The positioning of sites in Russia involves the promotion and context advertising in Yandex, which occupies 50% of the market, and Google, which occupies 46% of the market. Positioning is held in Russian language. Successful SEO promotion in Russia requires a lot of attention on SEO optimization and usability improvement, as this is a major factor in promoting for Yandex. Among social networks are popular Vkontakte and Odnoklasniki, less popular are Facebook and Instagram.
The peculiarities of website promotion in Russia
Website promotion in this country provides a range of works that depend on several factors:
- the business area of your company;
- target audience;
- products or services that your company offers;
- competition in your field, etc.
In some cases, for successful positioning in Russia, you need to link the website to several regions, and only then expand the geography of requests. Nevertheless, situations often arise when it is necessary to create additional subdomains.
What search engines do Russians prefer to use?
Google became the most popular search engine in 2019, displacing Yandex.
| Search engine name | Number of users |
| 51% | |
| Yandex | 46% |
| Other search engines | 3% |
During website promotion, it is worth to take into account what search engines people in different regions use. In most regions, except Moscow, Russians prefer Google.
| Region | Yandex | |
| Moscow | 50% | 48% |
| St. Petersburg | 45% | 53% |
| Novosibirsk | 41% | 58% |
| Kazan | 41% | 56% |
| Kaliningrad | 32% | 62% |
| Vladivostok | 30% | 68% |
Nevertheless, we recommend to carry out Yandex positioning, given a large number of people who use this search engine (advertising in Yandex through Yandex.Direct is also very effective). Unlike Russia, in Belarus, this search engine is used by a smaller number of people – 25%, in Kazakhstan – 16%. They prefer Google.
Website promotion in Russia: peculiarities of the target audience
When promoting a site in this country, you need to consider:
- age of your target audience;
- mobility of the target audience;
- which social networks are the most popular.
| Personal computers | Mobile devices | |
| Number of visitors | 36% | 64% |
| Sessions | 82% | 18% |
Google is a preferred search engine of choice of young people, Yandex – of Russians, who are over 30. Google is more often used on mobile devices because it is a default search engine on the iOS and Android platforms. If your target audience is Russians over the age of 30, then you should pay more attention to website promotion in Yandex. Promotion in Russia will be the most effective if you promote websites through both search engines – Google and Yandex. Besides, you should not forget about the traffic monetization through the Yandex Advertising Network and correctly calculating CPC in Yandex.
The most popular social networks among Russians are VKontakte, Odnoklassniki, and Instagram. It is worth to promote your product or service simultaneously in these 3 social networks for maximum effect. But at the same time, pay more attention to the social network that your target audience most often uses.
How long will it take to promote a website in Russia?
If you want to see your site in the top 10 for targeted requests, the promotion will take 3-9 months. This period depends on the number of competitors in your segment. The search engine only detects new content on the website during 6–21 days, and only after 10–36 days, you can observe a change in the site’s position in the search system.
Besides, there are companies that have been promoting their sites for several years. It will take time to gain the trust of search engines and begin to get ahead of competitors.
Website promotion in the first quarter:
- exploring business, products, and services;
- audience targeting;
- attracting new visitors to the site;
- advertising channels testing.
Website promotion in the second quarter:
- website will move up in the search engine;
- increasing the efficiency of the site;
- increasing the website conversion;
- using new promotion channels.
Website promotion after the 2nd quarter:
- connection to a CRM site;
- automation of orders processing;
- effective budget management;
- website promotion in the top search engines.
Our SEO services in Russia
Our company offers such services:
- development of an effective promotion strategy;
- using only proven promotion methods;
- cooperation and communication with designers, programmers, copywriters;
- timely and effective decisions;
- timely reporting on progress.