Andy Atkins-Krüger founded Webcertain – the multi-language international search marketing services business that runs the International Search Summit alongside SMX in Europe – and also includes the in-house business which specializes in supporting internal agencies within big groups with the specialist language needs.
Not a day seems to pass when there isn't some new feature announcement by the search engines or some acquisition of an organization we've none of us heard of, but which powers lots of sites we didn't know needed powering. Its complex enough for anyone - but if you're in charge of a 25-language site running in 170 countries, its more than mind boggling - it can be soul destroying. Just how do we cope?
Numbers can actually help you to market your product if you understand how important they are -- especially to significant far eastern markets such as China. Universally understood, numbers may well have wider applications for your international search marketing campaigns than you, at first, expect.
A raft of recent search engine developments in the Far East means the picture is not so wonderfully clear anymore. In Japan, Korea and China there have been signficant search engine market changes. Let's try and figure out what's going on?
International SEO and local SEO are very different right? Wrong -- well sort of wrong. Actually they have a lot in common -- but they also have some key differences. But they could certainly do with working together in the interest of their clients.
Where I live and what language I speak are not necessarily the same thing. And because today, I'm connecting in Vienna doesn't mean that I want German content. And please dear website owner, remember that borders are artificial - my world centers around me not around a political line on a map. Center on me!
If you're choosing domain names for your business with the intention of going global, then you have quite a lot to think about. You might want to incorporate keywords in your domain name -- but how do you handle this across multiple different languages? Or you might choose an invented new word to be your domain -- but how do you check if that will work in international markets. A few simple checks prevent lots of pain!
Is going global too expensive or too complicated for small businesses -- or is the opportunity just the same for them as huge conglomerates? Indeed, is it possible that the opportunity is relatively-speaking even greater for mom and pop than for Mr. Big Corporation?
Website translation processes can often conflict with SEO objectives. How can these two opposites be reconciled? With such huge sums invested in localization -- it makes sense to get the maximum return on investment -- but you need to review the process. Here's how!
Do people really search in English rather than their local languages? That's what Google's Keyword Tool seems to be saying. So that must mean English is truly a "Lingua Franca" -- or is something even more mysterious going on with the Google numbers?
The search volumes for keywords in Google's Keyword Tool are not always what they seem - especially if they have more than one meaning in different languages. How does the Keyword Tool deal with these and how do we avoid making incorrect assumptions about keywords?
When targeting international markets - a significant discovery is that they may speak another language - but they seem to actually search in English. Is this really the case? Do people in non-English markets increasingly search in English? So why don't English campaigns work?
In this age of video, is it possible that some international marketers would be wise to shift their budgets not to website localization -- but to using the moving image? Perhaps video really is the universal language of search!
SEO and translation just don't seem to mix when marketing websites and the localization industry seems to be preventing progress and focussing on the wrong things. Maybe it's time the SEO industry was given more credit as the search and social marketers they truly are and firmly put in charge of how all website content is produced -- including that which is translated?
Today’s news that Google is defying Chinese authorities by no longer censoring search results leaves many wondering whether the government will simply force Google to cease operations in China. Even if that happens, China is still an important market to consider.
Choosing a content management system which helps you make progress internationally - rather than blocking every move - is a good plank to have in your strategy. Even if you're not planning that international expansion just yet. Reason? Retro-fitting a new content management system to an existing project can bring a heap of extra pressure - just when you need it to be helping!
Is your international search marketing suffering from content avoidance syndrome? Are domains and hosting top of the list with a little dabbling in managing duplication? It's not too late - if you've recognized the problem you're halfway to solving it and focusing more on content investment!
Social media marketing is pretty tricky - but it is too tricky to ever roll out international campaigns? Where do you start from when you're targeting international social networks - success at home or do you need to start all-over?
Duplication is the bane of projects eeeking international seo success. It catches them first, invisibly creeping up and throwing their results to the wind. Why does this happen to so many - what is it that tempts them into the duplication trap? And do modern methods work?
Does Facebook pose a threat today or in the future to Google by swallowing advertising dollars - and will the inclusion of web search speed that process? Google and Facebook actually many historical similarities - including the shape of their global roll outs.
Does local hosting matter for rankings internationally? Will it be even more significant after page load speed becomes part of the Google algorithm? Is there a one-size-fits-all solution?
Soon it will be possible to register domain names using local language character sets creating vast new opportunities for marketers - and domain name sellers. Time to act to protect your own domain names and trademarks in the new languages.
Local domains are a winner in international SEO - here are 6 reasons why they show a clean pair of heels to dot coms. And a few tips to watch out for as far as SEOs becoming enchanted with the tempting charms of the dot com and leaving the narrow path to success.
Links in one country have a different value than links in another—and the average PageRank of sites in particular countries is not the same. So best not to start an international link building project with PageRank considerations, but rather to consider the impact of location of linking sites.
The majority of international link building projects or RFPs I see are based on existing successful projects—so why do so many fail when they expand internationally? The simple answer is that international link building requires a different type of preparation than national link building.
Do accents in languages other than English have any relevance in search marketing? Could they be a goldmine of potential opportunity in certain languages especially with Google and what does Google gain? A study of French accent use shows there is more to this than meets the eye.
Barry Lloyd is a search marketing entrepreneur who first dabbled - successfully in SEO and then took on the giant analytics firms by offering internationally-minded solutions. In this interview he offers useful insight on the process of internationalization and intriguing insights into the relationship between search engines and tool vendors worldwide.
118 billion words are translated every year by translators and many end up on web sites. Not surprisingly, SEO is becoming of much greater interest to translation professionals—and rightly so.