high quality of IT and infrastructure, which make online ordering faster and easier.

Typical Norwegian e-consumers desire new technologies. They attach great importance to good value for money, which in practice means that they are willing to pay more for a high quality product. Every second Norwegian purchases online using a smartphone. The golden rule that should immediately come to mind here is to prepare your website for mobile-friendliness when optimising it. This will increase our recognition in the eyes of Norwegian e-consumers, who are practical people and, importantly from the perspective of running a business, are quite well-to-do.

When analysing Norway’s e-commerce, it is worth taking a look at its biggest players. Number one is elkjop.no, the largest seller of consumer electronics in the Nordic countries, which in 2021 generated revenues of over half a billion US dollars. The top e-commerce websites in Norway include the following:

• elkjop.no (USD 542 million),
• komplett.no (USD 292 million),
• apple.com (USD 234 million),
• zalando.no (USD 231 million),
• hm.com (USD 198 million).

As you can see, e-commerce in Norway involves not only ‘native’ trade. The US giant Apple is ranked third, followed by Germany’s Zalando and then Sweden’s H&M.

Delving deeper into the topic of trends among Norwegian e-consumers, it is worth taking a look at the country’s preferred delivery methods. Statistics show that the leader is PostNord, a leading postal operator in Scandinavia, which penetrates 50% of the market. The list of top companies providing shipping services for online shops in Norway is as follows:

• PostNord (50%),
• Posten (41%),
• Bring (26%).

Why start promoting your business in Norway?

Expanding your business to the Norwegian market, which has a very high Internet penetration rate (98%) sounds promising. Why? Because it involves the possibility of attracting more than 5 million potential customers, living in one of the happiest and richest countries in the world! With the prospect of selling your products to a wealthy client, do not hesitate to compete for the top positions in the Norwegian search engine to increase revenue for your business!

Link building in Norway

Link building is one of the core elements of effective SEO activities. If you want to be visible in the Norwegian online market, acquire valuable, high quality external links for your website. Another golden rule is to provide links from various sources, i.e. to use diversification.

In the case of Norwegian link building, the most popular methods of link acquisition are paid advertising portals and social media mentions.

Importantly, Norway has the most expensive link building activities among all Scandinavian countries. The main reason for this is the limited supply of quality websites from which to acquire backlinks (while demand remains at a similar level as in neighbouring countries). However, taking into consideration the fact that Norway is one of the richest countries in the world, an investment in solid, quality link building with the right strategy will definitely pay off.