Portuguese who search for products of services online, spend in average €220.

This is the main result of the first online buying behaviour study done by Google Portugal. In this study more than 2.000 people were asked for their online [...]]]> Portuguese who search for products of services online, spend in average €220.

This is the main result of the first online buying behaviour study done by Google Portugal. In this study more than 2.000 people were asked for their online buying (and searching) habits. Other interesting conclusions were:

People who search online and buy offline spend in average €192
People who search and buy offline spend in average €94

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Google Analytics is now available in Portuguese. Google Analytics is a widely used web analytics tool, provided for free by Google and already used by many webmasters in Portugal.

In October, Google had already announced that Google Sites – a [...]]]> Google Analytics is now available in Portuguese. Google Analytics is a widely used web analytics tool, provided for free by Google and already used by many webmasters in Portugal.

In October, Google had already announced that Google Sites – a tool for creating free sites online – was also available in the Portuguese language.

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Intel signed a deal with the Portuguese government in which they will provide experience and know how in the education market in order to put 500 thousand small PCs in the hands of children with ages raging from 6 to [...]]]> Intel signed a deal with the Portuguese government in which they will provide experience and know how in the education market in order to put 500 thousand small PCs in the hands of children with ages raging from 6 to 10 years old.

The computers, named “Magalhães” in honour of the Portuguese explorer, will cost between zero € (for underprivileged kids) up to 50€. When they come out of the factory (which by the way is in Portugal), the retail price is near the 180€ mark, the remaining value being subsidized by the government and telecommunication companies.

The computers include wifi capability (as well as broad band Internet access), but the price does not include home Internet connections.

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The decision to allow anyone to register a .pt TLD has suffered yet another blow, as the authorization from the Portuguese Ministry of Science and Technology was postponed to an unknown future date.

6 months ago the request to [...]]]> The decision to allow anyone to register a .pt TLD has suffered yet another blow, as the authorization from the Portuguese Ministry of Science and Technology was postponed to an unknown future date.

6 months ago the request to liberalize the .pt TLD was proposed by the Foundation for National Scientific Computing (FCCN) in order to stimulate the market. Only about 116 thousand .pt domains exist. This number is considered very low, and should be between 200 thousand and 1 million, if compared to similar European Countries.

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A tv ad campaign for ZON (a cable operator that offers a triple play service) began airing the passed week on the main Portuguese tv networks.

The campaign isn’t very out of the ordinary, but for one thing: it [...]]]> A tv ad campaign for ZON (a cable operator that offers a triple play service) began airing the passed week on the main Portuguese tv networks.

The campaign isn’t very out of the ordinary, but for one thing: it mentions a blog url . Here’s the concept: people who sign in with ZON are so called “enlightned”. Among them are mostly common folk, one being a cleaning lady that keeps a blog where she talks about her job. Still doesn’t sound that interesting? What if she was the cleaning lady in the Olimpus?

Sure… the idea won’t win any gold lions at Cannes, but it is probably the first time a big tv campaign mentions a blog. And the blog is actually online, and being updated in a fairly regular basis. You can call it a first attempt at mass media viral marketing.

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It uses a black background and therefore offers great energy savings, because black uses less energy than white on computer monitors.

Called Eco Find, it is interely Portuguese in the making, but it uses Google results.

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In a global marketplace, companies struggle when it comes to providing the best content to local search engines, many times insisting in having a main .com website, that often does not appear in local product searches.

There is no one solution [...]]]> In a global marketplace, companies struggle when it comes to providing the best content to local search engines, many times insisting in having a main .com website, that often does not appear in local product searches.

There is no one solution to this problem, but, has a multi lingual SEO blog I think Multi Lingual Search is the right place to start debating some possible ones.

Basically companies have two options, when it comes to multi language websites:

- Build a massive .com website, with folders or sub domains for several languages (IBM, IKEA, CANON)

- Build local versions of the site, using the TLD of each country (Nokia)

The first option can be cheaper and easier to implement (only one backoffice), but it may not bring the best results. This is because geolocation is based in different factors, that, all together factor in when it comes to ranking in local search engines.

Those main factors are:

1. Language in which the website is written
2. TLD (.pt, .es, …)
3. IP Adress of the server hosting the website
4. Links from local TLDs
5. On-page address or other location info (Google Maps, …)

It is now also possible to select the geographic location using Google’s Webmaster Tools. But for now only full sites can be geolocated, not individual folders, although that is promissed for the near future, as was assured by Matt Cutts in this interview.

I would be happy to ear your comments on this issue, if you have any of course, as well as doubts and advice for SEOing global websites.

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As was announced by several SEM blogs and media, Google launched internationally the navigational links in their homepage. This was a feature previously only available in Google.com (US).

The order of the links in the Portuguese version of Google (Google.pt) [...]]]> As was announced by several SEM blogs and media, Google launched internationally the navigational links in their homepage. This was a feature previously only available in Google.com (US).

The order of the links in the Portuguese version of Google (Google.pt) is now the following:

Web | Images | News | Groups | Calendar | Photos

This differs sightly from the US version of Google, and that is explained by the fact that Google adapts its navigational menu according to each country.

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A recent study by a researcher at Brown University places Portugal in 7th place worldwide when it comes to best practices in e-government. This represents a 41 places rise over the result the country had obtained last year. The [...]]]> A recent study by a researcher at Brown University places Portugal in 7th place worldwide when it comes to best practices in e-government. This represents a 41 places rise over the result the country had obtained last year. The study analyzed 1687 sites in 198 countries, in all 5 continents.

This result comes as no surprise to Portugal’s Prime Minister, who is a keen supporter of placing more and more government services on line, to speed up paperwork and stimulate a mostly flat economy.

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It’s called e-Justice Centre and it represents a joint project of the Justice Department and Aveiro’s University, which already has a strong presence in Second Life.

The Justice Department’s press release explains that the centre aims to be a place [...]]]> It’s called e-Justice Centre and it represents a joint project of the Justice Department and Aveiro’s University, which already has a strong presence in Second Life.

The Justice Department’s press release explains that the centre aims to be a place where Second Life residents can resolve conflicts that come about in the 3D world, such as interpretation of contracts or problems with acquiring consumer goods on line.

This initiative is an important one, because it is announced exactly when Portugal is presiding to the European Union and is meant to send a strong signal to all European partners that Europe is now a strong believer in these methods of resolving legal issues. And of course it is also a sign that the on line world is not ignored by the higher instances of goverment, at the European level.

Hopefully it will also mark the beginning of the use of more modern technologies applied to solving the delays of common rule of law in the courts, in Portugal and elsewhere.

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There are not a lot of alternatives if you want to do paid search advertising in Portugal. Basically you have two big players – Google Adwords with the lion’s share and Anúncios Sapo a very distant second.

Now AEIOU, a [...]]]> There are not a lot of alternatives if you want to do paid search advertising in Portugal. Basically you have two big players – Google Adwords with the lion’s share and Anúncios Sapo a very distant second.

Now AEIOU, a portal which was recently bought by one of Portugal’s biggest media groups Impresa, announced they are launching a new sponsored link program. Unlike adwords or anúncios Sapo, AEIOU doesn’t allow for anyone to use their system, but accepts contacts from companies or individuals that may be interested.

Basically they offer the chance for companies to appear in ads alongside the search results of the portal. They see it as a chance to capitalize on the already huge online database of companies in their business directory, which is one of the most used in Portugal.

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That will put Portugal in the top 5 best educational systems in the EU. Or at least that’s the aim of Portugal’s Prime Minister José Socrates, for the next 3 years.

Since taking charge of the Portuguese government, Socrates has [...]]]> That will put Portugal in the top 5 best educational systems in the EU. Or at least that’s the aim of Portugal’s Prime Minister José Socrates, for the next 3 years.

Since taking charge of the Portuguese government, Socrates has pushed a 430 million euro technological update of the Portuguese educational system, by setting up all the schools in the country with state-of-the-art broadband Internet acess, electronic whiteboards and computer systems.

The so called “technological plan” is set to give all schools 48mps Internet connections by the end of 2010. A great update if you consider that just a few years ago, little or no schools even had a computer room.

The Prime Minister sees in these “Schools of the future”, breading grounds for more prepared individuals, and better prepared profissionals, in what is surely a safe bet in Portugal’s future.

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Google Universal Search, the new “search model” recently launched by Google is starting to appear in the Portuguese SERPs (Google.pt).

Until recently search results in Portuguese did not include anything more than simples websites. A couple weeks ago we noticed [...]]]> Google Universal Search, the new “search model” recently launched by Google is starting to appear in the Portuguese SERPs (Google.pt).

Until recently search results in Portuguese did not include anything more than simples websites. A couple weeks ago we noticed the appearance of “search suggestions” in the bottom portion of the Google page.

Now we increasingly see “enriched” search results, with videos and images for some popular searches, like “gato fedorento” (a popular comedy show in Portugal) or “noddy” (a popular children’s show).

Hopefully Google will, in time implement Google Local for Portugal and we could start seeing Portuguese companies appearing in Map results.

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Ydreams and Sapo announced a new product than allows users to access the Internet from home, without using a traditional computer system.

The product is called “Sapohome” and it consists of a touch sensitive screen that allows access to [...]]]> Ydreams and Sapo announced a new product than allows users to access the Internet from home, without using a traditional computer system.

The product is called “Sapohome” and it consists of a touch sensitive screen that allows access to information in a geographical context. This means that the user researches for news, maps, weather, restaurants and other information, based on Sapo maps databases and using the technological platform design by Ydreams – one of the most innovative tek companies in Portugal.

Sapohome can also be used as a digital picture frame, with user defined pictures.

Initially this project is being sold as part of the technologies included in PT’s Smart Home project, although it will be gradually available for sale to individual costumers. The estimated price will be around € 800.

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RTP, the public TV broadcaster in Portugal has now in YouTube a partner to publish its videos online.

RTP follows in the footsteps of other European TV broadcasters, like BBC and Deutsche Welle.

In a dedicated YouTube area, [...]]]> RTP, the public TV broadcaster in Portugal has now in YouTube a partner to publish its videos online.

RTP follows in the footsteps of other European TV broadcasters, like BBC and Deutsche Welle.

In a dedicated YouTube area, users can access some of the most popular videos from many programs, ranging from dramas to comedies. 2007 marks the year that RTP invested heavily in its Internet presence, revamping its main website in a move that proves that publicly owned companies can still keep up with the private sector.

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Sapo Maps, the Portuguese map service from Sapo.pt, now allows the users to plan itineraries, and choose different routing options (quicker, shorter, on foot).

The user interface also improved over the last version, displaying a two column [...]]]> Sapo Maps, the Portuguese map service from Sapo.pt, now allows the users to plan itineraries, and choose different routing options (quicker, shorter, on foot).

The user interface also improved over the last version, displaying a two column scheme, with much of the space available for the actual map data. AJAX is now used to speed up the refresh of the maps.

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An ambitious project called MapMyName, launched by two graduate students from Aveiro University in Portugal, aims to map and subsequently count all the Internet users in the world.

This is made possible, according to a video release [...]]]> An ambitious project called MapMyName, launched by two graduate students from Aveiro University in Portugal, aims to map and subsequently count all the Internet users in the world.

This is made possible, according to a video release in YouTube, due to a “recommendations system”. Every person who signs in, recommends 3 friends that also use the Internet.

The data is monitored via a Google Maps API, so we can actually see where each user is, on a world map.

The project estimates that it will take 30 days to map all the Internet users in the world.

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Hi5, one of the most successful web 2.0 sites in Europe, and one of the most visited sites in Portugal, chose Sapo, the most important entertainment portal in that country, as the search engine for its Portuguese users.

Sapo [...]]]> Hi5, one of the most successful web 2.0 sites in Europe, and one of the most visited sites in Portugal, chose Sapo, the most important entertainment portal in that country, as the search engine for its Portuguese users.

Sapo replaces Google in both search and ads in Hi5.

According to Netpanel, Hi5 is the 4th most visited site in Portugal with close to 900.000 unique visitors/month. Sapo is 5th, with 800.000 unique visitors/month.

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The project, codenamed SecondUA intends to project the Portuguese University by being one of only 70 worldwide to establish a presence in Second Life.

The University of Aveiro bought an island in Second Life and plans to divide [...]]]> The project, codenamed SecondUA intends to project the Portuguese University by being one of only 70 worldwide to establish a presence in Second Life.

The University of Aveiro bought an island in Second Life and plans to divide it into six big areas, dedicated to online classes, study spaces and leisure. A area called InfoZone will serve as the entrance to the project.

Now the 5 million+ users of Second Life can have the experience of going to a Portuguese University, without leaving their couch.

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The ongoing saga of the hostile takeover of PT (Portugal Telecom) by Sonae is finally over. In a meeting, the main PT stockholders voted against the takeover, and trusted the current board of directors with the mission to further expand [...]]]> The ongoing saga of the hostile takeover of PT (Portugal Telecom) by Sonae is finally over. In a meeting, the main PT stockholders voted against the takeover, and trusted the current board of directors with the mission to further expand the company, specially in the South American markets.

At the same time, PT Multimedia, the branch of PT responsible for cable Internet communications, will be split from the main brand, which will cause, in some opinions, a new takeover race, this time for this smaller, but very valuable, company.

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