A full day of international focused sessions at the International Search Summit @ SMX Advanced London last week was bound to deliver a wealth of insights and tips for organisations targeting multiple global markets online.
It would be impossible to list them all in one post – but we’ve selected some of the key tips any international marketer should consider. Then keep reading to see how to attend the next International Search Summit, June 9th in Seattle!
by Search Engine Land
It would be impossible to list them all in one post – but we’ve selected some of the key tips any international marketer should consider. Then keep reading to see how to attend the next International Search Summit, June 9th in Seattle!
1. Don’t translate all your content – it could be money down the drain. Instead, focus on translating only the content that will drive ROI.
2. Research potential markets carefully – but don’t rely purely on analytics data to determine which markets to enter. Other factors to consider include keyword research data, competitors, ecommerce regulations and usability.
3. Check out currency and payment preferences in your target markets. In some cultures, such as Russia, users will order goods online but choose to make the payment offline. If you don’t have the capabilities to facilitate local payment methods, you are unlikely to succeed in that market.
4. Google uses ccTLDs and IP addresses as the main factors to determine the geographic location of a site – so local domains and local hosting have a positive impact on rankings and should be used wherever possible. Google Webmaster Tools should not be used to target multiple countries speaking the same language.
5. Be aware of multilingual countries such as Switzerland, Canada, Belgium and India and ensure you optimize your content for all languages; otherwise you’ll be invisible to a large number of potential customers.
6. Remember that local links are gold – and carry the most weight with search engines. However, interlinking all your global sites using a geo-selector is an effective way of driving more links – especially if you link to the equivalent page each time rather than the root domain.
7. Utilize Google Places. It is now available in 100 countries and effective optimization for Places will increase your chances of ranking highly in local search results.
8. Optimize for mobile. There are roughly 1 billion mobile web users globally and 49% of those have a full web browser on their phone. In many emerging markets where internet access is limited, mobile is the most common means of accessing the web.
9. Remember that Google doesn’t dominate search in all markets. 75% of Chinese web users search on Baidu, 87% of the South Korean population prefer local search engine Naver. Also, most Western social sites are banned in China and even in Japan and Korea where they are accessible, local social networks are the most popular. Be prepared to develop a presence on local sites if you want to engage with local users.
2. Research potential markets carefully – but don’t rely purely on analytics data to determine which markets to enter. Other factors to consider include keyword research data, competitors, ecommerce regulations and usability.
3. Check out currency and payment preferences in your target markets. In some cultures, such as Russia, users will order goods online but choose to make the payment offline. If you don’t have the capabilities to facilitate local payment methods, you are unlikely to succeed in that market.
4. Google uses ccTLDs and IP addresses as the main factors to determine the geographic location of a site – so local domains and local hosting have a positive impact on rankings and should be used wherever possible. Google Webmaster Tools should not be used to target multiple countries speaking the same language.
5. Be aware of multilingual countries such as Switzerland, Canada, Belgium and India and ensure you optimize your content for all languages; otherwise you’ll be invisible to a large number of potential customers.
6. Remember that local links are gold – and carry the most weight with search engines. However, interlinking all your global sites using a geo-selector is an effective way of driving more links – especially if you link to the equivalent page each time rather than the root domain.
7. Utilize Google Places. It is now available in 100 countries and effective optimization for Places will increase your chances of ranking highly in local search results.
8. Optimize for mobile. There are roughly 1 billion mobile web users globally and 49% of those have a full web browser on their phone. In many emerging markets where internet access is limited, mobile is the most common means of accessing the web.
9. Remember that Google doesn’t dominate search in all markets. 75% of Chinese web users search on Baidu, 87% of the South Korean population prefer local search engine Naver. Also, most Western social sites are banned in China and even in Japan and Korea where they are accessible, local social networks are the most popular. Be prepared to develop a presence on local sites if you want to engage with local users.
by Search Engine Land
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