Approach International Online Search Marketing by SagarGanatra

Online marketers might think they have mastered the art and science of reaching out to their home audience, but many still struggle with connecting to those on an international level. Complications with search engine marketing on this scale can hinder companies from reaching their maximum brand and revenue potential due to language barriers and simply not giving global search marketing the care it needs.

Many international businesses don’t show up on U.S.-based search engines. Why?
Kennedy: In order to show up on Google, a business has to make it clear which country the content is intended for. Google has a pretty clear set of procedures for this, which — in our experience — many international companies ignore because they don’t know better or set sites up based on what they think is easiest.
Hauksson: In many ways, it’s like any SEO model when sites are built without taking the limitations of search engines into account. The bottom line is to make a clear path for search engines to follow.
What are some of the major challenges for international companies to successfully show up in search results?
Kennedy: We see a lot of confusion in the search engines results in different languages. For example, a search may display a site in Spain for a search in Mexico. Words can vary greatly in meaning from country to country, particularly in Latin America. That is why using a country coded top-level domain — also known as “ccTLD” — is important for companies. This is a unique two-letter sequence of characters assigned to a country or geographical area to identify it in a domain name, such as “.com,” “.uk,” “.de” and so on.
It is very helpful to geo-target websites for specific countries with Google Webmaster Tools and Google AdWords. That is essential for sites with international domains, but you cannot geo-target a region in Webmaster Tools, such as the European Union or Asia. Google recognizes the domains “.eu” and “.asia” as regional — not country- or language-specific.
How should companies approach international search marketing?
Kennedy: International search marketing should incorporate basic marketing principles. Start by understanding the target market, speak your customers’ language and become familiar with the media there. Google and Facebook are dominant in the majority of countries worldwide, but in some big markets such as China, South Korea, Japan and Russia, other media platforms might be a better fit.
Hauksson: The wrong approach is to simply translate U.S.-based content without incorporating cultural and language nuances of the target market. Approach each country as a unique entity with culture-specific strategies and key performance indicators for each. One-size-fits-all won’t work and could even damage your brand overseas.
How can companies better target local audiences?
Hauksson: Turn to local experts. Find a native speaker of the target country and “localize” the strategy and content. Consider revising your design and graphics for individual markets and even the color scheme. A local can help you discover which design features might work best.
How can companies use web analytics to track performance of marketing campaigns in different languages?
Hauksson: Approach it as you would with any language. The main problem is that you might not understand the keywords around referring traffic and the context of it in relation to the landing pages.
Kennedy: Having a team member that understands the language is always best, but you can also use Google Translate to get a general overview of what is being said and then take action based on that.