Understanding local and international markets is a key factor in good SEO. For our international clients, we do specialized keyword research on terms typed into search engines in their own countries, so we can create a keyword list that is more in line with local and national usage. In our own field, the most common case is the spelling variation “search engine optimisation” which is the preferred spelling among UK and Commonwealth countries.
The British vernacular is one of many considerations for creating effective campaigns in foreign countries. First and foremost, the audience is the primary concern, since many of our UK clients are looking to sell in Europe, Asia, and Africa along with North and South America. In these cases we normally recommend creating locally hosted sites that concentrate on the target audience, and have original content referencing the nation’s particular needs. Hosting a site from a local IP makes it more likely to rank in a host nation’s search engine (or version of Google) than having one site with several “foreign” pages or subdomains aimed at each area.
When it comes to “international flavor” there are also some limits. At Web.com Search Agency, we have several people who are fluent in different languages, but sometimes we encounter cases where we are not comfortable optimizing for a certain language group. This is because it is necessary to think and do research in a foreign tongue, since the best way to create good results is to make a site as relevant as possible to the search demand for products and services. For instance, we would not attempt to optimize a Chinese language site because (at present) we do not have anyone who could do keyword research, content creation, and link building in Chinese. Similarly, we would not try to manage paid search for the Chinese language. This would be a disservice to our customers, and bad for our reputation.
Meanwhile, we have done (and still do) UK PPC management and optimisation. Some of our clients do worldwide and US campaigns which require specialized research for each audience, and we are familiar with variations (Like “lorry” for “truck” and “SMS” for “text message/messaging”) that people use in different areas. We also ensure that the keywords we use are vetted by our clients so we don’t miss out on any local idioms or trends in usage.
Web.com Search Agency also has several different approaches for getting results in international and regional SEO. By using diverse factors including local competition, keyword searches, competitor PPC research, and analytics tracking, we can create a local “optimisation” campaign that focuses on matching your customer pool with your website.
