For a long time, sökmotoroptimering (search engine optimization in Swedish) has been the dominant term in our industry—by far the most important and, in many ways, the only one that truly mattered. Some misspellings and quirky variations have been popular along the way, but SEO has always come in second. That is no longer the case.
There has been a shift, and we at Brath have been keeping a close eye on the trend. Where people once searched for sökmotoroptimering, they are now increasingly searching for SEO. Semantically, the difference is minimal—they mean the same thing. But for those who’ve poured their heart and soul into ranking for sökmotoroptimering while neglecting SEO, the change is a bit more uncomfortable.
Of course, ranking for sökmotoroptimering is still valuable—it’s still a strong keyword. However, the trend we believe we’re seeing points to SEO becoming more and more important, while sökmotoroptimering continues to decline.
The Keyword Planner may show as many searches for SEO as for sökmotoroptimering during November.
In November, the number of searches in Sweden is exactly the same for SEO and sökmotoroptimering, according to the Keyword Planner—and that has to be seen as a win for the former underdog, SEO. Moreover, if you look at the trend for sökmotoroptimering, the outlook isn’t bright for the Swedish translation of the term.
Trend for “sökmotoroptimering” from Google Trends
Keep in mind that the trend shown above should be taken with a grain of salt—it comes from Google Trends, and even at the best of times, Google Trends is unreliable. Still, it’s a graph showing the search interest for sökmotoroptimering, and similar data can also be seen in the Keyword Planner:
Trend for “sökmotoroptimering” 2013–2015 from the Keyword Planner
How should we react to this, then?
As is often the case in the SEO world, the usual response would be to run around shouting that the sky is falling. Tear up all previous work, disavow every link, and switch entirely to content marketing instead. Another option, of course, is to stay calm—even though we’re seeing a trend here, it’s not something that changes overnight. Sökmotoroptimering will remain a profitable keyword for a long time to come, but it’s probably time to start giving SEO the attention it deserves. And if you’ve been a bit forward-thinking, you’re already holding some positions there 😉
Magnus Bråth
Consultant & Adviser
Magnus is one of the world's most prominent search marketing specialists and primarily works with management and strategy at his agency Brath AB.