Understanding the markets that you are promoting your products and services within is the key to success – especially in a region as diverse and as culturally complex as Europe.
The good news is that with the right strategy, it can become an especially lucrative market for your organisation. Germany is an active, forward-thinking and highly technologically confident country, which means that marketing via search engine results here is competitive – but also has the potential to be incredibly lucrative.
Any SEO agency Germany welcomes to do business within its borders quickly comes to understand that the key to success is understanding the mindset, motivations and purchasing power of German consumers. For that, it’s important to dive a little deeper into the data empowering German search engine trends.
Know your audience
German people are open-minded and culturally tolerant but are also largely motivated by convenience, style, a certain ‘cool factor’ in the products they choose and – of course – their famous tendency towards efficiency.
In Germany, you’ll find that the work ethic is very strong, yet people also place a great deal of value on their personal lives. The right to disconnect is as much a personal and professional value to people here as it is in countries like France, and that means that German people like to keep their private and career lives separate.
Germany is a very diverse country, culturally speaking. While many consumers are highly creative and artistic, there is also a flourishing tech scene, as well as a strong regard for traditional values and time spent with the family. The average age of the German consumer in median terms is mid-forties, which demographically actually makes Germany one of the world’s oldest countries.
Key data reveals that the population of Germany is over 80 million people – higher than countries such as the United Kingdom or France. However, over 20 percent of that population is aged 65 or older, which means that 67 million German people use ecommerce when shopping – that’s below the United Kingdom, Europe’s leading ecommerce region, but also among the top 5 ecommerce territories worldwide.
Any SEO agency Germany welcomes soon learns that the people here are very confident with technology. With 77.7 percent of German people living in urban centres, this is quite a fast-paced and cosmopolitan country, and German people enjoy the conveniences that come with life online. 93 percent of Germany’s population characterise themselves as active internet users.
This means that German people take pride in being very measured in how they make purchasing decisions. This is definitely a nation of consumerism, but it’s tempered by a sense of wanting to get the best deal and knowing that what they are buying is reliable and provides good value for money.
German consumers like to shop smart
Because of this high confidence in internet use, German consumers are highly likely to seek out reviews for products, conduct internet searches for similar products by other brands to compare purchasing options, and do a little detective work as to which retailer offers the best price and shipping options. Naturally, this creates a lot of opportunities for any SEO agency Germany has welcomed into its borders.
In Germany, consumers are often loyal to brands who prove themselves reliable and efficient, as well as enhancing convenience or making life easier in some way. German brands are very capable in this regard, yet German consumers are actually quite open minded when it comes to trying products from international brands and service providers too.
However, an SEO agency Germany bound is wise to remember that environmentalism and being ecologically conscious is very important to German people. Similarly, dietary preferences such as veganism have enjoyed a solid rise among German people, and the second-hand market thrives in this country due to its emphasis on reusing what has already been manufactured rather than using natural resources to create new goods.
Any organisation that can offer convenience and fun to German consumers while also promoting ways in which they can feel as though their buying decisions have made a positive change for the environment, with an ethical company besides, is likely to do extremely well in this market.
Role of social media
As we have explored in the past, German people are very confident users of online technologies, and that includes social media. However, more conventional social media platforms such as Facebook enjoy nowhere near the active user figures of WhatsApp or Messenger. In other words, German people far prefer to use social media as a means of communication, rather than the idle scrolling and browsing often seen in other countries.
It’s smart to remember that Germany is deeply concerned about the data harvesting and privacy invasion potential of major corporations and social media platforms. Comprehensive data handling laws are in place, and German consumers are quite unforgiving of any organisations who are inclined to flout the rules for a fast profit.
Creating a social media presence to complement any activity an SEO agency Germany has welcomed to do business should keep these ideas in mind. It’s best to be fun and informative, without concealing anything from view and remaining transparent in how you do business. It’s not always the most comfortable way of doing things, but consumers in Germany will massively appreciate that honesty.
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How can an SEO agency in Germany help your business?
With the potential offered by the German market being so enormous, it makes sense that a lot of businesses want to play their part in this proactive European nation. Germany’s combination of strong consumer spending power and internet literacy, coupled with a large population and active digital media use, makes this an incredibly appealing location in which to grow your organisation.
Of course, moving into any new country is best achieved by taking on the right expertise. The alternative is trying to, for example, literally translate your product names and descriptions into German without checking for context, as Vick’s discovered a decade or so ago.
What is the best SEO strategy for finding success within the competitive German market? A lot of it comes down to SEO agency Germany experience and expertise, as we will explore below.
The importance of localisation versus translation
Many an SEO agency Germany based or beyond will recommend to you that the way towards mastering SEO in any new territory is to take a holistic approach. The importance of knowing the distinction between translation and localisation is a perfect example.
Translation is a task that many computer software or online systems can achieve at a basic level today, and at face value, you might believe that this makes SEO marketing in Germany quite easy.
However, this kind of brute force translation misses out on a lot of the idioms and nuances of how German consumers speak to one another – and as such, you would be sacrificing a lot of trust and seeing a high bounce rate among your shoppers if you try to cut corners here.
It’s far smarter to entrust your SEO growth in Germany to an organisation well versed in localisation of this kind of SEO content. This makes it a better linguistic and cultural fit among your new buyer audience – which, in turn, makes them far more likely to see value in your brand and commit to a purchase.
Keyword research from a local point of view
Even the most advanced VPN systems on the market can only go so far in giving you access to the internet as it is experienced by a local consumer. That means that understanding how and why German internet users are looking up certain search terms is a powerful tool – and to unlock it, you need to entrust your business to an SEO agency in Germany has already developed a rapport of trust with.
Through this strategy, you can gain much deeper insights into the motivations behind why certain search terminology is used – as well as how it is affected by global events, local occurrences and seasonal changes in public mood.
Remember also that much of the best marketing comes from unlocking the power of niches. Although the German marketing world is very mature and highly advanced, you might be pleasantly surprised how many niche keywords and SEO opportunities are still largely untapped in this market. This is something an SEO agency Germany has worked with for many years can help you to develop a greater understanding about.
Entering any new market as an SEO expert is always an exciting moment – yet there are certainly challenges that lie in wait for the unprepared. You only get one chance to make a solid first impression, so don’t take any chances – align yourself with an SEO agency Germany already knows and loves to maximise the growth potential of your next business venture.