An international approach to natural search
Nilhan Jayasinghe, Head of Natural Search at Spannerworks, explains the cultural and technical considerations for running a successful natural search marketing campaign across international markets.
Running an internal natural search campaign means requires a strategy that accomodates language, cultural and technical issues that are explained below.
Domain hosting
Nearly all search engines attempt to localise results to improve user experience. If I’m looking for car insurance, it makes sense to show a list of UK insurers. In order to provide a higher ranking for local sites, Google and other engines look at two things - where the site is hosted and the domain extension. If either of these is local, then the site would be deemed local and appear higher. So a .co.uk domain or one which is hosted under a UK registered IP address will rank higher in Google.co.uk.
Good for UK visibility
.co.uk hosted outside the UK
.co.uk hosted in the UK
.com hosted in the UK
Not good for UK visibility
.com hosted outside the UK
Any non-UK domain hosed outside the UK
For a site that doesn’t follow the rules for localisation, things get really bad if a searcher decides to click on the sites from the region only filter. With a default search on google.co.uk, foreign sites can still appear if they manage to overcome the regional bias through huge link equity. But, with filtered results, the site will be completely excluded.
For example:
Shopping.com is hosted in the US. This site ranks top in Google.com for the term ‘Shopping’ and manages to rank no. 4 in a Google.co.uk default search. But, if ‘pages from the UK only’ is selected, the site disappears completely from the results.
It is always best to host under a local domain as it can guarantee local relevance. There is some evidence that this can also benefit click-through for some sectors where local sites are preferred. The second option is to host locally, though this really should be second option.
For many large sites, where it is not possible to acquire a local domain or to serve a site from multiple locations, localisation is a big problem, which the search engines must resolve.
Having talked to a few Googlers at the plex in San Jose a couple of weeks ago, this is something they’re planning to resolve, by enabling webmasters to specify the region for the site through the Webmaster Central console.
Localisation V Translation
A classic mistake site owners make when reaching out to other markets is to translate their existing site into the local language. Often, popular search terms in the local market are directly translated into a foreign language, without considering how people search locally. The term ‘cheap’ for instance, which is a very popular term in the UK can get you into a lot of trouble in some countries with a direct translation.
Cultural differences should also be considered when localising copy. A price led creative may work in the UK but emphasizing quality and service may be appropriate elsewhere. If you’re lucky the positioning of the brand locally, should be aligned with the cultural climate, and provide the direction for localising copy.
So, localise everything from search term research to copy and tone.
Duplicate content across same language regions
For sites operating across countries speaking the same language, duplicate content is a major hurdle. Search engines generally demote duplicate content, and in extreme cases they may exclude the entire site. This is another good reason to always localise all copy as mentioned above. Not only will this create a much better user experience, it reduces duplication and improves rankings. This a common mistake when US sites enter the UK market.
User experience
In some sectors it may be worth conducting localised experience mapping to fully appreciate how local people buy within that category. While this is a study usually associated with Information Architecture and Usability, the results can impact search.
Localise link reputation
Always promote the site through local web sites. While search engines are currently not looking at the geo-location of links, they do look at language relevance, and there’s nothing more annoying for users.
Centralised best practice governance
Where natural search engine optimisation is decentralised across multiple regions, making sure that all web sites follow best practice and, more importantly, stick to the rules is crucial. As multi region sites are usually linked together, unethical tactics employed by any of the sites in the network can impact all sites. Creating a centralised governance forum can be essential. This can also help manage conflicts and competition, especially where the site may be local but operational boundaries are more ambiguous.
Article by Nilhan Jayasinghe, Head of Search, Spannerworks. If you would like to discus any of the issues covered above, you can contact Nilhan on +44(0)1273 828124 or nilhanREMOVE@spannerworksME.com.
