Swedish SEO has improved significantly

The Swedish SEO industry used to consist of guys sitting in basements and salespeople from some phone directory scam companies. That was my image of the industry — today, it’s something completely different.

You might remember the article about ten years in the SEO industry; today it’s time for the follow-up. The Swedish SEO industry has actually grown tremendously over these years, and I thought we could take a look at the progress made.

The ratio of salespeople to SEO specialists has changed

There used to be hordes of aggressive telemarketers, and while that is still true for some SEO companies today, those companies have lost ground — often to smaller agencies with a stronger focus on quality. The number of salespeople per SEO specialist has decreased over the years (from record-high levels where 20 salespeople per one poor SEO specialist was not uncommon). This means, in many ways, higher quality in SEO work — naturally, there is more time for each project when it’s no longer 20 people pushing projects into the pipeline.

Plenty of fresh blood

There used to be few natural paths into a specialist SEO career, but this has changed significantly. Although I still think there is a lack of education with real depth in SEO, the courses that do exist are a good indicator of interest. Whereas I previously said I might as well go to the nearest bus stop and pick up whoever is standing there, I’m now more inclined to say that it’s possible to recruit from several educational programs.

There are also plenty of places offering internships regularly. Sure, companies offering internships get some free labor, but they also create a good recruitment base — not only for themselves but for others as well. We ourselves are considering reopening internship opportunities at our Stockholm office (once we move into our new larger premises).

General knowledge level is better

A third reason the quality of SEO has improved over the past years is that SEO has become more common knowledge. Companies in competitive (online) niches almost always have some understanding of SEO nowadays. E-commerce businesses of a certain size are fully aware that it’s necessary, and often have a good grip on how it works.

Suddenly, we have much more skilled clients in the industry. These clients often demand that the SEO agencies adapt their models to them, so the old big companies (you know, those with fully automated processes) must either change or lose ground. This is good for everyone — it drives development forward.

Self-cleaning has worked

The last point I want to make is a bit of an honor to my colleagues in the industry, at least some of them. There are still those who might build castles in the air, significantly increase risk, or simply neglect delivery, but by and large, things have gotten better.

To all industry colleagues, competitors, and employees who have stood up for real SEO — a service that works and can deliver tremendous results — instead of the full or half-cheating that was so common before: I think you should be proud of what you’ve done for the industry. Of course, it’s not finished work yet, but a clear example is that a modern SEO agency can hardly get away with stealing authority for themselves via footer links on clients’ sites. Someone will notice and point out that it harms the client to create benefits for oneself. This was standard before, now you’d get called out at industry meetups for doing so. There are more examples — you can no longer get away with spreading too much misinformation because someone will speak up. And so on.

The craft has improved

In summary, the craft in the Swedish SEO industry has gotten better. Of course, some areas still have shortcomings. A common occurrence nowadays, less common before, is to scoop up some poor beginner, give them a crash course in SEO, and send them out as consultants to clients. I find that a bit unfair both to the client and the consultant — it would be honest to let them get some real experience first.

Overall though, the quality of SEO work done in Sweden today is much better.