1. International SEO
What you need to know to
compete globally

2. • Got on the Internet in 1986
• Working online with search since 1996
• Paid & Natural Search – all aspects
• Worked in house within Ecommerce, Publishing
& High Tech
• Moved to i-level in 2008
• Worked with Orange, Sony, COI
• SEO Chick
• Freelance through Seshet Consulting
Who am I?

3. Agenda
• Searcher Behaviour
• Search in Europe
• Search Worldwide
• Domain strategy
• Encoding
• Language & Content
• Translation
• External linking & Link Bait
• Local & Legal Issues

4. What is SEO?
“SEO is the active practice of optimizing a
web site by improving internal and
external aspects in order to increase the
traffic the site receives from search
engines.”
- SEOmoz

5. Top Factors You Need To
Consider
• Keyword Research
• Tags
• Image Optimisation
• On Page Text
• Site Architecture and Internal Links
• Links
• SEO Tools

6. Elements of Ranking
• Title Tags
• Meta Description Tags
• Meta Keyword Tags
• ALT Tags
• H1, H2, H3 (and accompanying CSS)
• Keywords in the content
• Internal Links (images vs. keyword rich text)
• URL Structure
• Advanced Linking
• Authority
• Age of domain

7. Search Myth
Search Results
Your
Site
CONVERSION!

8. Search Reality
E1
Last Exposure
E2
E3
E4
E5
Sale
Event 5
Event 5
Event 3
Event 2
Last Event
Event type
Display Impression
Display Click
Paid Search
Natural Search
Affiliates

9. Reasons People Use SE’s
Source: Enquiro

10. European Search Landscape
Source: comScore

11. Search in Europe
• Although developed in terms of use of search engines,
Europe is behind the UK in terms of actually doing SEO
• Germany, France and Spain have well developed paid
search but SEO is still not main stream of marketing
budgets
• It is often easier to rank highly in Europe as SEO
competition is less well developed

12. Search Worldwide
Google does not rule the world but...

13. Worldwide Search Market Share

14. Russian Search Market Share

15. So How Do You Tackle The
International Search Scene?

16. Domain Strategy
• Subdomains vs localised domains vs directories
• fr.chocolate.com vs chocolate.fr vs
chocolate.com/fr
• Cost
• Geo location
• ALWAYS host in the country you are wanting to
rank for
• Also beneficial to own the country TLD
• Use tools to find out if you are getting traffic
already

18. Pages in French

19. Pages in French Pages from France
(.fr domains)

20. .be hosted in
Paris
.com hosted in
Paris
.fr hosted in
NEUILLY-SUR-
SEINE

21. Promoted to pos. 1 –
Belgian result removed

23. Domain Strategy
• Separate domains, local hosting etc = expensive
• Best for branding
• Easiest to develop natural links into the local site
With local content relevant to the market

24. Encoding
• Localisation not translation
• Use UTF-8 (Unicode) Encoding
• Does not count as duplicate content
• If retailer does not offer localised copy, you then
create unique content

25. Language & Content
• Understand local language nuances
• Use translators, not just Babelfish
• Use a PPC campaign for keyword testing and
research.
• Use a tool such as
“Exact Keyword Tracking” from ROI revolution to
view what keywords people actually use when
you are bidding in broad or phrase match

29. Language & Content
English Keywords German Keyword Translation
Google Search
Volume
adventure Abenteuer 1500000
advice Beratung 673000
books Bücher 13600000
books Buecher 135,000
book search Buch suche 6,600
diet & exercise Diät & fitness 73
diet and exercise Diät und fitness n/a
diet diaet 27,100
diet Diät 550,000
lose weight abnehmen 823,000
fitness& nutrition fitness & ernährung 4,400
Fitness Fitness 4,090,000

30. Language & Content
English Keywords German Keyword Translation
Google Search
Volume
adventure Abenteuer 1500000
advice Beratung 673000
books Bücher 13600000
books Buecher 135,000
book search Buch suche 6,600
diet & exercise Diät & fitness 73
diet and exercise Diät und fitness n/a
diet diaet 27,100
diet Diät 550,000
lose weight abnehmen 823,000
fitness& nutrition fitness & ernährung 4,400
Fitness Fitness 4,090,000
English Keywords Spanish Keyword Translation
Google Search
Volume
acupuncture acupuntura 452
adventure aventura 110,000
advice aviso 2,400
advice consejo 2,400
legalisation of drugs legalizacion de la droga 379
legalisation of drugs la legalizacion de las drogas 325
legalisation of drugs legalización de las drogas 318
legalization of drugs legalizacion de las drogas 2,795
legalization of drugs legalizacion de drogas 1,141
cartoons chiste 1,000
cartoons viñeta 22

31. Use Translators Not Just
Babelfish
• Educating translators about SEO is key
• You need translator feedback for localisation
• Use translators for:
– On page optimisation (incl. Title & meta)
– Creative writing for meta descriptions + PPC ad
creative if relevant
– Link generation (writing of on topic articles)

32. Dangers of Babelfish

33. External Linking
• Links count!
• Links from country-specific sites help
boost country-specific rankings

34. Link Bait to Link Build
1. Create content
(informative,
entertaining,
controversial, humorous)
2. Host content on your site
3. Promote your content
through social media,
distribution or
syndication
Success gets relevant traffic
+ LINKS

35. Local & Legal Issues
• Be aware of local laws and nuances
• Personal Details
• Country Politics
• Need to be a French company to get a .fr
domain
• Data Protection
• Consumer Protection & Distance Trading
Regulations

36. Summary
• SEO is ongoing
• Hosting, domains, language, links - they
all give context
• Google does not rule the world
• Use translators
• Link bait to build links
• Keep track of everything you do & change

37. THANK YOU!
SeshetConsulting@gmail.com
http://www.seshet.co.uk
http://www.linkedin.com/profile?viewProfile=&key=10335408
http://www.seo-chicks.com
http://www.twitter.com/JudithLewis