Polish Search: Understanding SEO and Outreach In Poland

We’ve been working on Polish digital marketing campaigns since 2010, accruing a wealth of knowledge along the way about this most intriguing and influential of markets.

Here are some important points relating to digital marketing and SEO in Poland that are worth bearing in mind before you plan your strategy for infiltration into the Polish market.

A fiercely proud linguistic tradition

Poland is a country with a rich, long, and varied history and, as with many nations, language has played a proud, key role in this history. As such, it’s perhaps no surprise to learn that Poland is one of the most linguistically homogenous countries in the whole of Europe. Almost without exception, citizens of Poland will deem Polish to be their mother tongue.

This is important to bear in mind when you’re creating any sort of keyword strategy. Some other European languages tend to mix and match English phrases and colloquialisms as and when they please, but this doesn’t tend to be the case in Poland, meaning that the phrases and keywords you target should be almost primarily written and thought about in Polish.

Outreach emails – stay formal and polite

Some nations in Europe and further afield are, as a general rule, open, friendly, warm, and, at times over the top to the point of making you feel a touch uncomfortable!

In Poland, manners and formal etiquette win the day. Greetings tend to be polite and slightly reserved, and individuals should be addressed using formal titles. It’s not widespread custom to use first names to people you don’t know unless you’ve specifically been invited to do so.

This knowledge has a huge impact upon the tone and content of our outreach emails to website owners. At all times in Poland, we stay formal, use correct terms of address, and keep everything very structured.

Smartphone saturation

A few years ago, there were worries in Poland that the smartphone market was stalling, with sales figures massively slowing down. Now, though, that’s no longer a concern; over a quarter of Polish citizens say they couldn’t imagine their lives without their smartphones, with almost 80% of those aged between 15 and 19 owning a smartphone.

Promisingly, smartphone usage is also growing in older demographics, meaning that there is a real focus on mobile use across huge swathes of Poland.

This obviously means that incorporating a mobile SEO strategy into your overall digital marketing plan for Poland is of real importance.

People are going to be searching on mobile as coverage improves, and these mobile searches mean that search phrases are going to be affected; shorter phrases, more colloquial phrases, and suggested search are all going to play their part here.

Social media – crucial in Poland

For many Polish citizens, the Internet is still viewed as a means by which to stay in touch with friends and family, sometimes from the other side of the world.

This is perhaps why social media is so popular in Poland and is another important facet to your digital advertising strategy.

Facebook is the most popular social media platform now, after overtaking a Polish platform a few years ago, so it makes sense to create a Facebook marketing strategy if you really want to “do” Poland properly.

Charlotte is chief whip when it comes to making sure words are in order at ICS-digital. You can get in touch with her directly at charlotte.green@ics-digital.com