From 2 countries to 10+ organic markets in 6 months
A Nordic-founded DTC brand expanded from 2 organic markets to 10+ countries with page 1 rankings — generating 118K clicks across the US, DACH, Nordics, and UK without a single additional ad pound spent.
Straight from the source.
Screenshots pulled directly from Google Search Console and Ahrefs. No edits, no filters — just raw performance data.
Country breakdown: 10+ markets with top 10 average positions
6-month performance: 118K clicks from 13M impressions across all markets
Where Valkyr Group started.
Valkyr Group had a strong brand presence in Denmark and Sweden but was invisible in their target expansion markets — the US, Germany, UK, and wider Europe. Their international site structure was a mess of duplicate content with no hreflang implementation.
Previous attempts at international expansion relied entirely on paid media, costing €180K per quarter with diminishing returns. The organic channel showed 3.42M impressions but ranked on page 3+ in all target markets outside Scandinavia.
Competitors in each market were deeply entrenched with localised content, country-specific backlink profiles, and years of topical authority. Valkyr needed a strategy that could compress years of organic growth into months.
The strategy behind the numbers.
International site architecture
Implemented subdirectory structure (/de/, /se/, /dk/, /fi/, etc.) with proper hreflang annotations across all 10 target markets. Built country-specific sitemaps and configured Google Search Console properties for each market.
Market-specific keyword research
Conducted native-language keyword research for each market — not translations, but actual search intent analysis per country. Identified 2,400+ target keywords across all markets with localised search volumes and competition mapping.
Content localisation strategy
Created market-specific content hubs with native-quality localisation. Each market received 30+ localised pages targeting country-specific search intent, seasonal trends, and cultural buying patterns.
Regional link building
Built country-specific backlink profiles through local digital PR, regional publications, and market-relevant partnerships. Prioritised links from ccTLD domains (.de, .se, .dk, .co.uk) for local relevance signals.
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The numbers speak for themselves.
Organic clicks growth
Monthly performance over the engagement period
Expanded organic visibility from 2 countries to 10+ markets within 6 months
US market: 15,332 clicks from 4.5M impressions with average position 11.6
Germany became the second-largest market: 13,767 clicks at average position 8.8
Nordic markets combined: 13,000+ clicks across Sweden, Denmark, and Finland
UK market: 4,601 clicks from 780K impressions at average position 9.6
7 out of 10 target markets achieved average positions under 10
Global reach, local precision.
While you're reading this, your competitors are ranking.
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Month by month progression.
Architecture and hreflang
Rebuilt international site structure with subdirectories, implemented hreflang across 10 markets, set up country-specific GSC properties and sitemaps.
Keyword research and content planning
Native-language keyword research across all 10 markets. Mapped 2,400+ keywords and planned 300+ localised content pieces.
Content localisation wave 1
Deployed localised content for top 5 markets (US, DE, SE, DK, UK). First rankings appeared in Nordics within weeks.
Regional link building
Launched country-specific digital PR campaigns. Secured 80+ links from regional publications across target markets.
Scale and optimise
Expanded to all 10 markets. Optimised based on GSC data per country. 7 markets achieved average positions under 10. Total clicks surpassed 118K.
“Expanding into 10 markets in 6 months seemed impossible until Above Blank mapped out their international SEO strategy. The precision in targeting each market's actual search intent — not just translating our Danish content — was the difference maker.”
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