Global Search Engine Marketing & Social Media News And Analysis » Global Strategy

Google Changes The Rules For Multilingual Websites — But Will It Help?

Andy Atkins-Krüger — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 10:37:50 +0000

Google has announced “New markup for multilingual content” which has sigificant consequences for anyone running websites in more than one language or in more than one country. This includes those with different versions for English for the US and UK and also anyone running ONE version of English but using it in multiple countries.

The blog post announcing the changes is here googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com/2011/12/new-markup-for-multilingual-content.html.

The background to this is that enormous problems — and significant cost — have been caused to users and especially users of multilingual dot com websites mainly. The core problem is that if you’re serving the same language content to multiple countries, you can’t easily do this without causing duplication problems resulting in the wrong users seeing the wrong content. The same problems apply much less to users of local domains or ccTLDs.

The new markup brings together features of the Hreflang link element and template management in a new format which many users will find complex to implement.

These uses apply principally to users of dot coms. If you’re thinking of localising multilingual websites, do not be confused. These changes do not mean that you should not use local domains. They mean that if you’re in a mess with your dot com and you really can’t move to a local domain – here’s a workaround — and a somewhat messy one sadly.

A full analysis of the changes is available to Insights Subscribers on GlobalCentral.net. To become an Insights Subscriber, you need to buy a ticket to an International Search Summit event anywhere in the world at any price giving access to the system for 12 months after the event you book OR work with an agency which provides access to its clients.

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Google The Search Engine And Why IP Is So Important When It Comes To The Algorithm

Kristjan Mar Hauksson — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 21:04:01 +0000

As a board member of SEMPO, the Search Engine Marketing Association and a multilingual internet marketer, I need to weigh in on many things when I consult my clients and one of them is what search engine to choose to market through.

As a SEMPO board member, I also need to be aware of things such as the FTC’s investigation into Google and this prompted me to think “how can an organization like Google be reviewed, how can a company that relies only on its IP (intellectual property) be examined without having to yield and explain their algorithm and what is then left when the chef has given the secret spice in the award winning recipe?” Not much.

There are so many search engines out there including Yahoo!, Bing (now powering Yahoo! in many locations around the world), Ask and some regional ones such as Baidu in China and Yandex in Russia. You are actually likely to find literally hundreds of them.

Why then do most of the internet users around the globe start their online searches with Google? What makes Google better (or worse) than its competitors? What is it that makes Google so special that even in languages that are considered hard to crack, such as my native language Icelandic, is Google superior to home-made engines that should at least give Google some contest and a run for their money?

In simple terms, Google gives the people the answers they’re looking for – it may be the latest news, information on a product or process, or the sellers of merchandise or services – but Google has everything in its massive database, everything needed to fulfill the needs of the user and they return, in most cases, the most relevant results based on my experience and tests conducted regularly at my company.

Google algorithms actually seem to understand what the users have in mind and do return relevant and excellent search results. But how does one define excellent search results? Perhaps, you can wind back to 1996 when search on AltaVista and Ask Jeeves comprised short tailed queries. You had to search manually through pages and pages of results before finding anything that made sense for you. It was Google that changed all that. Thanks to its superior search algorithms, you rarely need to go beyond the results of first page for any search.

Companies such as Microsoft and Yahoo have been gunning for Google’s level of search relevance for years. Certainly they do have access to talent for developing great algorithms but still Google continues to rule and is the favourite search engine for all.

There is a lot of hard work that goes behind Google results you are so accustomed to. The search engine makes up to 500 changes to search algorithms every year where each change aims to give better and more relevant results to users. It knows that users come to search engines to help them sift through all the information on the web and not every site can appear at the top of the results.

Certain websites complain that frequent changes in Google algorithms cause them to lose their ranking and traffic. But Google does provide huge information to websites on the techniques to improve their own performance through tools like the Google Webmaster Tools.

Google has also impacted technological innovation in positive ways. Its well-known Android mobile platform has sparked new improvements in mobile devices. Also its web browser Chrome helped to initiate innovation in the otherwise inactive browser domain.

Google’s search quality team has worked hard to develop algorithms that give better visibility to small and local business home pages. It was observed that web pages of small and medium business enterprises got buried or lost amidst big brand names on the web. But with Google publishing results based on local searches, they have better chances of reaching the top of search results. The search engine leader keeps small businesses in mind while improving and testing its new algorithms.

The biggest problem that small businesses face is that they do not have a website to reflect in results. But even they get the required support from Google through features like Google Places and Google Maps. And Google’s new “Getting America’s Business Online” initiative is helping bring even more businesses online. This initiative actually interests me and I hope that they roll it out in more countries.

Based on what I have experienced and seems to be Google’s only consideration is to give the best answers to users’ queries – without any political viewpoints or advertising dollars. Indeed it also claims that free organic listings are clicked more often than PPC ads.

Sometimes the best answer to a query may be among one of the traditional “ten blue links.” But there are instances where it can also be a news article, sports score, stock quote, flight timing, video or a map — and Google can place it above other results if that’s what the user needs!

The bottom line is that no chef will give out their secret ingredient nor should they be forced to. The secret behind Google’s global success is that they serve their users in a simple and straight forward manner the right relevant results and while they do that they have the upper hand.

The user is wise enough to distinguish between relevant and non -relevant results.

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PPC War: Interflora Vs. M&S – The Come Back

Christophe Bernigaud — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 11:35:29 +0000

The war between Interflora and Marks & Spencer has been on-going for some time now, here is a quick wrap up of the situation:

Interflora sued M&S in 2009 for bidding on its trademark in the UK (when a user would search for Interflora in the UK, the M&S ad would appear).
The High Court of Justice of Wales and England refers the questions to the ECJ
2010, the ECJ ruled that Google was not liable for trade mark infringement by selling the advertising service to rival companies.
March 2011, ECJ‘ Niilo Jääskinen - the Advocate General of the European Court of Justice (ECJ) – advised for Marks & Spencer to be found liable for trade mark infringement by using ‘Interflora’ as a Google AdWord keyword.

Last week, the ECJ ruled in favor of Interflora which needs to be applied by the High Court in the UK in order to appreciate M&S’ liability.

The ECJ said that trademark owners can stop companies using their brands as triggers for adverts for competing products if that use “substantially interferes with the proprietor’s use of its trademark to acquire or preserve a reputation capable of attracting consumers and retaining their loyalty”. The interference is yet to be defined though…

Interflora’s marketing director, Michael Barringer, says: “This judgment backs all the hard work and effort we have put in to defending the Interflora brand. People searching the internet for “Interflora” want “Interflora, the flower experts and no one else. Our brand stands for quality and service and together with our network of independent florists, we have spent the last 80 years building this reputation.”

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Emerging Markets, Display Advertising And International Search

Gemma Birch — Thu, 24 Feb 2011 14:43:03 +0000

Eastern Europe, The Middle East and Africa are all regions that are rapidly developing when it comes to web use and becoming increasingly popular targets for global organisations.

We speak to Google’s Steffen Ehrhardt ahead of the International Search Summit Munich to find out more about targeting these emerging markets, display advertising and global search in general.

As an Emerging Market Specialist, you focus particularly on Central & Eastern Europe, The Middle East and North Africa. What are the main online trends you are seeing in these markets at the moment?

More and more people are going online but the big difference to Western Europe is that in Emerging Markets more people go online via mobile devices. Especially in countries where there is a poor landline infrastructure mobile devices are key for online access and with all the new high-end devices a lot more people have the opportunity to go online for the first time. So one interesting development that is happening because of this are a lot of innovations around mobile e.g. m-banking. Another interesting trend is for example the creation of content in non-English languages – Arabic is currently the fastest growing language on the web.

How do these markets differ from more developed online markets say in Western Europe? What do marketers targeting countries in these regions need to be aware of?

Generally you can say that Western European markets are a lot more developed in direct online transactions, so have also a lot more direct response online campaigns, mainly because conversion rates are easier to track. Emerging markets often lack a standardized, trusted form of payment, clearly defined ICT regulations etc. so direct transactions are less often made online. Also competition and user interests and behaviour can heavily vary from market to market.

You’re also part of the Google’s display team – how does display compare to other online advertising mediums in EMEA in terms of usage? Has there been an increase? Does it vary much by region/country?

Display is currently getting a lot of attention and more and more people realise the potential display advertising has. Growth rates in display are really impressive globally and in a lot of markets it is growing even faster than for example search advertising. I think advertisers are realizing the effect of having a holistic view on online advertising so aligning search with display and other online advertising activities. Display offers a lot of different solutions today like Video, Dynamic Ads or Remarketing that combined with creativity can deliver great results. Usage of display in general varies a lot from market to market e.g. in some Middle Eastern countries display is more important in the whole advertising mix than in some Western European markets.

In your opinion, how should organisations be using display as part of their international online strategy? How does it integrate with other online tools & techniques?

First of all you have to define a clear strategy of what you want to achieve with the internationalisation of your products or services and if you have an offline business you have to make sure activities are aligned cross channel. Online definitely makes it easier to internationalise but I still see a lot of companies totally underestimating the work that is required when you want to go into other markets. You can not just copy a successful campaign, translate it and hope it will work in another countries – you need to know market specifics, what are established forms of payment, regulations that may affect your business etc. With regards to tools – there is a wide range of great tools in the market, from Google I’d like to specifically highlight: AdPlanner, Remarketing, Global Market Finder Tool, Insights for Search and of course Analytics.

If you could give one prediction for what we should expect in 2011 – either in search and/or display – what would it be?

The biggest growth in 2011 that I see is in the following areas: Mobile, Local, Social and Video & Dynamic Advertising. So my one prediction is that the combination of all these areas opens up an incredible potential for advertisers where the user will also see a lot of benefits.

Finally, why should people attend the International Search Summit?

There are a lot of great online events but most of them are focused on what is happening in a specific markets or in a specific region. International Search Summit is for me personally a key event you have to attend when you want to be be successful in online marketing across several markets globally, at the same time. There are a lot of roadblocks you need to be aware of – campaigns can be successful in one market but not in another one and the International Search Summit sessions will help you to minimise risks and to understand what is required to be successful in all markets.

Steffen will be speaking on the Impact of Display on Search at the International Search Summit Munich on April 4th. Also speaking at the event are Evgeny Lomize, Yandex; Cedric Chambaz, Microsoft; Florian Reisinger, BMW; Andy Atkins-Krüger, WebCertain and Thomas de Buhr, YouTube.

Tickets for the Summit, which will take place alongside SMX Munich, are still available.

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Christmas 2010: a snapshot of Online European Shoppers

Christophe Bernigaud — Mon, 29 Nov 2010 16:13:48 +0000

Today Monday November 29th is ‘Cyber Monday‘. The biggest shopping day of the year?

Or is it Monday December 6th 2010 referred as ‘Mega Monday‘ where sales are expected to hit over €uro 1million per minute…

October 2010, IMRG Capgemini e-Retail Sales Index is expected to increase by 16 per cent in 2010 vs. 2009 for online Christmas sales, reaching £6.4billion.

Different forecasts come from various sources. For instance, Hi Media expect the European online Christmas sales to represent over 10 per cent of the European overall Christmas sales, representing respectively €uro 32 billion of the overall €uro 313 billion.

The UK, Germany and France will represent the highest total spend for the Christmas 2010 season, accounting for 65 per cent of the overall European Christmas spend:

UK – €uro 77.2 billion
Germany – €uro 64.5 billion
France – €uro 62.5 billion
Spain – €uro 31.2 billion

Denmark, Norway and Sweden are forecasted to spend the least overall at €5.4bn, €6.1bn and €9.6bn respectively.

How strong is online Christmas shopping in Europe?

UK – highest in Europe with €uro 13 billion – i.e 17% of the overall 2010 UK retail Christmas sales
Germany – €uro 8.2 billion – i.e 13% of the overall 2010 Germany retail Christmas sales
France – €uro 6.3 billion – i.e 10% of the overall 2010 France retail Christmas sales
Spain – €uro 624 million- i.e 2% of the overall 2010 Spain retail Christmas sales

Norway will spend €uro 0.73 billion online and Denmark €uro 0.61 billion.

Pierpaolo Zollo, from Kelkoo says: “Internet sales across Europe are set to be more important than ever this Christmas, with consumers spending record amounts online, and online commerce acting as the primary driving force for overall retail growth during the festive season.”

Don’t forget to track your online audience thanks to free simple tools such as Google Analytics and make sure you run an online reputation management program.

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Search Engine Marketing Campaigns: the link to your offline marketing campaigns

Christophe Bernigaud — Fri, 26 Nov 2010 13:10:50 +0000

Brand development works usually focus on the high volume medium: TV, radio, billboard, newspaper, etc…

Marketers often forget about supporting their offline communication efforts with an online campaign. I am not talking about social media, viral marketing or buzz marketing campaigns… I mean a real added value Search Engine Marketing strategy based on Pay Per Click / Search Engine Advertising campaigns and SEO works!

The 2007 iProspect survey - based on 25 closed–ended questions to 2,322 individuals about their behaviors, attitudes, and preferences as they relate to games, digital imaging, portable devices, and service bundles – shows the following trends:

Offline channels – television, radio, billboard, outdoor, sports and transportation advertising, etc – strongly influence online search users to run queries on search engines, the search queries are based on brands, company name, products, service name, slogan that were communicated on in the offline channel message. Television and word of mouth are the main offline search influencers!
Branded keywords strongly impact search queries vs. the non–branded keywords (company advertising, slogan, or “other”) – 68% vs. 18%. Company, Product and Service Names are the most used keyword types
Most importantly, a third of the searches ran under the influence of an offline marketing campaign result into an online purchase!

Tactics as simple as displaying / announcing the company’s URL are the most effective.

More rare, though super effective, are offline campaigns that state “search keyword: “Google adwords” — sending online users to search results pages where savvy marketers know searchers will find their company listing at the top of either or both the natural or paid search results.

Given the above facts, it is key for an effective communication campaign to plan a PPC campaign as a major online channel to fully capitalise on the potential volume of search queries. A dedicated fully optimised web page will also help such initiative… Especially if you plan yoru campaign around a made up keyword or keyphrase – allow for mispelling etc…

Last but not least, track your results as the campaign runs!

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