Spies | An improved SEO strategy secured a No. 1 ranking on Google

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The competitive situation meant that Spies had to act

After examining the competitive situation, Rasmus Panduro, Head of Digital Operations at Spies, realized that action was needed - the competitors were drying up and getting most of the visibility on Google. Rasmus had heard that one of their competitors had collaborated with Henning Madsen from InboundCPH, and therefore contacted him to hear about a similar collaboration. In the conversation with Henning, it fortunately turned out that a collaboration was possible, as the collaboration with the competitor was only a start-up project, and therefore not contrary to a collaboration within the same industry.

But for Rasmus and Spies, it's not just about finding the right skills – it's also largely about partnership: "The most important thing was whether there was a match. When we at Spies work together with someone, regardless of who it is, both parties must get something out of it. In addition, there must be chemistry and mutual understanding that you are working for the same cause” says Rasmus Panduro.

At the start of the collaboration, it was important for Rasmus that a plan was laid for how Spies' skills were utilized in collaboration with Henning's skills. Spies already had an SEO employee, so it was about finding a balance between which tasks should be solved by whom: "We are not an easy customer. We have many demands on our partner. We sat with our own marketing department and copywriters, and a single dedicated SEO employee. So the need was really to find out – how do we grow this together. We quickly found out what we were good at and what Henning was good at. This allowed us to put a team together and make a plan for how the collaboration would work best” says Rasmus Panduro.

No. 1 on Google

Together with InboundCPH, Spies developed a commercial model where the driving force was the commercial gain. The partnership with InboundCPH has meant that the company has strengthened their knowledge about SEO and that they can draw on learnings that they would not have been able to do on their own before: "We simply had to be Denmark's best within the travel industry in terms of visibility. That was what we aimed for. We didn't have a time horizon, but we bet on within a year. The most important result is that we have achieved that visibility, and we are now number 1 in 3 Scandinavian countries."

How did the collaboration develop?

With chemistry and a good foundation in place, a pragmatic approach was needed. Therefore, a plan was drawn up for which tasks should remain in-house with the company's own SEO employee, and how the strategic work should proceed in parallel with it: "Our SEO employee took care of the highly technical and operational part. Henning and I could take care of the strategic stuff. The team provided by InboundCPH was also able to deliver the part of the package which primarily consisted of quick wins."

With the strategic overview in place and a growing visibility, Spies could slowly start training their own employees with the new tools they had been taught by Henning. The company had received a Plug and Play solution, which gave them the opportunity to optimize their internal resources. The tasks that Spies did not have time for, such as keeping up to date with the latest Google updates, would be taken care of by InboundCPH: "What the collaboration has developed into is that we ourselves became stronger and stronger, and our own SEO employee gained more skills. In this way, we slowly transform ourselves to handle new things and gain the right skills."

From a Danish to a Nordic collaboration

Over the years, Spies has gone from being a Danish enterprise to being a Nordic organisation. This means that they have been able to pass on their learning.

This also means that InboundCPH is not only a partner in Denmark, but a partner for the entire Nordic organization. Expansion into new markets meant that cooperation and strategy had to be rethought in order for Spies to succeed: "What is very characteristic of InboundCPH was to say - if you are going to work with SEO in Sweden, then you must also find some locals who have knowledge of the local market. Instead of just saying it, we take the risk that it went wrong. We really appreciate that honesty, and focus on what InboundCPH could help with and couldn't help with. What InboundCPH could solve was to keep us updated on Google updates, link building and site hygiene”.

THE COOPERATION

What was the most important thing in relation to the collaboration?

"It's about trust, transparency, mutual understanding and respect. There is no one who is a world champion here – we are world champions together. I have three mantras I work with. The first is prestigeless – which means we are all part of a process to make this a success. The second is clarity (transparency), the third is offensive – and it suits InboundCPH and our collaboration very well. What InboundCPH has been really good at is setting itself up into our problems and our challenges."

Rasmus Panduro, Head of Digital Operations