Optimize Websites For Global ROI

OPTIMIZE YOUR WEBSITE FOR GLOBAL RETURN-ON-INVESTMENT Mike Belasco @belasco Gaëlle Callnin @cofrenchy

Optimizing websites for global ROI

Global ROI Components

Technology / Tools

Methodology / Approaches

International Search

Sample Strategies

Global ROI = Revenue / Cost

Global ROI = Revenue / Costs

Internet = Global * Source: Internet World Stats (www.internetworldstats.com)

Internet = Global

What does all this mean?

Where does the opportunity exist?

What can I leverage to achieve my goals?

Leveraging your website globally

Use the current investment in your website (economies of scale)

What are your options for targeting a new international audience?

Where can you get the biggest ‘bang for your buck’?

Global Passport: Language, Culture

Gisting.

Software translation, low accuracy.

Translation.

Professional translation, high accuracy.

Cultural Adaptation.

Expert level, adapt intent of message more than actual words.

Crowdsourcing.

Internal Considerations: Technology

Content Management Systems

Exporting/importing capabilities

Language workflow management

Language Terminology Management

Translator tools, productivity

Language consistency

I just like this one…

International SEO What You Need To Know And Consider

International SEO

What we’ll talk about:

International Search Marketing Landscape

Site Architecture For International Success

International Optimization Tactics

International Search Marketing Landscape

According to Oban Multilingual , 70% of internet search queries are not in English.

Google is not the most popular search engine in every country

International SEO is generally less competitive.

Paid search is generally cheaper internationally as well

Top Search Engines Across The Globe

United States – Google China – Baidu Japan – Yahoo (Google / MSN) UK – Google France – Google Germany – Google Canada – Google Korea – Naver Brazil _ Google Turkey – Google Italy – Google Switzerland – Google Singapore – Google

Explore Demand Internationally

Use Google Insights – available in 39 languages around the world!

Explore Competition Internationally

Australian vs. US results for “athletics”

Explore Competition Internationally

Adding &gl=au (for Australia, nz for New Zealand, etc) to the end of a Google query will return results as if you were in that country.

You can also use Firefox Add-on “Google Global - http://www.redflymarketing.com/blog/google-global-view-results-different-locations/

Site Architecture For International SEO

Many Ways to Skin an Int’l Site

Which site architecture is right for your international content?

Sub domains (ex. french.domain.com)

Sub Folders (ex. www.domain.com/fr)

Separate domains/sites (www.domain.fr)

Each of these architectures has pros/cons

Using Sub Domains For Int’l Content

Subdomain - fr.domain.com

Pros :

Maintains some of the metrics (domain trust, domain popularity) of the root domain.

Easy to see this is a country specific version of the site

Each sub-domain can be hosted on a server with a corresponding country IP address. (will discuss this later)

Cons :

While you maintain some of the value of the root domain metrics, you do lose a significant amount.

Higher risk of mislinking. Many linkers will link to the "www" of the site out of habit.

Source: http://www.seomoz.org/blog/seo-guide-international-versions-of-websites

Using Unique Sites For Int’l Content

TLD - www.domain.fr Great option for websites that have a strong attachment to country of origin and are vastly different from their foreign counterparts.

Pros :

Very obvious and intuitive to the user.

Good chance of getting correct links.

Provides the ability for each domain to be hosted on a country specific IP address.

Cons :

Completely different domain than its foreign friends, amigos and amis. This means they do not share any of the benefits of inbound links.

Using Sub-folders for Int’l Content

Subfolder - www.domain.com/fr/ Great option for an already well established website that is looking to expand into new international markets.

Pros :

All links to any version of the site help boost the domain. It's a rising tide raises all boats situation.

Less prone to linking mistakes as this format follows the standard website convention www.example.com.

Cons :

This option has not performed as well in country specific search engines.

Potentially confusing for users looking for a ccTLD (ex. .fr) version of the site.

Not able to have different country sites hosted from different country specific servers with proper IP addresses.

International SEO Tactics

Hosting and Domain Issues

It is best to host the site in the country you are targeting so you get a local IP address

You can specify Geographic Target for sub domains, sub folders and of course domains in Google Webmaster Tools

On-page Intl SEO Tactics

As always start with Keyword Research

Google Adwords Keyword Tool

Keywords Discovery

On-page Intl SEO Tactics

All SEO best practices still apply. Some ranking factors will very slightly on search engines other than Google/Yahoo, etc.

Use the content-language meta tag:

<meta http-equiv="content-language" content="en-gb">

You can find the entire list of language codes at Microsoft's Developer Center .

Display Intl address and phone on the site.

International Link Building

Get links from sites with the same TLD (ex. www.other domain.fr)

Other link building tactics still apply (keyword rich anchor text, links from more powerful sites, etc.)

Use keyword and domain specific searches to find opportunities

http://www.google.com/search?q=directory+site%3Aco.uk

http://www.google.com/search?q=intitle%3Adirectory+site%3Aco.uk

http://www.google.com/search?q=inurl%3Adirectory+site%3Aco.uk

http://www.google.com/search?q=resources+site%3Aco.uk

Example: French SEO

Client: Winshuttle (Private) Project : Replicate US SEO strategy in France Challenge : Very niche market, almost no analytics data Solution : Found best search terms on blogs and articles, instead of Google

Example: Language & User Content

Client: MSMGF (Non-Profit) Project : Localize website into multiple languages and manage crowdsourcing process Challenge : Content is very sensitive, enormous quantity, can be in any 1 of 7 languages Solution : Train specific language teams, develop client terminology, select and manage volunteer teams

Technology & Data

Thank You!