SEO in Uruguay – Bruno Dangelo
Bruno Dangelo talks about how SEO in Uruguay is done. He tells us that he had two compelling reasons to be interested in this world: curiosity and necessity. On the one hand, He was interested in learning how Google and its algorithms worked. On the other, He needed to learn how to position several websites. This learning and experience led him to co-create his own SEO agency, dahseo, in which he currently works.
We spoke with Bruno about the Uruguayan market and its peculiarities. He tells us how interest in SEO in Uruguay is growing and the possibilities that we can find in this country. He also shares with us his opinions about different types of tools, the use of black hat SEO and the importance of experience in this work.
How did you get interested in the SEO world?
A little out of curiosity and a little bit out of necessity. The curiosity to know “how things work”, led me to investigate how Google did it and the need to capture traffic for websites that I had at that time, led me to discover the world of SEO.
After many years of learning and experimenting, I decided to take my knowledge and experience to the corporate world and, together with my partner Martín, we founded dahseo in 2008.
How does SEO in Uruguay work? What kind of strategies do you bet on to position yourselves?
It works in a very similar way as other parts of the world, with the difference that it is a smaller market and with lower budgets than what can be seen outside.
In many cases, it is not necessary to implement very complex strategies to obtain results. In general, in Uruguay it is usually successful with budgets with which in other countries it would be almost impossible to obtain it.
In dahseo we work also with international clients and experience shows us that there is an important gap between the prices of Europe / USA and those of Latin America.
Do Uruguayan companies give importance to SEO?
On the one hand, it is surprising how the interest and importance of SEO in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) has grown. We notice this because clients arrive at meetings very informed. In some cases they know perfectly what SEO is and they have a fairly solid knowledge of the service.
But on the other hand, we have large companies that, although they are more informed than SMEs, are still far from giving SEO the importance it deserves. Clearly, from the point of view of SEO, they are behind their competitors from other countries, which have a more advanced SEO culture.
The course may need a bit of acceleration but, without a doubt, it is the right one. There is still a long way to walk to have a strong SEO industry in Uruguay.
Are they more interested in local SEO or in international projection?
It depends on the type of company and the public it points to. They tend to be very realistic and, often, a company with international projection finds it difficult to compete against companies installed in larger markets.
In the agency we work with local clients who position themselves internationally and we do it successfully, with much effort and commitment from all parties.
When you have the disadvantage that your domestic market is very inferior to the other nearby markets, to beat your international competitors, you have to be very committed and work hard.
What SEO tools are most popular in Uruguay?
There are no SEO tools developed locally. So we often use the same ones used in other parts of the world. Just to name a few: Screaming Frog, Semrush, Mangools, Moz, etc.
What considerations should a Spanish company that wants to expand in Uruguay have?
They should be aware that it is a small market but not a virgin one. It adapts to changes (Uber is an excellent example, OrdenYa also… Among others).
Besides being a SEO consultant you also dedicate yourself to teaching, what kind of people are interested in learning about SEO?
A few years ago, interest was reduced to people linked to advertising, marketing or the digital world. Nowaday the interest is very broad, you can find a merchant who simply wants to understand how the digital world works to boost his business.
The variety in the profiles of the students is enormous and, without a doubt, speaks of that in the future SEO will continue to grow a lot.
Locally there are institutes 100% focused on digital. Like, for example, Senpai Academy.
Has the interest in learning SEO grown in Uruguay in recent years? Why?
Yes, as I said. There is still a long way to walk but, undoubtedly, interest in SEO has grown in recent years. Motivated by different aspects, but mainly because SEO is a branch of digital marketing, with enormous potential and people are slowly discovering it.
What would you recommend us to access a client with international capacity?
Experience, in these 10 years in dahseo I realized that experience is what is most valued when sending an SEO proposal.
We base our strategy of attracting links in very specific pillars:
- Experience
- Knowledge Specialization
- Success stories
These are our pillars for a potential client to decide to work with us.
What do you think of the black hat seo strategies to attract traffic to our website?
The fantasy world where only white hat is made, I do not know where it can be found… If an SEO agency limited itself to working only in a white hat way, it would be limited to optimizing OnPage and crossing fingers.
The reality of the market indicates that if you do not make at least a bit of black hat, you will hardly be able to position yourself in value searches. Why? Easy … Everyone does it and the market competition leads you to have to do it yourself.
