Multi-national Search Strategies Takeaways:

I recently attended an online seminar on multinational SEO. One of the biggest questions on my mind is how to perform effective keyword research in an international environment. The interesting thing is nobody (including the “gurus”) seem to have an answer outside of using the Google adwords tool. (If a venture capitalist is reading this we should talk about a business plan) Here are the big takeaways from the session.

Multi-national Search Strategies:
Big Takeaway: you can’t do this and need IProspect

1. 760 Million Searchers worldwide with 75% all searches outside of North America
2. Google Owns North America and Europe, Yahoo strong in Asia except China and South Korea
3. If in South Korea Naver is dominant like Google is dominant here. (Google a mere 4% market share)
4. Different terms, eye-tracking, heat maps- Asia reads right to left
5. Content Translation should happen after translated local keyword research is complete
6. Long Tail - Germanic languages search using more terms. More mature search markets than romance language countries.
a. (Spaniards, Portuguese, and Italians are search noobs using only one word)
7. Use webmaster tools to indicate which subdomains or folders are for which languages.
8. Avoid “choose your country” form submissions for entry pages
9. Incoming links to host country site should come from host country or host language.
a. E.g. The Brazilian site should have links coming from sites that are Brazilian.
b. (Unclear if they could just be Portuguese.)
10. Use PPC geo-targeting to target certain areas fairly cost effectively (compared to trying to rank naturally for foreign content.
11. Optimize for culture and language Brought to us by IProspect “the Original” SEO Consultants

Here’s is a banner ad from sony from the U.S. and from Japan. Both lead to the Bravia tv. Notice the cultural difference in selling points. The luxurious butler smacks of a service level associated with the white-gloved elevator girls of a SOGO (japanese Nordstroms) department store. Onegeishimasu!