SEO Case Study: N26 (Berlin)

First published: 29 Mar 2019

Executive Summary

N26, founded in 2013, is Europe’s first fully mobile bank, offering fee-free “deposit account” banking services. By 2019, it had amassed 2.5 million customers and was expanding globally.

From an SEO perspective, N26 opted to maintain a single top-level domain (TLD) for all countries, using subdirectories for different languages. This approach centralized backlinks and strengthened the domain’s overall authority. However, despite strong brand awareness driving substantial organic traffic, N26’s keyword targeting for banking-related terms remained underdeveloped, indicating significant potential for non-brand search growth.

Key SEO Insights:

• Organic Traffic: ~230,000 monthly SEO visits.
• Page Performance: Only 150 of 15,000 indexed pages receive 10+ visits per month.
• Backlink Strategy: Strong unified backlink profile due to a single TLD.
• Brand Dependency: 90% of organic traffic is brand-related, highlighting limited success in non-branded keyword rankings.

Backlink Profile Overview

N26’s backlink profile showcases an extensive number of referring domains, but a significant portion of backlinks come from low-authority pages.

Backlink Statistics:

• Total Backlinks: 306,000 from 5,500 domains.
• Link Quality: 87% of backlinks originate from low Page Authority (PA) pages.
• Regional Links: Only 11% of backlinks are from German websites, despite Germany being a key market.
• Notable Backlinks: High PA backlinks from major websites such as Bloomberg, TechCrunch, ESPN, and Google Play.
• Backlink Strategy: Subdirectory-based multilingual setup, consolidating domain authority.

Top Backlinks (PA 40+ according to Ahrefs)

• Two Factor Auth List
• TechCrunch Coverage
• Google Play Store
• Dein Handy
• 301 Redirect via OpenCollective

Organic Traffic & Keyword Performance

Despite high traffic numbers, N26 remains heavily reliant on brand searches. Expanding keyword targeting for competitive banking-related queries presents a major growth opportunity.

Traffic Overview:

• Total Keywords Ranked: 59,000
• Total Organic Visits: ~230,000/month
• Pages Driving Traffic: 150 of 15,000 indexed pages receive meaningful traffic.

Top Traffic-Generating Keywords

• Brand-related queries (~90% of traffic): ~210,000 monthly visits.
• Non-brand keywords:
  • “apple pay” (360 searches)
  • “bank” (300 searches)
  • “online bank” (200 searches)
  • “bank telefon” (140 searches)
  • “maestro card” (40 searches)
  • “tarifs” (300 searches)
  • “moneybeam” (170 searches)
  • “la banque mobile” (90 searches)

Indexation & Page Performance

With 15,000 indexed pages, only a small percentage contribute significantly to traffic. This suggests potential content inefficiencies and an opportunity for optimization.

• Indexed Pages: ~15,000
• Pages with 10+ visits/month: ~150

Site Performance & Mobile Optimization

N26’s website performance on mobile was hindered by large images affecting page load speed.

Performance Issues Identified:

• PageSpeed Insights Analysis:
  • Images were identified as a major issue impacting loading times.
  • Google Lighthouse audits highlighted optimization opportunities.
• Key Areas for Improvement:
  • Image compression and format optimization.
  • Lazy loading implementation.
  • Reduction of unnecessary scripts impacting performance.

Conclusion & SEO Growth Potential

While N26 has built a strong brand and benefits from a unified backlink profile, its reliance on brand traffic signals a missed opportunity in organic search growth. Addressing keyword targeting, improving page performance, and optimizing non-brand search strategies could significantly enhance long-term SEO success.

Key Recommendations:

1. Diversify Organic Traffic Sources:
   • Improve keyword targeting for banking and financial services terms.
   • Enhance content strategy to capture informational and transactional queries.
2. Optimize Site Architecture & Indexation:
   • Focus on high-impact pages and prune underperforming content.
   • Improve internal linking structure to distribute authority effectively.
3. Enhance Mobile Performance:
   • Optimize images and scripts to improve load times.
   • Implement lazy loading and other performance best practices.
4. Expand Backlink Strategy:
   • Focus on acquiring high-quality links from finance and banking-related sources.
   • Strengthen link-building efforts in core target markets.

By implementing these strategies, N26 could significantly increase its share of non-branded organic traffic and further cement its position as a leading digital bank.

Alex Bieth

Alex is an experienced SEO consultant with over 14 years of working with global brands like Montblanc, Ricoh, Rogue, Gropius Bau and Spartoo. With a focus on data-driven strategies, Alex helps businesses grow their online presence and optimise SEO efforts.

After working in-house as Head of SEO at Spreadshirt, he now works independently, supporting clients globally with a focus on digital transformation through SEO.

He holds an MBA and has completed a Data Science certification, bringing strong analytical skills to SEO. With experience in web development and Scrum methodologies, they excel at collaborating with cross-functional teams to implement scalable digital strategies.

Outside work, he loves sport: running, tennis and swimming in particular!