Here’s everything you need to build a Swedish SEO strategy and successfully adapt your website for the Swedish market. 

iSEO is becoming increasingly important if you want to succeed in the Swedish market. It’s not enough to “translate your digital marketing content to Swedish anymore. Anyone wanting to reach customers in Sweden needs to “transcreate” their digital marketing and focus on iSEO. That means ranking well requires both a real understanding of what goes into Google’s algorithm and some knowledge of the cultural differences that influence how the Swedish live and shop online.

What Google Wants to See from Your iSEO

Before you dive into the SEO work, it’s essential to understand what Google is trying to do when it ranks websites. A lot of SEOs chase after the current algorithm. This leads to the development of short-sighted, low-effort strategies that become ineffective when search engines catch on. At the end of the day, Google wants one thing: happy customers. This is why they regularly update their formulas and use smart technologies to reflect the human decision-making process better.

Above all else, search engines want to reward sites that showcase expertise with well-written content that answers potential clients’ questions. Anything done to avoid providing real solutions, such as opting for straight translation or skipping the research stage, is likely to dampen your results. This is true no matter where you operate—including Sweden.

To ensure a successful digital marketing strategy in Sweden, you need to:

• Do Your Keyword Research: Keyword usage varies from location to location, even in areas where people speak the same language. Individuals in the southwestern United States, for example, sometimes look for “heater repair” when they’re trying to get their furnace fixed. See what terms work in your new market and see if your translator can accommodate them. With almost a quarter of Sweden’s population coming from outside the country, there are many cultural nuances to consider. An iSEO expert with cultural knowledge and linguistic skills can also help you with this.
• Look at Your Competitors: While no one wants to be a copycat, it’s a good idea to examine your competition’s SEO performance in your target market. Are they doing well? How much traffic are they getting? What phrases are they ranking for? Knowing the answers to these questions can help you develop a strategy for entering new markets.
• Hire a Professional Transcreator: When it comes to iSEO, simple translations are rarely enough. Just because a term works well in your home country doesn’t mean it will work abroad. For example, Americans are more likely to use the word “running shoes” for athletic footwear, while the British would be searching for “trainers.” This difference becomes starker when you cross the language barrier.

Things to Consider When It Comes to Sweden and iSEO

I’ve run into clients that thought they already had an SEO strategy for the Swedish market. Some of them had already spent on a subpar translation and a .se domain. But when I looked under the hood, the content was not up to par. They were using terms in ways that no Swedish speaker ever would. Or, trying to rely on fluffy, flowery language to make a sale—something that doesn’t work well in a country known for being upfront and moderate.

To help make things easier, I’ve broken down some key things you need to keep in mind when attempting Swedish iSEO:

• High Internet Adoption Rates: The Swedish people, known for their technological openness, took to the internet like ducks to water. An article from 2019 found that 98% of Swedish have access to the internet, and 95% use it regularly. Furthermore, half of the Swedish population uses a digital mailbox since it leads to quicker tax payments. This has allowed the government to reap efficiency gains and reduce paper consumption. It also makes things like spam mail less effective. So, you can’t afford to skimp on virtual marketing when it comes to capturing their wallets.
• Sweden’s SEO Industry Is Now Beginning to Fracture: Like the US, Sweden has had companies working with iSEO since the beginning. These juggernauts of digital marketing still make their voices heard, but their grasp on the market is slowly loosening. Many website companies are now including SEO in their digital marketing packages. But it’s important to note that not all of them do it well—especially when the content has to be translated. It’s often best to hire a transcreator with knowledge of iSEO instead of first doing the translation and then reach out for web services after the content is done.
• Flowery Messages Aren’t Effective: Swedes tend to prefer factual information to marketing fluff and banter. We don’t care about the useless buzzwords that clutter your content and aren’t convinced by pretty, contrived slogans. Instead, we emphasize practical information like battery capacity, measuring size, and verified studies.
• Their Profile Is Worth Looking At: The average Swede spends about 150 euros a month on online shopping, according to Delante. Before making a purchase, 53% of Swedes carefully analyze the information permitted to them. Almost one-fifth of them go so far as to visit a brick and mortar store. When investigating, they value transparency and demand high-quality products. Things hidden behind a paywall or demo aren’t likely to entice them.
• They Google First: Almost 97% of Swedes use the Google.se website to conduct searches. While Bing and Yahoo do have a presence, it’s minimal at best. So, to keep yourself from being too scattered, it’s often best to focus solely on Google and its algorithm. The work you put into Bing and other smaller search engines is usually not worth the return.
• Mobile First: Even before mobile phones became extensions of our arms, the Swedes used them to make regular purchases. That means that sites should not only be optimized for mobile but designed with it in mind. Enable AMP and speed test regularly to ensure your products are visible on slower connections. With how many Swedes have access to fiber-optic internet, this is likely to become less of a concern.
• Unique Demographics: While you might go to Sweden looking to capture the attention of natives, around a quarter of the population is from outside the country. Additionally, residents of Norway and other Nordic states often visit Sweden to find great sales offers. This means that you must take a locational approach to iSEO in Sweden—not just a language-based one.

Are You Looking for an English-to-Swedish Transcreator to help you with transcreation and iSEO for the Swedish market?

Though both the US and Sweden are technologically forward countries with a high mobile adoption rate, you won’t succeed in the latter if you cut corners and rely on cheap translation or localization. You need to take the time to analyze the market and find the perfect keywords for your target persona. With my certificates in “SEO Fundamentals” and “Mobile, International, and Local SEO” from SEMrush, I’m qualified to help you do both. I can also take things a step further and provide transcreated Swedish content that aligns with your marketing goals.

To discuss this further or get a quote for your Swedish iSEO solution, please reach out to me by email.

Check also:

• How to Market to Swedish Users With Digital Marketing
• How My Transcreation Services Create Results for Swedish Digital Markets
• Why You Should Translate Your Digital Marketing Content

This is a guest post by Emma Collins.

In order to scale your business, you have to expand the way you’re reaching out to your audience. Aside from the local market, there is a vast opportunity that awaits in the international scene. Hence, you have to keep in mind that English is not the only language that businesses use. This where the importance of digital marketing content translation comes in.

Translating your online content enables businesses to connect not only with foreign partners but also to prospective overseas consumers. It is an effective strategy to grow your brand and expand your digital content. With that, here are the top reasons why it’s a good idea to translate your digital marketing content:

Localizing Content Boosts Brand Trust

Localizing your digital marketing content is an effective way to engage more customers. It makes your brand sound more genuine and authentic, which ultimately improves brand trust. A vital first step for this strategy is by translating your website to your mainstream customers. By doing so, you’re also allowing them to become more familiarized with your product or service. It boosts user experience by letting them have a smooth transaction with an informed purchase as well.

Here are some tips to consider when localizing your website content:

• Tailor the website translation to the standard data, time, and currency format of a specific language.
• Localize constant information for regional support teams.
• Translate any legal requirements as well as payments and shipping policies.
• Make the translation region-neutral and easy to understand.
• Recognize local celebrations and holidays.
• Put up locally-exclusive marketing campaigns and promotions.

Paying close attention to these tiny details can help widen your engagement metrics. Aside from your web content, you can also expand your translation on other forms of digital content. This includes video content, eBooks, articles, social media posts, customer support, etc.

Digital Translation as a Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Strategy

Translating your digital marketing content is also an excellent avenue for search engine optimization (SEO). By ranking up in the search engine results pages (SERP), you can get more organic traffic. One surefire way of doing this is by incorporating keywords in different languages that rank high in SERP. By doing so, your website can rank high across other countries and languages, which, in turn, can boost your marketing strategy.

It Increases Your Conversion Rate

By translating your website content, you can convert more traffic into customers. In a nutshell, the more people can access your content, the higher the potential of converting more prospective customers. This is because some studies have shown that consumers are more likely to purchase a product containing information in their language. Some consumers also put more weight in language accessibility than the price of the product.

Translating your digital marketing content can help you reach your highest potential in the global market. The best way to do this is with the help of global language service providers (LSP). This method will ensure that you’re tailoring your content with your target audience and not just merely translating it.

Emma Collins is Translingua’s creative thinking content creator who specializes in blogging and copywriting.

Image courtesy of Master isolated images at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

This is a guest post from Aniello Attianese from Language Reach. 

The world of business is changing rapidly. A trend towards globalisation and expanding businesses abroad, especially with the recent growth of internet, is something that I, working for a professional translation agency, personally see rather clearly. A lot of the businesses from every corner of the world, even small and medium sized, see a truly great opportunity in approaching new international customers and exploring new markets. Many business owners who require our professional translation services however do not realise that translating word for word sometimes simply isn’t, and shouldn’t be, the whole answer, especially when working on marketing material, such as websites; this is where localisation comes into play.

Budgeting for Localisation on a Global Scale

Companies and businesses around the world now spend great portions of their budgets each year for marketing efforts; paying close attention to crafting the perfect message, choosing the right colours or even the right font. But what if they were only to discover, that their perfect marketing material which worked flawlessly in one country, causes offence in another? Having marketing material which is culturally inappropriate will certainly cause more damage than good.

In simple words, localisation amends and adopts content, such as websites or brochures, in order for it to be suitable within a specific market by removing any local sensitivities. Global companies such as Apple or McDonald’s have values and ideas which they like to communicate to consumers across the world, without causing any misunderstandings within any country specific market. This is the reason each of their campaigns is not only very carefully translated, but also localised to suit their specific foreign target market.

The Trouble With Ignoring Localisation

American Airlines on the other hand are a perfect example of a company who decided not to trouble with localisation, and only to translate their marketing material word-for-word. After introducing their new stylish leather seats on the planes, AA came up with a slogan which in America worked perfectly fine: “Fly in leather”.  Not carefully localised for the Mexican market however, the message caused the operator to blush slightly as “Fly naked” wasn’t very appealing to the Spanish speaking customers…The lack of localisation in the above example is pretty obvious, and not only caused the airline to embarrassment but also to money loses.

Words however aren’t the only thing which can be a cause for concern if marketing material wasn’t carefully localised. Another great example would be the use of colours. Did you know, that in China the colour white is associated with death? Now, you wouldn’t want your products or services to be associated with such, would you?

Benefits of Localisation

Going back to McDonald’s example, you’ll be able to see good, if not great, use of localisation services. The fast food chain restaurant not only localised all of their marketing messages, but they also went a step further and localised their menus, which are perfectly localised for each of their markets. And so in New Zealand for example you will be able to order a Kiwi Burger while McDonald’s India offers chicken Maharaja!

Giving that both U.S and Sweden are rather specific markets, with different cultures, values and ideas, localising marketing material for the Swedish audience should really be a priority for any U.S business thinking of approaching the Swedish consumers. Taking into the account any local sensitivities such as religious, political or cultural differences can have a significant impact on the success of your brand in a foreign market, and although localisation simply cannot guarantee an instant success, the lack of it can guarantee instant failure.

Aniello Attianese comes from Pagani, Italy. He speaks Italian, French and German fluently and has just started learning Swedish. He currently works for Language Reach and Translation Services 24 as a translator and a project manager. In his spare time he enjoys travelling and good music as much as he enjoys learning languages.

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