Bill Hunt's presentation to SEMNE, March 31, 2010. Bill explains how to improve international search rankings.

1. Global Search Marketing Your just a click away from the world! SEMNE CT Meeting March 31, 2010 Bill Hunt

2. International Opportunity 85% of Small Medium Businesses in US and Europe indicated search engines offer them the best mode for market expansion 65% of Fortune 100 generate more than 50% of their revenue outside the US 70% of all Google queries were in a language other than English Search is the least inexpensive mode of entry of any form or global expansion.

3. plane ticket flugticket vlucht billet d’avion 航空券 항공권 volo vuelos Drive targeted leads to your international sites Target Users at the Time of Interest in their language www.yourcompany.com in English / Japanese / French / Korean / German / Italian / Spanish / Dutch

4. Global Search Challenges But, with the increased awareness and demand comes new challenges… Search breaks down traditional geographic barriers leading to potential customer frustration due to language, navigation or ecommerce issues Content owners now compete for keywords, awareness and traffic based on who has the better optimized content resulting Advanced creative techniques can be counterproductive to search requirements Grass roots programs create duplication and waste 4

5. Opportunities

6. Business Opportunities Going Global = More Business Opportunities

7. Opportunities - Regins

8. Opportunities - Languages

9. Opportunities - Countries

10. Why Go Global? Demand is already coming to you Log file analysis Sales and leads Language and communication ability Customer service Infrastructure (channel partners) Internet usage and E-commerce Market place interests and product categories New Markets & Demand for Products Emerging markets or advancing technology opportunities

11. Review the Opportunities http://www.google.com/landing/exporttool/ https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal

12. Planning & Challenges

13. Objectives and Goals Determine the Business Objectives for Global Websites and Global PPC Campaigns Target audience How to measure the success Size and budget of campaigns In-house, Out-sourced, or Hybrid Create a Project Road Map Research target markets and be prepared

14. Target Engines Google – 62.4% Yahoo – 12.8% Baidu – 5.2% MSN(bing) – 2.9% Naver – 2.6%

15. There are some challenges… Different market means different: Rules People Culture Behavioral Patterns

16. Regional Challenges Different outlet social media, blog, etc. Market trends Different search behaviors Different seasonal behaviors fiscal year shopping, vacation seasons difference in products to push Purchasing options credit card, COD, offline Content regulations gov regulations trademark, etc.

17. On-going Challenges Ranking Reports Campaign Maintenance Foreign Customer Services Legal / Contracts How to stay “Competitive” in foreign market

19. Ensuring your pages include the keyword phrases actually used by searchers

20. Ensuring the pages of your website are as compliant as possible with the search engine scoring algorithms

21. Ensuring compelling and action oriented descriptions that encourage visits

23. Infrastructure Issues

26. Template and top-level content optimisation Correct use of Header tags Page Title and Meta Data recommendations Fully indexable navigation? Can search engine’s follow all of the links? Ensure all parts of the page are indexable Enhancement of cross-links to distribute link equity Sony.de Sony.fr Etc.

28. Rank well without significant local interaction and optimization

30. Altering templates to allow addition of geo-specific keywords to titles, headings, and spiderable text

31. Reducing redirects and simplifying URL structures to increase performance of pages as well as spiderability

32. Created country-specific XML site maps to push inclusionResults: 82% of Tier 1 phrases in all markets ranking on first page Majority of traffic now from Search Exponential increase in sales immediately after indexing Source: IBM Presentation SES San Jose 2009

34. Restrictive JavaScript for language detection

36. GEO Targeting for Google Pages in Germany “.de” All web Pages in German language Sitemap Country setting

37. Fixing Location & Language Barriers Use correct Meta language tags <html lang=“de"> or <html lang=“en_gb"> <meta http-equiv="content-language" content="ja"> Use correct Character Set meta tags <meta http-equiv="content-type" content= "text/html; charset=shift-jis"> -- Japanese <meta http-equiv="Content-Type“ content="text/html; charset=windows-1251"/> -- Russian Use local domain names .de .fr .co.uk They can be hosted in the US At least a few pages on the local market domain

39. Leverage Partners and Distributed content to increase link equityHelps define the global server strategy as well

40. Linguistic Issues

41. Benefit of Website Globalization Standard site design and management Linking strategy Cost saving Time efficiency Manpower reduction Standardizing brand image and business strategies

42. Localization Challenges Languages: Different spellings “localise” or “localize” Different meanings “football” or “soccer Currencies Metrics Address Local Legal Requirements Business & License information Hours & Locations Return Policies

43. Mistakes With “Word for Word” Translation Not translated 「ホテル名」 「US$200以上」 「US$40以下」 「US$ｘｘ以上、US$ｘｘ以下」 「全てのホテルを表示する」 「111件中1番目から20番目のホテル」 ??? Wrong character 「ホテル名」 This should be on the right side of the currency box.

45. Educate them on the value of the words and why to look beyond branded terms

46. Share well performing words in local markets with all markets for potential new opportunities (closed feedback loop)

47. Don’t translate keywords but identify the best words for the local market. Keyword Research

48. Keywords Keyword Research in each market “America (USA)” アメリカ: 110,000 アメリカ合衆国: 14,800 米国: 4,400 合衆国: 720 “Baby carrier” ベビーキャリア:1,600 抱っこ紐:12,100 抱っこひも：6,600 だっこひも：2,900 だっこ紐：1,300

49. Keyword planning in each language Don’t just translate the English words Add all of the variations to expand keywords 20% of keywords in campaign are not popular or wrong translations 70% of Google queries are from outside the USA!

50. Keyword Organization & Management Organize your keywords by: Languages Locations Target audiences Purchase cycle Importance Brand name Product name Model numbers, etc. Set up separate account with different target language/location for each market to avoid bidding against yourself

52. Glossary Development Blended L10N & Optimization Process Content Translation Localization Step Page QA Page Updates Keyword Optimization Algorithm Compliance SEO Step Ensuring the final page has all the key elements needed for ranking well. Identify, analyze and refine optimal keywords Use SEO best practices to ensure translated content is optimal for scoring Scope Critical Keyword List External Demand On-site Search Current Position Content Availability & User query centric Primary Tasks Keyword Occurrence Keyword Density Keyword Prominence Descriptive Sentence Ensure complete translation Ensure proper language tags Ensure optimal placement of keywords

53. Localized PPC Ad Creative Write effective ads for each market Double byte characters = A half the space Check competitors’ ads Use dynamic insertion cautiously

54. Team & Organizational Issues

56. Set expectations accordingly -- local teams often don’t have as much resource and asked to do many other tasks

57. Develop your own local awareness.

58. Remember, you’re from headquarters and you’re supposed to be there to help.

59. Not knowing what the major local search engine (or language, or major holidays) are doesn’t make for a good foundation.

60. Where you have them, trust your local teams.

61. Educate, Empower, and Trust Them: They have the cultural context and local market knowledge.

63. Overall Search Strategy

64. Search related Training

65. Integration of Paid and Organic Search

67. Consulting with Site Infs. team on metrics, flow & function

68. Support web strategy & Web 2.0 efforts

70. Brand level page auditing and optimization

71. Coordination with Development Team

73. Deploy Performance Metrics Leverage Scorecards for governance to ensure consistent global performance goals are achieved. Helps prioritize resource allocation Forces all business units to make an effort IBM’s global search performance increased 500% when BU level performance metrics implemented

74. Deploy Performance Metrics Performance by business unit for critical keywords

75. Key steps to a successful global program Demonstrate the business opportunity for search Ensure translators and localizers understand search fundamentals Research and deploy the optimal keyword strategy Integrate search attributes into the development and localization workflow process Research the target markets for regulations, trends, statistics, popular engines and social outlets Take advice from local experts and local offices, and make necessary adjustments to your campaign strategies for each market

76. Enabler – Get a Handy Reference “Buy this book, read it, and then read it again.”--Chris Sherman, Search Engine Watch Helps guide you through developing your program How to form your team and manage for success

77. Thank You. eMail: bill@whunt.com Twitter: billhunt Blog: www.whunt.com Site: www.back-azimuth.com