Search engine marketing in Sweden

Being one of the wealthiest countries in Europe and a digitally mature market makes Sweden very attractive to businesses. Entering the current digital landscape in this Nordic country is not without its challenges, though. With its unique culture and the Swedes demand for practical, straightforward, and factual advertising messages—a poor digital marketing strategy will not stand a chance.

If companies want to succeed in search engine marketing (SEM) in Sweden, a thorough understanding of the market is crucial. In this post, you will learn more about Sweden’s search engine marketing landscape, including its culture, buying behaviours, search statistics, and more. Plus, an overview of search engine marketing basics and how you can tailor your activities to penetrate the Swedish market.

Digital marketing in Sweden

The country has a high level of spending power. Thus, it is worth all the effort for any business that wants to enter.  A successful marketing campaign in Sweden demands companies to have a good understanding of the current marketing environment. However, many settle for just translating marketing content to Swedish instead of taking the time to understand cultural differences influencing how they interact and shop online.

For any paid search campaign to be effective requires in-depth research and appreciation of its uniqueness. Marketers need to be able to create a targeted, creative, and well-planned strategy. The key to success in digital marketing in Sweden is ensuring 100 per cent relevancy of marketing messages.

The Swedish market profile

With a population of 10 million people, Sweden has an internet penetration of around 96%. It means that the majority of its people are online. Moreover, Swedes are spending an average of 6 hours a day online. With high purchasing power, they spend around 150 euros monthly on online shopping. 91% of Swedes access the internet daily, mainly using laptops or desktops, and about 38% of web traffic comes from mobile devices.

People, languages and culture

Even though Sweden has unique demographics, marketers should not be too concerned about language barriers. The English language is prevalent online. The majority of people in Sweden understand and use English in their daily lives. But if you want to go the extra mile, know that Swedish is the official societal language. Moreover, the Swedish written language is standardised and widely used by the population.

Swedes are humble and egalitarian. They find excessive or boastful behaviour unacceptable. Thus, when planning your marketing campaign, ensure to take it into account.

Buying behavior

The two main factors influencing Swedes buying decisions are price and quality. They are very discerning consumers, and they value quality and function. It is typical for them to conduct thorough research before making a purchase. They prefer companies that value transparency and offer high-quality products. So when it comes to search advertising in Sweden, it is crucial to be 100 per cent accurate and informative. 

Furthermore, Swedes are favouring cash-free transactions more than ever. Digital card and mobile payments are increasingly popular. Post-purchase payment services like Klarna are also popular in Sweden.

Leading search market

Google is the leading search engine in Sweden with around 93.1% market share, Bing at 4.7%, and Yahoo! at  1.4%. So Google should be a priority when it comes to search engine marketing in this country.

It is also vital to consider the statistics of search engine market shares by the device in Sweden.

The Swedish market and search engine marketing

For new businesses who want to enter the Sweden market, it is essential to ensure tailored campaigns. Besides, search engine marketing should be one of the priority sales channels as it provides an instant effect. It can immediately increase brand awareness, result in sales and other desired actions.

How paid search marketing works

Search engine marketing is a marketing method that uses paid advertisements to appear on search engine results pages (SERPs). Search engine marketing is used to encompass both paid search activities and Search Engine Optimization (SEO). Today, it now solely refers to paid search.

In brief, marketers bid on search engine users’ keywords when looking for certain products or services. It allows them the opportunity for their ads to appear alongside the search results. SEM comes in various formats, including, among others, text-based ads and product listing ads (PLA).

Search engine advertising offers businesses the opportunity to be seen by motivated customers ready to make a purchase. Hence, making it a powerful and effective advertising medium. 

Search engine marketing strategy in Sweden

To ensure a successful search engine marketing campaign in Sweden, you need to develop a well-planned and -executed strategy. Here are the key steps to take:

Research competitors

Examine your closest competitors in Sweden. See how they are performing in your target market. Identify the phrases they rank for and how much traffic they are getting.

Understand consumer behaviors

Marketing fluff isn’t fruitful in Sweden. Marketers need a fundamental understanding of its culture and purchasing decision to run a successful campaign. It includes considering the seasons, payday cycles, payment methods, device behaviour, and location targeting.

Tailoring key SEM activities

When engaging in search engine marketing in Sweden, you need to up your Ads Quality Score rating. Tailor your campaigns as possible and focus your efforts on vital areas:

• Keyword: conduct thorough keyword research, including adding negative keywords.
• Ads: ensure your ads are relevant and accurate, as well as optimize your landing pages.
• Budget and bids: resorting on having the highest bid isn’t enough. Consider other elements too, such as your ad relevance and quality.
• Targeting: consider device targeting, location targeting, day & time targeting, and demographic targeting. Also, don’t neglect using remarketing tools.
• Tracking & analysing conversions: don’t just track clicks and costs. Track conversions and analyse them to see if your campaign is efficient.

Key takeaways

Search engine marketing in Sweden isn’t necessarily hard. Here are the essential things to consider when engaging in search engine marketing in Sweden:

• Foremost, it is vital to understand its people, culture and buying behaviours when creating a campaign.
• Swedes have a high purchasing power, but they also have high expectations.
• Swedish is their official (written & spoken) language, however, the majority of the people understand and use English in daily communication too.
• They demand factual and informative advertising messages. 
• The product or service price is also a big consideration in their purchasing decision.

Read more :

• Digital marketing Services
• Search engine marketing Services
• Search engine optimization in Sweden