6 min read
SEO in Iceland: what works and what is a waste?
SEO is sold here as a monthly retainer, often at 20.000 to 30.000 krónur, and more often than not without anyone telling you what is being done for the money. Here is the honest version: what actually moves the needle in a small market, what does not, and when you do not need to buy this at all.
Why this is rarely a separate product
Most of what gets called SEO is simply building the site properly: speed, a clear structure, a correct heading hierarchy, metadata that is written rather than auto-generated, and content that answers a real question. That is not an addition on top of a website, it is the website.
When SEO is priced separately, what is really being charged for is the choice not to skip it. That is why it is included in our work, not out of generosity but because a site nobody can find is not a finished site.
What works in the Icelandic market
The market is small, and that works in your favour. For many Icelandic search terms the competitors are few, and a good number of them are on slow, dated websites. One well-written page about what you actually do, in Icelandic, with a clear title, can reach the first page without a króna spent on ads.
Google Business Profile matters unusually much here, particularly for services people search for on a phone. Up-to-date details, the right category and genuine reviews often do more than anything done on the website itself.
Speed is SEO
Google measures how quickly your page appears on a phone over an ordinary mobile connection, and uses that when deciding the order. It is the factor where the most can usually be fixed in the least time, because old WordPress sites carrying twenty plugins are rarely anywhere near passing.
What is a waste
Bought links are a waste and can actively harm you. Repeating a keyword until the text stops reading like a real sentence is a waste. A monthly report showing your position on terms nobody searches for is a waste, especially if it does not come with Search Console numbers you can look up yourself.
If you buy SEO monthly, ask for two things: which search terms are being worked on, and what impressions and clicks did over the last three months. If those answers do not come in writing, you are not buying work, you are buying an invoice.
What you should measure
Search Console is free and shows you impressions, clicks and average position for every term your site appears on. It is the only measurement that matters, because it comes straight from Google. Watch impressions first: they move before clicks do, and they tell you whether you are heading the right way long before enquiries increase.
Before buying SEO, open Search Console and look at what your site already appears for. The biggest opportunity is usually a term you sit tenth on, not one you are nowhere on.