Global Market Finder

International SEO - Part 2

Here is part 2 of our international SEO series

You can read Part 1 here first to find our more about running an international and multilingual website.

Keywords
Once again here you need the help of a native speaker or that very fluent talker in the language, as you need to find what keywords are searched for and actually used in that language. Don’t just use a direct translation of the word we use in English or just the English word and add it on your website, or you might find that that word has nothing to do with your desired niche – someone who targets the keyword ‘Rock’ in the German market might find it strange tobe found on a search page full of women’s fashion websites (Rock is German for skirt and not for a night out with AC/DC).
Once you have a list of keywords you should use a tool like ‘Google Keyword Tool’ to assist you in narrowing down your keywords, it has a function that lets you search keyword volume in different languages. As well as the GKT you should also try the Google Global Market Finder Tool, it allows you to search the keyword search volume in different countries invarious different languages; who knew that so many people searched the English word ‘travel’ here in Germany!

Global Market Finder

Search Engines
The first thought that comes to our head when we think of SEO is “how can we dominate Google”, but
remember in other areas of the world Google does not corner the market as much as it does in the English speaking
internet. For example in China Google runs a distant 2nd to the powerful Baidu, and in Russia the search engine
Yandex makes up about 60% of the market share (and these 2 countries have massive populations).
So what are the rules and regulations of these search engines? Do I have to submit the site to the engine? What other
differences exist between ranking in one engine and another? Here is a short example of some of the basic
differences between Google and Baidu, and how these small factors can influence how you rank in an international
search engine;

  • Meta descriptions and keywords still weigh heavy in the Baidu index whereas very little in Google
  • Quantity of backlinks in Baidu is more important than quality, and vice versa in Google
  • Header tags are very important in Baidu – so H1 those keywords

So find out what engine/engines are popular in your targeted country and do some research about it, you may even find
that it can be easier to rank in than Google!

Incoming Links

  • Better international links are relevant links
  • Better international relevant links are hosted in that country
  • Better international relevant hosted links are links that are in that language
  • Simple really

Webmaster Tools
If you use Google Webmaster tools on your website you can specify which country that you want to target, this can be
helpful when you run a .com website but you really need to target the German market. In the settings section under
site configuration you just have to select the country you want to target from the geographic target drop down menu
(you can also set it so that your website is not targeted to any one country by selecting ‘Unlisted’).
If you even want to be more specific when targeting a country then you should also get a new webmaster account for
each new country, of course you will need to speak the language but it’s just another tip to let Google know what
country that website is from.

Social Media
Using social media has become such an important part of modern day SEM, so of course running social sites for your
international sites is equally important. But that brings up other issues; different social page for each language,
promotions for each page, are all the pages manageable, cultural differences. Here is a great read about all the different pros and cons you must consider before you jump in and
tweet, circle, slap, whack and befriend people in 28 different languages!

Use a Local Agency
Of course I am going to recommend ourselves! Some people may say that agencies can be too expensive, but if you want
to rank in another country one of the easiest methods is simply to contact an agency and ask – they are the ones
that run SEO campaigns in that country for a living. Contact ROCKITdigital: International SEOncy

Checklist (Do you have everything right?):

Domain – Local TLD
Geo-Targeting – Local TLD
Hreflang Tag – Different languages on the one TLD
Canonical Tag – Get rid of the duplicate content demon
Language – Use native speakers – no translate programs
Symbols – Get your dates and times correct
Keywords – Research and use proper spoken words
Search Engines – Remember Google is not number 1 the world over
Incoming Links – Good local links in that language
Webmaster Tools – Set your website to a country
Social Media – How many twitter accounts do you need?
Local Agency – They SEO in that language for a living