With the extensive localisation controls provided in Google’s webmaster tools these days, is there still a case for multinational strategies using local TLDs for SEO benefit?

Related Topics: Channel: SEO | Multinational Search

Last week, Bill Hunt asked readers to decide what would be the most important task they could perform in 60 minutes -- a great question which also set me thinking. No matter how many times I thought about the question, I have kept returning to the same answer -- improving the knowledge of our people. It's actually one of the beefs I have about automated tools (only one of many, I might add); namely, that if a tool does it automatically, no one ever really learns what matters. And, no one really knows if the tool's advice if correct, either. Dig Carefully To Find Accurate Information First [...]

Related Topics: Channel: SEO | Multinational Search

What if you could only spend one hour each week identifying some of your biggest opportunities and problems? What would you spend the time doing? That was a question - well, more of a “challenge” given to me by a few attendees of a recent Advanced Keyword Modeling presentation. While the many possible analysis were great, they were limited by time and wanted to know of all of them, which I personally would do first. First, the 60 minutes does not include gathering the data and building the reports. Since the challenge was to me and I would obviously use the keyword management tool I [...]

Related Topics: Channel: SEO | How To | How To: SEO | Intermediate | Multinational Search

Last time, I was talking about the analysis of click through rates by position based on data from Google's Webmaster Tools and I promised we'd look at a wider range of countries. The chart below shows you exactly that data extracted from a wide range of webmaster data to give some relatively consistent averages. The data covers many tens of thousands of clicks. At first sight, you can see a fairly regular pattern (something we found across most European nations) and since the results are presented in largely similar ways by Google wherever you are, there's a certain inevitability to that. [...]

Related Topics: Channel: SEO | Google: Outside US | Google: Webmaster Central | Multinational Search | Search Engines: Outside USA | Search Marketing: Multinational

Last week, I was taking delegates on an international SEO course through their paces on using the data Google so generously provides in their webmaster tools. I'm a little puzzled that more people don't dip into the data, analyse it and then take actions on their campaigns. So, high time for me to share some non-client specific webmaster data which also throws light on some universal facts related to international search. I'm talking about click through rates. I'm a great believer in the importance of looking at how a client's sites are displayed in the search engine results pages and to ta [...]

Related Topics: Channel: SEO | Multinational Search

In the last few articles, we focused on minimums of keyword research and measuring performance, and now we can extend that process to budgeting. With search budgets, especially for paid search, we have three different options for budgeting. As the fairly tale goes, Goldilocks samples each of the bowls of porridge to see which was the right one for her. In developing our global search budget, we need to build our same three bowls, and lets call these bowls of budget could, should and would. For one project recently, I mined a universe of 150,000 keywords for a company across their entire [...]

Related Topics: Channel: SEO | Multinational Search

Last week, someone accused me of being too technical when describing geo-targeting settings -- it followed a conversation where I was told that one of my discussions was not "advanced" enough! So, I apologise in advance, as this post is going to be too technical for some and not for others! It's also a little theoretical, so I'm going to be talking about an approach that I personally haven't seen tested yet -- nor do I know anyone who has. But it is inspired by someone who should know about these things. An Interesting Approach To Using Canonicals As 301s In Site Migration At SMX East, I [...]

Related Topics: Channel: SEO | Multinational Search

Dialling back the importance of exact match domains, despite only effecting 0.6% US English search terms, will still have a strong impact in the Retail, Travel, Gambling & Finance verticals.

Related Topics: Channel: SEO | Google | Google: Algorithm Updates | Google: EMD Update | Google: SEO | Google: Web Search | Multinational Search

Almost anyone who specialises in international SEO or SEM will tell you that within a few years, it becomes pretty obvious that most marketers' problems have little to do with SEO or SEM techniques and are much more to do with brands cutting corners in their enthusiasm to go global. It's inevitable really. Organizations expanding abroad often can't suddenly recruit oodles of people with in-depth international marketing experience -- they have to learn on the job. Nor can they absorb all the cultural knowledge and step into the shoes of their customers in all the corners of the globe. So the [...]

Related Topics: Channel: SEO | Multinational Search

Last time, we looked at the process of A Minimalist Approach To Global Keyword Expansion & Monitoring, which is the bare minimum a company should do in an overseas market. This essentially solves for the first phrase of the typical purchase cycle – Awareness. It is critical in a market where you don’t have a lot of brand exposure to be in the initial consideration set when someone does their first query for a product or service. This is the phase where personalized search factors have the least impact on the search results since the searcher has most likely not searched for this typ [...]

Related Topics: Channel: SEO | Multinational Search

No one can deny the rapid rise in the popularity of infographics. No wonder, since they are graphically attractive, they solve user problems of information overload and they make great webpages. Oh, and then there's that point about infographics being great for link building too! Personally, I love looking at infographics − they make life bearable to those of us who would dearly like to win back time. But are they really the right solution for global content marketing strategies? It's true, your average infographic can be translated to communicate the same information to speakers of d [...]

Related Topics: Channel: SEO | Google: Outside US | Multinational Search

Linkbuilding still lies at the core of any successful SEO campaign. Indeed, campaigns at the very top end in the most competitive verticals are all about the effectiveness of their linkbuilding strategy. When you look at delivering significant returns across a range of countries, this truism is even more pronounced: despite all the advances in SEO strategy over the years, without a killer linkbuilding strategy you won't compete at the very top level.   Achieve Lasting Link Value The guts of a solid strategy, for me, revolve around achieving excellence in two areas of your linkbuil [...]

Related Topics: Advanced | Channel: SEO | Google: SEO | How To: Links | Link Building | Multinational Search

As "online marketing" evolves, you'll note I've used a generic term there rather than SEO -- the titles and descriptions of what we do on a daily basis change as does the focus of the effort. Both "Panda" and "Penguin" in their different ways have had a dramatic influence on how important people think "content" is. That's a huge revelation, of course. Never before had any of us figured out that the giving people access to rich information in the form of "content" could have any relevance whatsovever. (Don't forget my British upbringing and look for the huge irony there, just in case you thi [...]

Related Topics: Channel: SEO | Google: Content Central | Google: Panda Update | Multinational Search | Search Marketing: Multinational

There have been a number of articles lately on keyword expansion and management but most of them seemed to skip over the basics especially at the global level. It is critical to make sure you include the brand and product sets for each of the local markets. As we have been importing data into our keyword management suite for global companies, we immediately notice that few companies can even find a list of their products and categories let along be actively monitoring it. Andy Atkins-Krüger's article last week to CMO’s suggesting they Can’t Manage Search Through Translation must have [...]

Related Topics: Channel: SEO | Multinational Search

A question which is hitting my desk on a daily basis at the moment is, "Should I transliterate my brand for greater success in China, Korea and the other double-byte countries?" The very first time I saw this I though, "I'll just wing off a quick email to respond to this," then discovered that my winging email was more of a jumbo jet. In other words, it took some considerable explaining! More precisely, the question people are asking now is should they convert their URLs to carry local characters. First, we have to try and establish what is meant by transliteration? It is, very simply [...]

Related Topics: Channel: SEO | Multinational Search

Sometimes it feels like a one-man crusade. Now in my 15th year of search marketing (yes, I started young) I have been trying to explain to Global SEOs for much of that time that translation is not a perfect process. But it appears I have been talking to the wrong people. I should have been addressing myself to CMOs as it appears there are still many, heading global corporations, who believe that translation is a direct, universal and single click business and that they can use it to manage their businesses. So I decided it was time to address them directly. My message is very simple; if [...]

Related Topics: Channel: SEO | Google: Outside US | Multinational Search

Writers and analysts who keep an eye on the value of certain stocks, have been writing all year about the curious phenomenon of Google's stock price. They generally say something along the lines of, "If you compare Google's cash generation capabilities, why is it valued so much less than Apple?" or similar statements. Is it true that Google is undervalued or, in fact, might the lower than expected stock price be due to none other than Google itself? If you read this column regularly, you'll know that generally, as Google releases its performance figures each quarter, I like to break them [...]

Related Topics: Channel: SEO | Google: Business Issues | Google: Outside US | Multinational Search

Handling established campaigns across multiple countries can quickly become a case of handling overwhelming quantities of data interspersed with never-ending menial jobs, preventing the SEO from developing their strategy to squeeze yet more value from their campaign ROI.

Related Topics: Channel: Analytics | How To | How To: Analytics | Intermediate | Multinational Search | Search Marketing: Multinational

Usually, when I'm asked if "international" search or SEO is really different, the person asking the question has made up their mind that it's actually not. Usually, they have a view that international SEO is all about infrastructure, domains and local domains and not much else. But is this true? You'll probably not expect me, someone who's based their last 14 years specializing in international search saying, "Of course it is!" But can I defend that position? I'm going to have a jolly good go at answering all of the "buts" -- please use the comments to agree or disagree with me! "Intern [...]

Related Topics: Channel: SEO | Multinational Search

I just wrapped up a strategy session in Europe with two different companies and wanted to recap some of the issues I encountered and how we are working through them. It was interesting that in both cases, their US programs were fairly advanced and organized, yet their local market programs were under-performing and in a few cases non-existent. Selling The Opportunity In the very first meeting, I had a Brand Manager ask why he should bother with search marketing. I have not heard this question in a number of years. For his brand there were only about 35,000 searches each month for the prod [...]

Related Topics: Channel: SEO | Multinational Search