eCommerce and SEO in Moldova: Who’s Top in Google? Update 2025🚀

Top 25 most visited e-Commerce sites in Moldova

The table shows only organic traffic from Google search, with no branded queries.

In 2023, we published the first article “e-Commerce and SEO in Moldova: who is top in Google?”. At that time, we analyzed more than 200 online stores, selected 25 of them and openly shared SEO metrics.

We decided to determine the TOP by traffic from Google without brand queries. In our study we also display information on traffic from Moldova, shares of branded/non-branded traffic, keywords that generate the most traffic, as well as the conditional value of organic traffic.

It’s all about figuring out who’s really top and who needs to rethink their strategy.

Based on non-branded traffic metrics, we determine who is really the leader among local players in the niche of “e-Commerce” in Moldova for 2025.

We use the Ahrefs tool for analysis – one of the most accurate on the market, but even it underestimates the real traffic figures. And significantly: according to our measurements, by 3-5 times. This is not a hypothesis, but a proven fact that we tell every client. Therefore, if you see 20,000 – the real traffic may be 60,000+. Ahrefs does not overestimate, it is always cautious. Just keep that in mind when looking at the numbers.

For clarity, let’s display the data on traffic volume in a pie chart for the top 5 leaders to see who is taking a big bite out of the pie.

Comparison for 2024-2025

A lot has changed since then – competition has intensified and the list of notable players has expanded. This year we have already included 25 sites and are comparing them by key SEO indicators for 2024 and 2025. We look not only at the dynamics of each project compared to last year, but also assess how the sites look against each other.

In this section, we compare the total search traffic of all 25 players for 2024 and 2025.

What is included in “general traffic”? These are all the hits from Google for any query – both branded (e.g. “darwin.md”) and general (e.g. “buy a TV”). This indicator shows the scale of SEO-visibility of the site as a whole – not only in Moldova, but also beyond its borders.

Traffic volume from Google for Moldova

Here we look separately at local traffic, i.e. clicks from search from Moldovan users. Why is this important?

Even if a site receives a lot of traffic from abroad, the real customers are most often local visitors. Therefore, local figures are an indicator of who is really winning the competition on the Moldovan market, and not just collecting random visits from other countries.

Brand vs. Non-brand requests

The table reflects the % of non-branded traffic comparing 2024 – 2025.

Non-branded traffic are queries that do not include the brand name, but are related to products or services that the company offers. For example, requests for “buy a laptop” or “best headphones”

Share of branded traffic

Brand traffic represents inquiries “darwin telefoane”, “telefoane”, “Darwin store,” “bomba discount store”,“bomba frigidere”, “store maxi beltsi”, “hitech kitchens photo” – queries contain the name of the store’s “brand”.

Queries generating the most traffic to the site

The table contains the top “key queries” for which the site gets “organic traffic” from Google search.

“Site page” on specified “query / product / category / brand” intercepts traffic from Google search, brings the site the most traffic compared to other queries.

How much is organic traffic worth?

The cost of organic traffic is the amount a site would pay for the same traffic if it came through contextual advertising on Google for the same keywords.

This metric shows how much money a site saves by getting traffic for free through SEO.

Let’s compare the financial performance of the leaders

Market: “Electronics for Home” in Moldova, growing every year.
In 2 years – the market grew by +33,76% and amounted to more than – 9,33 billion MDL in 2024.

For clarity, let’s display the “Turnover” data in a pie chart for the top 5 leaders to see who is taking a big bite out of the pie.

Prospects and risks of eCommerce sites

For an objective assessment, we relied on non-branded traffic from Moldova, as this is what reflects the strength of organic search, off-brand awareness and reach for key commercial queries.

Top leaders

Darwin.md and Enter.online are the strongest players with an active SEO strategy, high search visibility and steady growth. They work systematically and proactively.

Sustainable and growing

PandaShop and Maximum.md show stable SEO dynamics. Ultra.md is one step away from reaching the top 5: if it gets more involved in SEO, it may well overtake Bomba.md, which is experiencing a decline from 40K to 36.5K. This is already an alarming signal: while competitors are growing, stagnation may cost a place in the top.

Neither rise nor fall

SmartShop.md, Xstore.md, Hi-Tech.md – sites that do not show clear growth, but do not lose positions either. In their case, the current dynamics is more related to the general growth of demand rather than SEO breakthroughs. This is the “warm zone”: there is potential, but without active actions, they risk being left behind.

Clear stagnation or decline

– Smart.md, Alo.md – losing non-branded traffic, and this drop is not accidental: probably, there are no updates, the assortment is not growing, the site is not developing.

– Startshop.md, Gsmshop.md, Elephant.md – a steady multi-year decline. Without changes, the situation will only get worse.

– Flexmag.md – for the last year – complete stagnation in non-branded traffic. There is potential, but the work on SEO has clearly sagged or is absent.

Rookies and Transformers

Gospodari.md, Moltech.md, Agrotech.md – sites that are transitioning from narrow niche to full-fledged e-com format. Initial growth is now visible due to the expansion of the assortment, but without serious work with SEO they risk not converting the changes into organic success.

Key findings

1. The eCommerce market in Moldova is becoming increasingly competitive.
2. Websites that don’t update their SEO strategy and develop their assortment risk losing market share.
3. It is important to actively work on SEO, expand semantics, update content and make technical improvements to retain and improve positions.

It’s not a time to “watch”, it’s a time to get involved in SEO in a mature way.

Opinion of Maria Cervonookaia, Marketing Director – Darwin.md / Enter.md

In large e-commerce projects, an in-house SEO team is a necessity. It is integrated into the logic of the business, understands the nuances of categories, assortment, seasonality and site architecture.

In large e-commerce projects, an in-house SEO team is a necessity. It is integrated into the logic of the business, understands the nuances of categories, assortment, seasonality and site architecture.

Only an in-house team is able to work in the long term and integrate the strategy into the company’s processes. It is important to engage external experts for specific tasks: audits, migrations or AI-optimization.

In terms of measuring SEO effectiveness, in 2025, SEO for e-commerce should focus on non-branded traffic, which remains a key channel for attracting new customers.

We focus on those metrics that really affect the business: traffic, positions in key categories, the share of non-branded queries. It is important not only to be at the top, but also to understand how this affects business growth and profit.

However, many of the big players in Moldova are losing organics because they continue to use old strategies and approaches. Search output is changing and old systems can no longer cope with the new requirements. AI and new technologies are significantly changing the way users search for information, which means it is important to adapt content and website structure to the new realities.

My point of view: in 2025-2026, user behavior and the very logic of search in e-commerce will change fundamentally. People will less and less “google” in the classical sense – instead they will start talking to AI, asking for recommendations, comparisons, selections. The output will become hybrid: instead of a list of links, there will be one clear answer and 1-2 “confirming” sources that the assistant trusts.
And to get there, it’s not enough to be “on the front page” – you have to be on the “trust shortlist”.

It’s like Alice in Wonderland: to just stay put, you have to run really fast.
And to move forward, you’ll have to change at a cosmic speed: rebuild the structure, learn to speak AI, and prioritize meaning over keys.

SEO isn’t about “text optimization” anymore, it’s about adapting businesses to a new way of thinking. And the sooner we start, the longer we stay in the game.

Opinion of Maria Rogut, Marketing Director – liniah2o.md / bayro.md

Nevertheless, in our niche – “furniture, sanitary ware” – the main sales remain through physical stores, as most customers prefer to see and evaluate the goods in person before buying. However, there is a category of regular customers who place orders online on the site, for this audience, even if it is not large, we have created a department of 2 operators who daily process online applications from our sites www.liniah2o.md and www.bayro.md.

I see that customer behavior is changing. Today, customers have become much more knowledgeable: they study reviews, compare features, read reviews before visiting a store. That is, even if a purchase is made offline, the decision is often formed online.

That’s why we at the company are increasing our attention to the content on the website – from accurate specifications to quality photos, video reviews and articles. This helps not just to move up in search, but also to build trust even before contact with the client.

SEO and contextual advertising are no longer just channels of attraction – they are already part of customer service and trust. If a client has found us, received all the information they need and feels confident, they are more likely to buy, whether online or in-store.

From my personal experience in other areas, such as buying cosmetics, the situation is quite different: here online has become my main channel. For more than three years now, I have been buying cosmetics exclusively online, thanks to the wide selection, the ability to compare brands and read reviews.

As a marketer actively working with SEO and PPC tools, I can confirm that online sales continue to show growth year after year. Today, quite a lot of quality leads come to us from Google searches. These are customers who are already in the final stages of making a purchase decision, such customers are quickly converted into sales.

Opinion of Angela Cijevschi, Managing Director – xplane.md

While only 23% of respondents made online purchases in 2020, that figure has now risen to 57%.

In 2023, sales of physical goods and commercial services online amounted to approximately €358.6 million (excluding VAT), up 15.2% year-on-year.

In addition, 77% of the e-commerce audience in Moldova have average or above average income levels, which indicates the solvency of this group. However, despite the high interest in online shopping, 56% of Moldovan shoppers prefer to shop offline, if possible.

In addition, 47% of the Moldovan population make online purchases once a month or more often.

57% of online shoppers live in Chisinau.

In 2024, Moldovans made about 720,000 deliveries of goods from foreign online stores to Moldova for the amount of 24.4 million euros and purchased services on foreign online platforms for the amount of 344.1 million euros.

Over the last 3 years we have been approached by both Romanian and local companies with requests for online behavioral research, online preferences. We notice that companies are increasingly making decisions based on behavioral analytics: analyzing not only demographics, but also motivations, barriers, habits of users.

Consumers are becoming less loyal to brands but more loyal to convenient digital experiences. The winners are those who offer not only a quality product but also a fast, transparent, personalized shopping experience.

We expect the share of online shoppers in Moldova to exceed 70% by 2026 – especially if businesses continue to invest in mobile interfaces, content localization and omnichannel.

Opinion Daniela Cristiuc, Strategic Marketer – bomba.md / sportlandia.md

The keys to growth in eCommerce lie in the systematic handling of organic traffic.

Problems with organics in eCommerce are often related to internal errors: duplicates, lost redirects, lack of regular work. Organics requires systematicity, and without proper work on structure and content, growth is impossible.

One of the priorities for us is non-branded traffic. Unlike stable and well-monetized branded traffic, it is non-branded traffic that brings new loyal customers. In our evaluation, we focus on metrics that impact revenue: traffic, conversions, organic share of orders, and new referral growth.

We actively use AI in our work – as a tool to speed up work, but always with manual adaptation, especially in tasks where neutrality is important, such as semantics clustering. AI helps eliminate subjectivity, but does not replace human labor.

AI helps speed up routine processes, but you can only experience real results with proper tasking and strategic control.

That’s why I support a hybrid SEO team model: a strong team lead within the team who focuses on strategy and business results, while external specialists are involved where it is beneficial. The main thing is not to divide into “in-house” and “outsourced”, but to clearly understand who is responsible for what and how it affects growth.

This approach allows you to maintain the depth of elaboration and speed of implementation. If SEO is not built into systemic work, the company starts overpaying for paid traffic. And the later you start, the more expensive it will be to catch up.

Opinion of Maxim Konovalov, Founder- rocketseo.md

AI vs. Google in eCommerce – who will win in 2026?

Classic SEO – not dying, but losing influence as the only and key traffic channel, especially in eCommerce.

Sites will lose direct traffic from search.

Instead of “go to site” users already get a chat response (especially for product queries, FAQs and comparisons).

This will especially hit thin content sites (low quality content) with template categories with no added value.

Answer Engine Optimization (AEO) will replace classic SEO in growth strategy

It’s important to realize that it’s not just content that will become important, but fragmentation and authenticity.

Well-structured chunks of information with clear logic are ideal input material for AI responses, which now “reads” and “compiles” content rather than just passing on a link.

– Emphasis on optimization for chat responses and an advanced type of neural network: Large Language Model – LLM – contexts that can be “quoted” by ChatGPT or SGE

– Support for facts, structured data, FAQ blocks, brand mentions

Most of the traffic will not come from Google, but from LLM chats, widgets, personal assistants

Content, links, structure, speed – still important, but no guarantee of results if not adapted to the new reality of LLM output. SGE, Perplexity, ChatGPT, Gemini – already increasingly giving direct answers rather than links to sites. Brand, E-E-A-T and links are very important, and moreover, brand and credibility are one of the key benefits of LLM rendition, and PR and expertise are no longer a marketing story, but the key to getting into LLM rendition.

One key and simple story – The bigger your brand’s “digital footprint”, the greater the chance of being used as a source.

Which companies will be in the top? Those that have a strong brand. Content is built on the principle of “answers” to real live questions from users, a lot of expert publications with clear updates and a clear content structure.

A bit of research, what do the studies say or the numbers that change everything!

SimilarWeb notes that in May 2025, the share of zero-click news queries went from 56% to 69% – traffic dropped from 2.3 billion to <1.7 billion visits Gartner predicts a 25% decline in search volume by 2026. Reason: users moving to AI chatbots and virtual assistants instead of Google

What are we already doing at RocketSEO ?

Our experts aren’t just watching the LLM trends – we’re already in the game. Today, we are updating our SEO services under AIO and GEO (Generative Engine Optimization) to give clients an edge in the new rendition.

Our clients are already getting traffic and sales directly from ChatGPT, this is not theory, but real cases!

• Create in-house AI agents who know how to not just generate, but optimize and structure content for LLMs.
• Implement automation with Make and n8n, speeding up all processes by an order of magnitude
• We test, analyze, adapt to the new LLM reality and it’s paying off
• Getting into WikiData, Open Product Data, Yelp, G2 and other databases so that our clients become “quotable” brands for AI interfaces.
  

If you want to stay ahead of the curve and not behind, let’s talk.

Maxim Konovalov – SEO specialist, founder of RocketSEO, 17 years in digital.

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