Frilans Finans, from second to first

Frilans Finans stood second on Google for the searches that matter most in its field. We started from the business rather than the keywords, and by our original case it ranked first, before taking search into a new platform for new markets.

See the results

Client: Frilans Finans
Industry: Self-employment and payroll services
Markets: Sweden first, then new markets; six countries at the time of the original case
Period: From the start of the work, as reported in our original case (2021, updated 2022)Reported 2021 to 2022
Our part: Search strategy: business and search analysis, content plan, links, and requirements for a new platform

Frilans Finans' Swedish home page “Fakturera utan eget företag” (invoicing without your own company) on a laptop on a birch table in a photographer's studio, with grey backdrop paper, a softbox and a camera on a tripod behind. — The Swedish home page: invoicing without a company of your own

Challenge

One step from the top

Frilans Finans has let people invoice without a company of their own since 1999, and it also runs payroll for companies' extra staff.

At the time of our original case it was the largest self-employment company in the Nordic region, active in six countries. In Google it stood second on the searches that matter most in its field, and the aim was clear: first place, in Sweden first and then in other markets.

The results in Sweden led to the next brief: a new web platform, on entirely new infrastructure, launching in new markets, with search part of it from the start.

What we found

The business came before the keywords

The searches that decide a field follow from what a company offers, and to whom. Frilans Finans has two offers, to people invoicing without a company and to companies paying extra staff.

So we started with the whole business and its offer to both, private customers and companies, before looking at a single search.

Then the sites: a technical analysis and a full search analysis. What they found became a keyword analysis, a content plan with instructions for how to write, and a link strategy.

Ongoing advice followed, to catch new traffic and serve the existing traffic better, and to keep the places once they were won.

The second chapter was the new platform. We helped set its requirements, so the rollout on entirely new infrastructure was as search-friendly as possible and adapted to each local market.

It asked Frilans Finans to write search into the platform's requirements, not add it after launch.

From the business to first placeFrom two offers to the searches that decide the field

The offer
Invoicing without a company for people, and payroll for companies' extra staff.
The field
The searches that matter most, with Frilans Finans in second place.

01 Business
Who is the offer for?
1. Two audiences
  Private customers and companies, each with an offer of its own.
02 Analysis
What do the sites need?
1. Technical and search analysis
  The sites checked, technically and for search as a whole.
2. Keywords and content
  A keyword analysis and a content plan, with instructions for the writing.
03 First place
What takes second to first?
1. Link strategy
  Links for the pages behind the key searches.
2. Ongoing advice
  To catch new traffic, serve existing traffic better and keep the places won.
Out Platform
Into new markets
1. Requirements first
  Search written into the new platform's requirements before the rollout.
2. Local markets
  Each market's version adapted to its own customers.
Search built in, market by market

The work

Screens are Frilans Finans' sites in Sweden and Norway as captured on 27 September 2026, shown in staged scenes.

Frilans Finans' Norwegian home page “Fakturer uten å ha eget firma” on a monitor between two studio speakers on an oak desk in a small music room at dusk, with acoustic panels, a guitar and headphones behind. — The home page in Norway

Frilans Finans' page “Så här fungerar det” (how it works) on a phone lying on an illustrator's ash desk, beside a sketchbook, fineliner pens, a pencil and a watercolour tin. — Self-employment, explained on mobile

A tablet lying sideways and a phone on the maple floor of a dance studio, showing Frilans Finans' Norwegian page “Slik fungerer det” and the English page “Invoicing without your own company”, beside ballet shoes, an exercise mat and a water bottle. — The same service in Norwegian and English

Frilans Finans' Norwegian guide “Hva bør du ta betalt som frilanser?” (what should you charge as a freelancer) on a tablet on a beech workbench in a woodworking shop, beside a hand plane and wood shavings. — A guide written for freelancers in Norway

The result

Second place became first

Measurement notes

By our original case, Frilans Finans had moved from second place to first on Google, and ranked first on the majority of the important terms in its field.

These are the results our original case reported, first published in 2021 and updated in 2022. They are positions, not traffic: the original case gives no traffic or revenue figures, and the notes say what that means.

The work then turned to keeping those places and to the new platform, rolled out to more countries with search in its requirements. The original case gives no results from the new markets.

We don't claim first place as ours alone. It rests on more than twenty years of Frilans Finans' own work in the field as much as on the pages.

On Google for the key searches in its field, up from second: #1

Sweden, at the time of our original case (2021, updated 2022). Positions only; no traffic figures were given.

Measurement notes and definitions

Sources: The results reported in our original case study for Frilans Finans (in Swedish), first published in August 2021 and last updated in May 2022. It does not name the tool behind them.
Scope: Organic Google search in Sweden. Position on the searches the original case calls the most important in the industry; it does not list them or say how many.
Window: From the start of the work to the time of reporting. The original case states no dates.
Excluded: The new platform's markets, where the original case gives no results. Paid search.

Measurement notes and definitions
Period	Start of the work	Original case, 2021
Position on Google, key searches in the field	2	1

Start of the work

Position on Google, key searches in the field: 2

Original case, 2021

Position on Google, key searches in the field: 1

Our original case study for Frilans Finans (in Swedish), 2021, updated 2022

As reported, not measured again. A position, not traffic or revenue, on a set of searches the original case does not list, with no exact dates or named tool.

In their words

“ Today we dominate our industry by ranking first on the essential terms”

Marcus JonssonCMO, Frilans FinansTranslated from Swedish

What this case says

Start with the business

The searches that decide a field follow from what the company offers, and to whom. Map those first and the keywords follow.

When the platform changes, write search into the requirements before the build. Places that took years to win are easier to keep when nothing has to be fixed after launch.