SEO in the United Kingdom
– what do you need to know?
The United Kingdom is a country with over 67.7 million inhabitants, including 65 million Internet users The largest island in Europe is a mature and developed market, and the sixth economy in terms of nominal GDP globally. The UK is characterised by high and stable web penetration among its inhabitants, making the country an ideal place to expand your business.
As e-consumers, the British prefer mobile devices to desktops. Statistics show that 60% of searches in the UK version of Google come from the mobile channel. When preparing your website for SEO on the British market, mobile-friendly optimisation is an absolute must-have. When it comes to mobile operating systems, the UK market has a balance of two leaders, with Apple’s iOS taking 50% and its rival Android 49.6%.
Social media is used by 45 million UK inhabitants, 66% of the total UK population. As regards the popularity of individual social media channels, Facebook was the clear leader in 2021, accounting for over half of the Internet user market. The second social network playing a significant role among the British was Pinterest, used by one in four users:
- Facebook (52%),
- Pinterest (25%),
- Twitter (13%),
- Instagram (5%),
- YouTube (2%).
67 million
UK population
95 %
of the population has access to the Internet
65 million
Internet users
92 %
of users use Google
Search engines in Great Britain
In the United Kingdom, as in most European countries, the clear leader among search engines is Google, used by 92.78% of Internet users. It is followed far behind by Bing (4.41% of the market), Yahoo! (1.51%) and DuckDuckGo (1.51%).
When it comes to web browsers, as in the case of search engines, the most popular one is Chrome by Google, which is used by almost half of Internet users. The second most popular browser, used by one in three Brits, is Safari (data from 2021):
- Chrome (48.97%),
- Safari (33.72%),
- Edge (6.58%),
- Samsung Internet (3.98%),
- Firefox (3.08%),
- Opera (1.02%).
Based on the statistics, it can be safely concluded that the choice of browser by the British is highly correlated with the choice of search engine. In both cases, the clear leader is Google. If you go for the positioning of your British website, make sure to tailor your operations to suit Google’s algorithms and the laws that govern them.
E-commerce market in the United Kingdom
The UK e-commerce market was worth $79 billion in 2019, making the UK the fourth largest e-commerce market in the world! What exactly are Brits interested in when buying online? Below, you can find a ranking of the dominant industries:
99% of British e-consumers are young people, aged between 16 and 24. This group is the strongest one on the Internet. However, there is one more age group that must be taken into account in our efforts, as it makes up a sizable portion of online shoppers. The group in question is the elderly, i.e. people over 65 years of age, 71% of whom declare using the Internet for shopping. Due to the lack of a single, dominant age group and gender, one might be tempted to say that almost everyone in the UK is an e-consumer.
When it comes to the biggest e-commerce shops and platforms, the UK’s Amazon tops the list, generating 446.6 million sessions per month. The next top positions are held by the following leaders:
- amazon.co.uk (446.6 million sessions per month),
- ebay.co.uk (355.5 million sessions per month),
- asos.com (54.3 million sessions per month),
- argos.co.uk (51.2 million sessions per month),
- asda.com (51.2 million sessions per month).
It is worth adding that the fashion retailer Asos, boasting recognition across Europe, is the largest British e-commerce company. It is thus clear why fashion is the primary sector in British e-commerce, generating 30% of the total turnover of the British e-commerce market.
Users
Speaking about the habits of British e-consumers, it is worth mentioning payment methods. Inhabitants of the United Kingdom prefer payment by credit and debit cards:
What domain name should you choose?
If you have decided to start positioning on the UK market, choose a domain with the extension “.uk” or “.co.uk”. The “.gb” domain is no longer used. If you run your business on multiple markets, go for a European domain – “.eu” or a global domain – “.com”. Individual language versions should be placed within one domain, in directories marked with the code of a given country, e.g. “.com/uk”.
Why start promoting your business in Great Britain?
From a business point of view, conducting SEO activities in a developed country like the UK appears to be very beneficial. Why? Considering the potential of the United Kingdom, where commercial platforms take the lead and people are accustomed to online shopping, the entry threshold for a Polish entrepreneur to this market is relatively low. However, one should bear in mind the differences between the Polish and British e-commerce markets. While in Poland (unfortunately) SEO is not always taken into consideration when designing a website, in the UK it is a definite must-have. In practice, this results in a large number of e-commerce owners who are well-prepared in terms of SEO to compete for top positions in search results. So do not hesitate any longer to make your entrance into the British arena, where online sales are very visible. High positions on this market will surely translate into substantial income for your company.
Link building in the United Kingdom
Lind building is an intrinsic element of positioning. When properly thought-out, link building activities lay down the foundation for success in getting your website to the top of search engines. How can you do this effectively in the United Kingdom?
The following are the most popular link building methods in the British market:
- 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.
- Reviews
The most popular way to get reviews and acquire links to your website is to work with a well-known British blogger/YouTube user who will test your product and post a review with a link to your website.
- Link exchange
Link exchange 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, a win-win situation.
- Guest articles
By publishing a text as its author on popular industry portals, 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 achieve a double benefit: self-promotion and acquiring a link to your website.
- Sponsored articles
This method is extremely common among link building activities. Creating and publishing a high quality, relevant text about your products or services is an excellent method of acquiring links in the United Kingdom and, at the same time, building brand awareness and increasing brand recognition in 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 British online forums with a link to your website.
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®
SXO
regular SEO
How does the SEO process work in Great Britain?
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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://gs.statcounter.com/browser-market-share/all/united-kingdom/#yearly-2021-2021-bar
- https://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wielka_Brytania
- https://appsso.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/nui/show.do?dataset=isoc_ci_ifp_iu&lang=en
Let’s stay in touch
+48 500 050 939
office@seogroup.pl
FAQ
Is it worth carrying out positioning operations for a British website in cooperation with an agency from Poland?
Considering the cost and effectiveness – definitely so. By conducting positioning of your British website in cooperation with a Polish agency, you can save a lot of money while maintaining high quality of service. You need to take into account the prices for acquiring external links or buzz marketing posts on blogs, which are much higher on the British market as compared to Poland. By choosing to work with a Polish agency, you can conquer the British e-commerce market for less money and more effectively.
What should be kept in mind when positioning a website in the UK?
If you plan to start positioning your website on the British market, consider the following aspects:
- adjust all elements on your website to a given location (e.g. appropriate time zone, currency, local phone numbers, etc.),
- pay attention to language correctness (website content should be in English),
- remember to choose an appropriate domain, preferably with the .uk extension,
- provide a local IP address for your website,
- regularly update your database of valuable external links for your website.
