Link building is subject to the same linguistic, cultural and localisation challenges as any other aspect of international marketing. Links do not necessarily carry the same value across every market, and a tactic that works well in one country might [...]]]> Link building is subject to the same linguistic, cultural and localisation challenges as any other aspect of international marketing. Links do not necessarily carry the same value across every market, and a tactic that works well in one country might yield poor results in another.

The importance of links, however, is the same everywhere and therefore getting your global link building strategy right is an essential element of any international SEO project. Bastian Grimm will be speaking on international link building at the International Search Summit @ SMX Munich next month, and here he gives an insight into the topic and what delegates can expect in Munich.

What do you see as the major challenges for organisations targeting a multilingual audience?

“You have to get to know them; all of them – individually!” So what does it mean? Having done quite a bit of work within international companies I’d say the biggest issue is, to find out what actually works on a per-market basis. And to do so you really need to understand your audience which, obviously, differs for each country – and language. That being said, I think a successful multilingual SEO campaign needs a heavy preparation. So if you’re not simply replicating your strategy from another country (which you clearly should not do without further validation!) you have to accept that it’ll just take time, money, market-specific knowledge and a lot of work to successfully conquer another country or language.

What area of search do you see as most important for international marketers in 2012?

Usually companies operating in international environments are big brands – and updating / changing their websites does usually take quite a bit of time (not days, but months and sometimes even worse). Since Google continues pushing in new stuff like the hreflang=X property and because I expect them to continue doing so, I’d say one of the really important tasks for international marketers is going to be testing and validating new stuff before it actually goes live; which means you’d have to have multiple domains in multiple languages just for testing. This is quite a bit of work and might cause some headaches, I’d guess.

What are the biggest pitfalls to consider when developing a global link building strategy? Is it possible to have a global link strategy, when each market needs a localised approach?

It’s still the same problem as it used to be for years now: Markets do need their localised approaches; however this will cause problems with administration, handling all those different agencies and link-builders, etc. – it’s an administrative pain

And very generally speaking one needs to consider that almost everything is different on a per-country basis. Link profiles are very, very different. Looking – for example – at the amount of links, difference in deep- / start-page link ratios, types of TLDs linking-in, anchor-text distribution, geo-distribution in terms of IPs linking in, etc. – it all just differs. And that simply means you have to do a competitive analysis for each market you’re planning to build links for and  need to consider the industry as well.

What will delegates gain from your session at ISS?

I’ll try to come up with a cheat-sheet on what to actually consider when you start doing link-building in multiple markets. So the idea is to provide some kind of “what’s really important, where do I get it and what do I need to do with it?” kind of approach based on real-world data from various countries, which – I think – will be quite interesting.

And finally, why attend the International Search Summit?

That’s an easy one! There is only one truly international-dedicated conference – ISS. That being said I do like the broad range of topics but still all being focused on international search. So if you’re in international search marketing, be sure not to miss it! See you in Munich.

International Search Summit Munich will take place on Thursday 29th March, as part of SMX Munich. Full agenda and registration information is available on the website. All sessions at ISS are in English.

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How long has it been since you last received an email that came out as absolute gibberish? I do not exactly remember myself, but it has been a long time. There used to be hundreds of different encodings for storing [...]]]> How long has it been since you last received an email that came out as absolute gibberish? I do not exactly remember myself, but it has been a long time. There used to be hundreds of different encodings for storing and indexing text on the internet. Since these encodings were different, they were not as such compatible with one another. “For example, on some PCs the character code 130 would display as é, but on computers sold in Israel it was the Hebrew letter Gimel (ג), so when Americans would send their résumés to Israel they would arrive as rגsumגs”, Joel Spolsky explains on his software blog.

Unicode was invented to solve this problem by encoding all human languages and making it universal as its name implies. So basically, according to Senior International Software Architect at Google, Mark Davis: “The more documents that are in Unicode, the less likely you will see mangled characters (what Japanese call mojibake) when you’re surfing the web.”

The latest figures from Google’s annual survey of the percentage of the webpages in their index that are in different encodings reveal another significant upward move for Unicode. It now accounts for more than 60 percent of all web encodings, which is indeed good news to the many of us who enjoy translation services that allow us to find information in almost any language. Subsequently, this helps content-providers such as marketers expand their potential audiences.

*Your mileage may vary: these figures may vary somewhat from what other search engines find. The graph lumps together encodings by script. We detect the encoding for each webpage; the ASCII pages just contain ASCII characters, for example.

Google has long been using Unicode as the company’s internal format for all the text it searches and processes and will soon be updating to the newest Version 6.1 with over 110,000 individual characters. According to Mark Davis, the search giant’s unified index probably would not exist had it not been to Unicode. Or as he puts it himself: “(…) it’d be a bit like not being able to convert between the hundreds of currencies in the world; commerce would be, well, difficult.”

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Google is dominating the global desktop search marketplace, with its current market share standing at 67%, according to Trefis. While it is good to dominate, it is even better to own – and this is almost what Google does when [...]]]> Google is dominating the global desktop search marketplace, with its current market share standing at 67%, according to Trefis. While it is good to dominate, it is even better to own – and this is almost what Google does when it comes to global mobile search. According to Statcounter, Google delivers a staggering 97% of all mobile searches worldwide today. The reliability can be questioned, however many credible sources agree that Google’s global mobile market share is greater than 90%.

Mobile advertising revenues set to explode

The future impact of mobile can no longer be questioned due to the proliferation of smartphones and tablets, but in case there are still a few sceptics out there, the following will most likely help to change that perception. With mobile broadband connections already outnumbering fixed broadband 2:1, it is easy to see why some experts predict that mobile web usage will overtake that of PCs within a relatively short amount of time. According to Gartner, mobile advertising revenues will increase dramatically over the next four years (see table below). Although the estimated figures also include revenues for display, audio and video ads, the highest revenue will come from search and locations ads, Gartner predicts.

Source: Gartner (June 2011)

Should the Champagne already be flowing at Google’s corporate headquarters?

Being the undisputed king of mobile search, this is indeed fantastic news to the executives at Google (the fact that it is absolutely no surprise to them is a completely different matter). Obviously, Google is in a very enviable position – but that being said – the Champagne should be put on hold for a while if the objective is to maintain its superior position in the market.

According to mobiThinking, “mobile subscribers in the developed world has reached saturation point with at least one cell phone subscription per person. This means market growth is being driven by demand in the developing world, led by rapid mobile adoption in China and India, the world’s most populous nations. These two countries collectively added 300 million new mobile subscriptions in 2010 – that’s more than the total mobile subscribers in the US.”

With 30% of the world’s mobile users living in India and China, and mobile subscriptions rapidly approaching 1 billion in each country, these markets will prove vital future battlefields. While Google’s position in India is dominant with a market share from over 95%, Chinese search giant, Baidu, has gradually been gaining market share in China, largely at the expense of Google. Baidu has around 75-80% of the search market share in China and its leading position, which has been consolidated since Google pulled out of the country in 2010, gives Baidu the upper hand in terms of reaping the huge financial gains related to the rapidly growing Chinese mobile market.

Another player that Google should be concerned about is Yandex. The Russian search engine is leading in its domestic market – Europe’s largest internet market – and the company’s recent purchase of a NAVTEQ digital maps license consolidates its ambitions to grow the mobile area. Google’s mobile search “ownership” is being challenged and the first shots have just been fired. Now, let the games begin.

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Russia’s most visited website and leading search engine, Yandex, announced yesterday in a press release that it has purchased a license for digital maps supplied by world-leading location content provider, NAVTEQ. In using NAVTEQ’s comprehensive [...]]]> Russia’s most visited website and leading search engine, Yandex, announced yesterday in a press release that it has purchased a license for digital maps supplied by world-leading location content provider, NAVTEQ. In using NAVTEQ’s comprehensive map data, Yandex follows in the footsteps of Bing and Yahoo who also rely on data from the Nokia subsidiary.

Yandex expands its global reach

When Yandex launched a local search engine in Turkey last year,  yandex.com.tr, this somewhat indicated the company’s ambitious expansion plans. The roll-out back then was supported with map data from NAVTEQ: “We already have a happy experience sourcing map content from NAVTEQ. The detailed map of Turkey launched last year was the first map we licensed from NAVTEQ. And it was a tremendous success,” said Maria Orlova, head of Yandex.Maps Production and Quality Control Service.

According to the press release, this new comprehensive deal will provide Yandex with map content from all over the world, including highly detailed maps of Europe, North America, Australia and developed countries in Asia. For Yandex, obviously, this is a significant move towards strengthening its position outside of Russia. Maria Orlova adds: “Our association with NAVTEQ, the leading map content provider, will help us take Yandex.Maps to the level of a comprehensive, all-purpose mapping service that can answer questions about countries throughout the world.”

The mobile platform will gain impetus

After acquiring major mobile software developer SPB Software in late 2011, Yandex CEO Arkady Volozh expressed that mobile is a vital part of the company’s growth strategy. Surely, this deal will be integrated on all major platforms, but above all it reflects the great emphasis given to the high-growth mobile area – arguably the most important future battlefield. How Yandex will move forward with this deal will be interesting to see.

Preston Carey from Yandex will be speaking at the International Search Summit @ SMX West on February 27^th.

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According to Alexa, the top ten local websites in Cyprus are sigmalive.com, kerkida.net, 24sports.com.cy, philenews.com, onlycy.com, shootandgoal.com, supermpala.com, politis.com.cy, laiki.com and apoel.net.

These websites attract thousands of visitors, however, according to our study these are not SEO friendly. The SEO factors used [...]]]> According to Alexa, the top ten local websites in Cyprus are sigmalive.com, kerkida.net, 24sports.com.cy, philenews.com, onlycy.com, shootandgoal.com, supermpala.com, politis.com.cy, laiki.com and apoel.net.

These websites attract thousands of visitors, however, according to our study these are not SEO friendly. The SEO factors used for comparison are the following:

Title: The text that appears in the browser. Titles should be relevant and use primary keywords.

Meta Description: While not important to search engine rankings, they are extremely important because they are used by search engines in the search engine result pages (SERPs). Users usually read these descriptions and decide whether to click on a result or not.

Headers: Header tags communicate to search engines and readers what a page is about.

Friendly URLs: URLs should be readable by visitors. Also search engine robots prefer friendly URLs.

Sitemaps: Sitemaps help search engines index a website.

robots.txt: Search engine robots look for file robots.txt. This file tells them which web pages should be indexed and which pages should be ignored.

Custom Error Page: Error pages are shown when a visitor tries to access a web page that is unavailable. Websites should always have a custom error page to help visitors navigate to other available parts of the website.

Pages Indexed: Number of pages that are indexed by Google. This number can be found with the search query  ”site:www.example.com”

Backlinks: Number of external referring domains to a website. The tool used was majestic SEO.

Google Analytics Installed: Free service by Google that generates statistics about the visitors to a website.

Conclusions

1.     Top Cypriot websites are not SEO friendly. Positive factors in the websites surveyed appear to be just features of the systems tha the websites run.

2.     All of them have Google Analytics installed.

3.     Backlinks and number of pages indexed is important.

4.     Websites could easily fix negative factors such as titles, meta description and add a sitemap and a robots.txt.

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Geo-targeting is a common problem for organizations with an international website, who are targeting multiple languages and regions around the world. Making sure the right user sees the right content at the right time is the goal – but achieving [...]]]> Geo-targeting is a common problem for organizations with an international website, who are targeting multiple languages and regions around the world. Making sure the right user sees the right content at the right time is the goal – but achieving that is not always easy. How do you ensure that all your UK customers aren’t seeing prices in dollars or that your Spanish users aren’t seeing product pages that are only available in Peru?

Well Google has recognised these challenges and has adapted the way website owners can signal the intended recipients of web content. It may appear confusing at first – it did for me at least – and does need careful implementation but Google is offering a helping hand to marketers struggling with geo-targeting and duplication issues.

There are several excellent explanations of what has changed and how it can be implemented on SearchEngineLand and SearchEngineWatch so I won’t replicate that here, but there are two scenarios where this new markup will apply:

• Websites targeting multiple regions with very similar content in the same language (e.g. the US, the UK and Australia in English)
• Websites that have fully translated content, targeting multiple markets (e.g. German, French and Spanish pages)

This change is mainly applicable to international websites hosted on dotcoms, with subdomains for each market rather than those on local domains, which clearly target a specific market. While local domains provide clear signal to both search engines and users that the site is locally relevant, and therefore, are is still a recommended strategy, Google’s changes will improve the targeting for dotcoms.

Google Webmaster Trends Analyst Susan Moskwa will be speaking at the International Search Summit at SMX West, where she will be discussing how to implement the rel=”alternate” hreflang markup and sharing examples of when to use it, as well as answering delegate questions.

The International Search Summit will be held on Monday February 27^th, as part of SMX West. It focuses entirely on international and multilingual search and social marketing and sessions will include Global Domain Strategies, Spanish SEO, Global Social Media, and The Other Search Engines.

Early Bird Rates expire on Saturday January 28^th.

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Data released by comScore has shown that Facebook is now the leading social network in Brazil, with a staggering 192% increase in the number of visitors in the past year. Brazil is the fifth biggest user of social networks globally, yet [...]]]> Data released by comScore has shown that Facebook is now the leading social network in Brazil, with a staggering 192% increase in the number of visitors in the past year. Brazil is the fifth biggest user of social networks globally, yet Facebook has until now struggled to compete with the popularity of Google owned Orkut, which had a strong presence in the South American country.

The figures are quite astonishing. In December 2010, Facebook had 12 million Brazilian users, compared to 32 million for Orkut, yet 12 months later Facebook has reached 36 million users, while Orkut only grew to 34 million. As well as increasing visitor numbers, user engagement on the site has also increased, with more time being spent on the site and more pages being accessed on each visit.

The comScore data doesn’t take into account visits from public computers and mobile devices so the exact numbers may be slightly different, and the growth rate of 5% for Orkut shows that it is far from finished in Brazil. However, this is a major win for Facebook, which is now the leading social network in all but 6 countries around the world.

Japan, China, Russia, South Korea, Vietnam and Poland still favour local social networks to the global leader. In a session at the upcoming International Search Summit @ SMX West, Michael Bonfils will lead a session on these major markets and provide insights into their leading networks, including Qzone, Vkontake and Cyworld.

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With 153 million users, Spanish is the 3rd most used language online, trailing only English and Chinese. However, the variations of this language, along with the cultural diversity of those using it are vast, making the job of the search [...]]]> With 153 million users, Spanish is the 3rd most used language online, trailing only English and Chinese. However, the variations of this language, along with the cultural diversity of those using it are vast, making the job of the search marketer all the more challenging.

Ani Lopez, a native Spaniard working as an SEO Manager at Cardinal Path in Canada, will be speaking on the topic of keyword research for Spanish speaking markets at the International Search Summit @ SMX West on February 27th in San Jose. Here Ani shares important insights and tips for marketers targeting a Spanish speaking audience anywhere in the world.

Does the Spanish language create any particular difficulties for search marketers?

Sure! All languages evolve over time, but some are more diverse than others. Spanish is one of these that, growing richer, make it more difficult to manage when targeting multiple markets.

Its distribution is pretty blurry and jumps across continents, cultures and media. For instance, Spanish is the official language in 21 countries and an unofficial but widely spoken language in many others: There is the same number of Hispanophones in the US as the population of Spain and Spanish  is the 3rd most used language online (153M users) after English and Chinese.

With types of Spanish, like formal or colloquial, plus regional dialects and varieties, the idea of just using ‘standard Spanish’ is something that I don’t to buy into. Even grouping them – trying to make it simpler – leaves us with too many variants: Caribbean, South American Pacific, Central American, Highland American and more.

The rapid growth of Spanish speaking internet users is spicing up the language a bit, but it is the diversity that Spanish has achieved due to historical factors, different cultures crossing its path, geographical reasons and such, which makes it so intricate.

What are the major challenges of targeting multiple Spanish-speaking markets online?

Writing Adwords copy in Argentinean for a market of Spaniards is not going to be successful unless, of course, you are deliberately targeting Argentinean people living in Spain. Incorrect localization makes potential clients lose confidence in your company and raises brand reputation issues.

Besides the fact that grammar and vocabulary may change, you get very different dialects and accents. These, of course, do not severely prevent understanding among the educated but – big warning here - very common words in one country/language group may have not only different meanings, but vulgar or absolutely inappropriate ones in others.

In this complex scenario the real challenge is localization, something which is nothing new to advanced international marketers, but it becomes even more critical for Spanish speaking markets. This doesn’t just apply to grammar and vocabulary, but also style or the way we phrase ideas. While Spaniards are more direct and succinct, Uruguayans can be more creative or indirect in their expression. With Argentineans you have to read/write between the lines.

Are there any characteristics that are consistent across all markets where Spanish is spoken?

Formal Spanish is a little easier to cope with as it maintains a bit more consistency across borders and cultures. That’s a small relief when managing content strategies for corporate sites.

Other than that it is hard to find consistencies across markets. If you want to sell sneakers (that’s trainers in the UK) to teenagers in Mexico the Spanish you use is going to be completely different than the one you should be using addressing Argentineans or Castilian users.

What opportunities can organizations exploit in those markets?

It depends on the region. Nobody doubts, nowadays, that Latinos in US are a big demographic target. Proof of that is that big companies in many different market sectors have already translated their sites into Spanish. Victoria’s Secret, Papa Johns, Best Buy and Citibank are all good examples.

A different story is what’s happening south of the US. Fortunately, Latin American countries are awaking from a troubled past and poverty has continued to decrease over the last 10 years. Nothing makes me happier!

Therefore, there is a market of 572 million people, of which Spanish makes up about ~66% and Brazilian-Portuguese,~33%. Of course every country in the region has its own particularities but opportunities are already there for those who want to expand.

What tips can you offer marketers trying to reach Spanish speakers in the US?

That is even more challenging. ‘Hispanic’ in US refers to people whose origin is Mexican, Puerto Rican, Cuban, Spanish-speaking Central or South American countries, or other Hispanic/Latino, regardless of race. It is truly a melting pot of different cultures which must be considered – although Mexicans do represent a majority.

H.G.Wells in his future history “The Shape of Things to Come” predicted that, in XXI century, English and Spanish would become interchangeable languages. Well, more than interchangeable, we now have a new variance on top of this complex linguistic situation: Spanglish. Living la vida loca!

First Tip: Start planning using Hispanic demographic data in the US, but don’t expect your audience’s behaviour to mimic this data.

Second Tip: Listen carefully to your analytics’ tools to find more reliable trends and outliers.

You’re speaking specifically on keyword research for Spanish speaking markets at ISS. What will delegates learn from your session?

I’ll be explaining how to use free online tools to help you localize Spanish correctly. When it comes to localization, there is nothing better than having native speakers do the work, but even they have to double check localization of words and expressions to make sure their Paid Search or SEO campaigns target the right Spanish audience and yield the desired revenue.

Finally, why attend the International Search Summit?
That’s an easy question to answer. Simply because it is the best summit for those who will have to get their hands dirty planning or executing international online marketing campaigns.

Three reasons to attend:

1) It is organized by a company that knows the challenges of internationalization.

2) It has high level presenters and presentations offering fresh data and real cases.

3) Last but not least, the size of the event makes it very easy for everyone to mingle and chat with presenters and attendees. This is what makes it very exciting for me, because I love to exchange information and experiences.

Early Bird Rates for the International Search Summit and SMX West are available until January 28th. Others sessions include Google: A New Markup for Multilingual Content, Global Domain Strategies and The Other Search Engines.

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India has urged social media sites, including Facebook, Twitter and Google to remove offensive material and self-censor user generated content, unleashing a storm of criticism from internet users complaining of censorship in the world’s largest democracy.

One of the first major [...]]]> India has urged social media sites, including Facebook, Twitter and Google to remove offensive material and self-censor user generated content, unleashing a storm of criticism from internet users complaining of censorship in the world’s largest democracy.

One of the first major government pushes came in April, when the “Information Technology Rules 2011” were introduced. These rules require intermediaries – companies like Facebook, Google and Yahoo, that provide the platform for users to comment and create their own content – to respond quickly to complaints from individual users. These complaints should mainly relate to content that is “disparaging” or “harassing”. If the complainant’s claim is valid, these companies must take down the offensive information within 36 hours.

However the initial test from the Center for Internet and Society (C.I.S) in Bangalore has shown that the rules seem to encourage “privately administered injunctions to censor and chill free expression”. A third party whose information has been removed is not informed about the take-down request or given a chance to defend itself.

The study’s results show the “rules are procedurally flawed as they ignore all elements of natural justice,” C.I.S. concludes.

This week however, Indian IT minister Kapil Sibal has threatened to impose new and additional rules to weed out derogatory material from the Internet after major websites  refused to censor themselves in a dispute that tests India’s commitment to free speech.

Government officials are upset about web pages that are insulting to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, ruling Congress party leader Sonia Gandhi and major religious figures. Some illustrations have shown Singh and Gandhi in compromising positions and pigs running through Mecca, Islam’s holiest city.

The dispute highlights India’s continuing difficulty in balancing the Internet culture of freewheeling discourse with its home-grown religious and political sensitivities.

Sibal said he spoke repeatedly with officials from major Internet companies over the past three months and asked them to come up with a voluntary framework to keep offensive material off the Internet.

In a meeting Monday, the Internet companies told him there was nothing they could do.

Rajesh Chharia (president of India’s Internet Service Providers Association) commented: “India is more sensitive than other countries. Some amount of check and balance is required. But to pre-screen all material is an uphill task and may not be practically applicable.”

But Gulshan Rai, head of the Indian Cyber Emergency Response Teams (CERT-In) claims it is possible to pre-screen the contents. “The companies can design filters to check that any objectionable content cannot make its way to the websites.” Another official in the department of IT insisted, “I don’t think the government is supporting censorship. We are saying that if the sites don’t fall in line, then we will need to take action. If they do not remove the defamatory contents and take action, then we will. We are not trying to gag freedom of speech.”

It is not yet clear how far the government will go to police the web, but it certainly seems like the internet experience in India is set to change for both users and service providers.

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December 6th saw Google inaugurate its new French offices in Paris, , which will serve as its headquarters, not only for France but for all its Southern Europe, Middle East and Africa operations.

As part of the celebration, French President Nicolas [...]]]> December 6th saw Google inaugurate its new French offices in Paris, , which will serve as its headquarters, not only for France but for all its Southern Europe, Middle East and Africa operations.

As part of the celebration, French President Nicolas Sarkozy visited the offices to meet Google’s Chairman Eric Schmidt, and while there he connected with many French speaking Googlers from around the world via Google+ Hangouts. Sarkozy praised Google’s dynamism and showed his support of innovation and entrepreneurship. He referenced past conversations with Eric Schmidt, when Sarkozy had expressed the need for the search giant to develop roots in France.

In addition to the Google France offices, the new headquarter will host a development and research centre (in partnership with the French national research centre CNRS) and a cultural institute. Google is working towards expanding its cultural activities and the new offices will be home of worldwide cultural operations. The initial investment represents more than 100 million Euros and 350 Googlers will be working on site.

Eric Schmidt was also speaking at Le Web conference in Paris today.

Fun fact: the new headquarter is located on 8, rue de Londres, Paris.

More info on the official Google blog

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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 [...]]]> 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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The Financial Times is reporting today that Dealreporter.com (a subscription service) has details of a 400 page document spelling out accusations from complainants to the EU related to abuse of the search engine’s commercial dominance in Europe.

The total list [...]]]> The Financial Times is reporting today that Dealreporter.com (a subscription service) has details of a 400 page document spelling out accusations from complainants to the EU related to abuse of the search engine’s commercial dominance in Europe.

The total list of complainants is now growing in length and includes, Foundem, eJustice, Ciao!, 1plusV, VfT, Microsoft, Elfvoetbal, Hotmaps, Interactive Labs, nnpt.it, dealdujour.pro, and Twenga. There are at least two more German complaints which were referred by the Bundeskartellamt (Federal Cartel Office) and others which have not yet been revealed. In fact Dealreporter.com says that there are now so many complainants that, “The internet search giant will not get away easily as there are too many complainants, most of whom will not be satisfied with mere promises”.

Eric Schmidt is reportedly making a further courtesy visit to the Commission next week which is arousing significant interest from Brussels diplomats. This will be at least Mr. Schmidt’s second visit.

Google is being accused not because it currently servers roughly 90% of search queries throughout most of Europe (excluding the Czech Republic and Russia) but because it is taking advantage of that position by favouring its own services and reducing the rankings of competitors.

Google’s defence will be that it is providing the services it’s customers are looking for — but as an EU fine could be as much as 10% of turnover, Google really will have to cooperate with the Commission to come up with a solution. Microsoft, in the same position some years ago, gave software users more access to choose web browsers. Google may in fact be forced to offer access to other search engines via its own search box.

Google defenders will say that Google is a commercial entity and can offer its own services as such — in fact Bing does the same thing. However, it is highly unlikely that this will wash with the European Commission because of the search engine’s dominance and therefore power over other businesses which will be viewed as giving it additional responsbilities beyond its own commercial needs. Expect a huge fine — it is now definitely on the cards and would be in the billions of dollars.

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Strategically a very significant step was announced in eastern Europe today — Yandex’s video search system is to power Seznam as part of a wider partnership agreement! The video search service is at videa.seznam.cz and has been re-developed [...]]]> Strategically a very significant step was announced in eastern Europe today — Yandex’s video search system is to power Seznam as part of a wider partnership agreement! The video search service is at videa.seznam.cz and has been re-developed specifically for Seznam, the Czech language and its users. Seznam has a leading 56% share of the Czech search market according to Toplist’s November 2011 figures.

The new video search engine is based on the Czech language, and takes into account the Czech grammatical structure. Users will also soon be able to automatically correct spelling mistakes and typos in their search queries using the service.

However, this arrangement is much more significant than just a sharing of video technology. Yandex has expanded its team to include members from the Czech Republic which means that we can expect much more cooperation to come out of this partnership.

It makes sense for the two most successful slavic search engines to cooperate in this way and could be a precursor to a complete re-alignment of search marketing in eastern Europe.

Seznam’s new service is based on the same technology as Yandex.Video, Yandex’s video search service for the Russian-speaking audience. Users can search for videos both on the Czech internet and across the entire web. Videa.seznam.cz searches on more than 200 Czech video resources and currently works directly with twelve major video hosting services, including Idnes.cz, Stream.cz and Voyo.

“Yandex and Seznam first met ten years ago and have since stayed in touch, sharing our experiences,” says Arkady Volozh, CEO of Yandex. “Our companies have a lot in common. Like Yandex, Seznam is the leader in its home market, despite the presence of major global players. We are glad that we are now not just colleagues, but partners who share technologies with each other.”

During my last visit to Moscow, I was fortunate to discuss Seznam with CEO Arkady Volozh. It was apparent then that Yandex’s view was that cooperation made most sense. Seznam, the smaller partner in the relationship, may have been concerned about being overshadowed by a much larger partner. However, the threat from Google in the Czech Republic and eastern Europe generally has clearly helped the management team to revise their thinking.

“Seznam.cz and Yandex both share the same goal of keeping the world of search diversified. We are happy that the mission of the company whose video search technology we chose out of four competing search providers was similar to ours. We also appreciate long-term partnerships and are happy that Seznam.cz together with Yandex will bring video search to Czech users,” says Pavel Zima, Chief Executive Officer of Seznam.cz.

Every day, about three million web users visit Seznam.cz. Over 5% of queries on the web portal are related to video search.

Seznam.cz is the largest Czech Web portal visited by every Czech internet user at least once a month. On its homepage it provides up-to-date news, information and e-mail, as well as search engine and links to field-specific websites also belonging to Seznam.cz (such as real-estates offers, car offers, etc.). Seznam.cz uses its own search engine technology. It is the only Latin alphabet technology all over the world that managed to keep the majority on the local market in spite of Google´s presence and trial to change this situation.

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The only conference for international marketers is back in London on 24th November – and for anyone working in the global SEO, PPC and social media space, the International Search Summit is one event not to miss.

And here are [...]]]> The only conference for international marketers is back in London on 24th November – and for anyone working in the global SEO, PPC and social media space, the International Search Summit is one event not to miss.

And here are 5 reasons why you’ll want to be there:

• Unique Content: ISS covers topics you won’t find anywhere else. It goes beyond the basics to explore the complex world of international search marketing and will leave you with a host of ideas and strategies to implement in your own organisation. Check out the International Search Summit London agenda.

• Expert Speakers: ISS is committed to delivering quality content from experts in their fields. Every speaker at the Summit works in the international space and will provide invaluable insights for you to take away and implement.

• Networking: ISS puts you together with other global marketers, working on the same kind of projects as you, and facing the same challenges. The contacts you’ll make and experiences you’ll share will help you view your international projects with fresh eyes and renewed enthusiasm.

• Interactive Sessions: We know you’ll have loads of questions about your international SEO, PPC, social, mobile campaigns and projects – and we want you to get all the answers. There are numerous opportunities for Q&A, as well as dedicated breakout sessions to enable smaller groups to focus on a specific topic that is relevant to them.

• Proven Success: It’s not a coincidence that many attendees attend ISS time and time again or that they’re happy to share the positive experiences they had at the show – check out our testimonials!

The International Search Summit will take place at the British Library in London on Thursday 24th November.

View a full list of sessions and speakers, and book your place at internationalsearchsummit.com/london

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SaveurBière.com has been sentenced and fined a 10000euro fine by the Cour d’Appel de Douai, France (court of appeals of Douai) for abusive SEO tactics & techniques. Google did not think those techniques were outside its guidelines…

]]> SaveurBière.com has been sentenced and fined a 10000euro fine by the Cour d’Appel de Douai, France (court of appeals of Douai) for abusive SEO tactics & techniques. Google did not think those techniques were outside its guidelines…

The story

2007, Julien Lemarchand bought Saveur Bière.com domain name – as well as fifty odd related domain names (misterbiere.com, esprit-biere.com, couleur-biere.com…). Each domain name had a unique page with unique content. Julien’s goal was to capture Google’s – and other search engines of course – attention around the keyword ‘biere’, and rank on top for all keyword variations on the SERPs via his chain of unique websites. Lemarchand ultimate goal was to launch a beer dedicated e-commerce website which he eventually did with Saveur Bière.com.

The issue came from his website selectionbiere.com. The owner of selection-biere.com thought Lemarchand’s website was too close to hers and lodged a legal complaint against Lemarchand back in 2008. Then, Julien was sentenced and he got rid of most of his websites and by consequence stop his ‘illegal SEO tactics’.

Yet, since the likes of Google never told him he did wrong nor penalized him, Lemarchand decided to appeal against the tribunal’s decision.

The Court of Appeals of Douai decided to dismiss him and fine him 10 000euros. The Judge said: ” buying so many domain names repeating extensively the keyword ‘biere’ and working at developing links directing towards those websites resulting being on top of search engines results, Julien Lemarchand and SARL Saveur Biere practiced unfair competition practices preventing Celine S ( selection-biere.com ) from getting visitors on her website”.

This is a school case which is now a precedent in terms of SEO techniques and practices in France and perhaps Europe?

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For decades it was the media companies that largely controlled the tools through which consumers were told what to buy and where. With the mass popularity of the Internet consumers now have the ability to generate, curate and distribute content [...]]]> For decades it was the media companies that largely controlled the tools through which consumers were told what to buy and where. With the mass popularity of the Internet consumers now have the ability to generate, curate and distribute content to their peers in real time. As a result they can also effectively co-author the stories that brands tell and do seek active engagement from the brands that they use.

While associating themselves with their favorite brands on social media platforms, and even while checking information online, consumers may have totally different expectations than what the brands owners perceive. A recent study by Yahoo! and BBDO involves the information collected from more than 1000 consumers and brand marketing professionals.

The study divulges that 96 percent of the consumers want to know the exact product price, product features and proof points from a brand. In comparison only 86 percent of marketers feel that this information matters to consumers. Similarly, while 58 percent of the consumers actually want to know about the history and the eccentric or quirky details of the brand, only 41 percent perceive that consumers look for such details.

As per the study, 45 percent of the consumers look for interesting online stories about the brand but only 41 percent of the marketers believe that they do so.

The biggest discrepancy lies in the concept of sharing – the one quite directly related to social networking sites and other review sharing platforms. 91 percent of the consumers admit that they like to put their views about brands online and share it with consumers but only 56 percent of the marketers feel that this matters to consumers!

Apparently, it is time for brands that want to enjoy a good presence in the market to have a better understanding of the consumer psyche. They need to know how important the concepts of sharing and social media are for the Internet savvy customer.

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The leading Russian search engine Yandex, announced yesterday that its revenues had grown by 65% in quarter 3 compared with the previous year. With a turnover of 5.2 billion Rubles ($161.9 million Rubles) and a profit of 1.8 billion [...]]]> The leading Russian search engine Yandex, announced yesterday that its revenues had grown by 65% in quarter 3 compared with the previous year. With a turnover of 5.2 billion Rubles ($161.9 million Rubles) and a profit of 1.8 billion Rubles, Yandex exceeded stock market expectations.

CEO Arkady Volozh said, “Yandex delivered strong financial results and made significant progress across all areas of our business during the third quarter. We increased the pace of the number of new product and services launched compared to prior quarters, both on the user and advertiser fronts. We also launched services in Turkey, an important milestone in our company’s development as it is our first truly international market.” He continued, “We continue to see robust growth and usage patterns in our markets and we expect that our investments will position the company for sustained growth and profitability going forward.”

The company also recently invested $15 million in US search engine Blekko and opened operations in Turkey.

Yandex’s office release.

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International SEO will be a key topic at the upcoming International Search Summit on 24th November, where delegates will be guided through the challenges of marketing to a global audience by  international marketing specialists who have been there, done [...]]]> International SEO will be a key topic at the upcoming International Search Summit on 24th November, where delegates will be guided through the challenges of marketing to a global audience by  international marketing specialists who have been there, done it – and survived!

Annabel Hodges, aka @searchpanda, will be speaking on the international SEO panel, where she and her OMD colleague Martin MacDonald, will share strategies, tips and techniques for successfully optimising multilingual websites. We chatted to Annabel ahead of the Summit.

What are the common mistakes you see organisations making in global search campaigns? How can they be avoided?
The most common mistakes are I think still the simplest and most obvious. E.g. assuming that because two countries speak the same language, they must be similar in culture. France and French Quebec are worlds apart! Despite this, people continue to treat countries of the same language in a similar manner.  How to avoid this? Well I’m repeating myself in another of your questions here but I genuinely do think it still boils down to the most simply (yet often ignored) steps of international search. Understanding your audience. Do the research, learn the culture, get experts on board.

How can organisations achieve scale in international SEO to improve cost and time efficiency?
Working for a company like OMD, our life is made very easy as there are so many international colleagues in so many countries available to reach out to. I would say that one new country-targeted site done well is better than 100 international sites rolled out with no strategy. Both from a branding perspective and an ROI one. Poorly translated sites are far less likely to convert!

Don’t do everything yourself, look for commercial partners that understand your target market. This doesn’t have to be a huge investment or an entire company, even having one local member of staff can have huge impact. It may seem like a waste of money but the benefits should outweigh the cost.

What role, if any, do you think social plays in international seo?
I think social is big now and will be huge for the foreseeable future . Facebook has taken over the world but that’s not to say that other smaller social sites like Ameba in Japan or Tuenti in Spain should be forgotten.
More importantly, the world’s population is growing increasingly used to being social. No matter their choice of platform – ideas like infographics and creating digital content in general can be easily (and cheaply) used in a  global manner. Much more so than traditional media.

What is the biggest challenge facing international search marketers in 2011?
I don’t think the biggest challenges for international search are really any different to those faced by SEOs in the English language. Crucial over the next few months will be adapting to changes on the search landscape – from recent changes to GA tracking to increasingly frequent and impactful algorithmic changes such as Panda. It’s not the language that is important here, it is the wider strategy and understanding.

If you could give marketers working on global campaigns just one tip, what would it be?
It’s been said a thousand times before but: “Understand your audience”!
I’ve seen and heard too many stories of companies pushing forward into new counties without stopping to consider cultural/language differences or even simply tax/finance rules – and being hit hard.

Finally, why attend the International Search Summit?
ISS allows marketers from around the world to indulge in their more niche search concerns . Although the wider strategies are applicable to all, I think it is both helpful and reassuring to be able to hear and discuss specifics that relate to building up an international business. Personally I’ve always found real case studies to be really interesting and inspiring, particularly when dealing with international expansion and succeeding in search.

Find out more about the International Search Summit and Register at the best rates

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International SEO, Geo-targeting, Global Search Trends, International PPC and Multilingual Video Optimisation are just some of the sessions on offer at the International Search Summit London on November 24th.

Targeted at international marketers, the Summit focuses on the topics, issues [...]]]> International SEO, Geo-targeting, Global Search Trends, International PPC and Multilingual Video Optimisation are just some of the sessions on offer at the International Search Summit London on November 24th.

Targeted at international marketers, the Summit focuses on the topics, issues and challenges involved in creating and managing search and social media campaigns in multiple markets and languages.

The speakers at the Summit are all experienced in the international space and will share tactics, best practice, case studies and strategies for running successful global web marketing campaigns.

A full agenda is online and early bird rates apply until 31st October.

Kristjan Mar Hauksson, a regular speaker at the event,  answers a few quick fire questions on international search marketing:

Kristjan, what is the biggest challenge facing the international search marketer in 2011?
“In my experience it is their mistake of generalizing when approaching foreign markets, that is thinking that their experience in one market works in another”

In your opinion, what are the biggest opportunities available to organisations venturing into overseas markets?
“Realizing the potential!”

You’re speaking on Global Reputation Management at ISS. What are the biggest mistakes you see organisations making when it comes to managing their brand online?
“Churning out content without a clear strategy, both short and long term”

What do you think are the most effective online channels to use as part of a reputation management strategy?
“For distribution there are as many as there are countries, there are also as many as the audience groups you are targeting so I cannot say that there are any that stand out. But I can say that the strategy needs to be in place before you start and then choose the channels not the other way around”

If you could give just one tip to anyone embarking on a global search campaign, what would it be?
“Give it time and be patient. The ROI will come”

Finally, why attend the International Search Summit?
“Simple: Good speakers, good engagement with the speakers and relevant topics”

To see the full agenda, check out delegate testimonials and book your place, visit www.internationalsearchsummit.com.

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On the 6th December .fr (France) and .re (Reunion) domain names will be available for registration to all European Union citizens.

Afnic, the non-profit entity managing the French top level domain names attribution, has until now only [...]]]> On the 6th December .fr (France) and .re (Reunion) domain names will be available for registration to all European Union citizens.

Afnic, the non-profit entity managing the French top level domain names attribution, has until now only allowed companies and individuals residing in France to buy a .fr domain.

Afnic will also activate the domain names .wf (Wallis and Fortuna), .tf (French Australasian and Antarctic territories), .pm (Saint Pierre and Miquelon) and .yt (Mayotte) under the same rules as the .fr.

This change in policy is highly anticipated by every company doing remote business with France but so far unable to secure a .fr domain.

The domains names will be available from the 6th December but as yet no prices have been named. More technical details are expected be released by Afnic soon.

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