The document discusses competitive strategies for international search placement. It covers search engine optimization (SEO) techniques for targeting different geolocations, such as using country-specific domain extensions and hosting locations. It also discusses pay-per-click (PPC) advertising strategies, noting that PPC provides instant traffic but is more expensive. Key recommendations include developing geolocation strategies for SEO, understanding Google's keyword quality score for PPC bidding, and keeping up with advancing advertising techniques used by international competitors.

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Competitive Strategies in
INTERNATIONAL SEARCH
PLACEMENT
JOHN COBURN
E. jcoburn@praxisnow.ie
T. 01-2360076
eMarketing Workshop | 14 April 2011

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1 SEO
National Search Targeting
If you are far from the enemy, make him
believe you are near
Sun Tzu
eMarketing Workshop | 14 April 2011

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1 : 40 Non-Brand-related
WEBSITE TRAFFIC
UNIQUE KEY-PHRASES
Source: Covario / NetConcepts
eMarketing Workshop | 14 April 2011

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Things that can impact Google’s
understanding of your target geography Domain Extension
Google Webmaster Domain Registration
Setting (generic TLD) Address
Hosting IP Address
eMarketing Workshop | 14 April 2011

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BEST .co.uk or generic: registered
and hosted in UK
GEOLOCATION Neighbourhood
Inbound Link Topology
eMarketing Workshop | 14 April 2011

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THEORETICALLY .co.uk or generic: registered
Ireland and geo-located to UK
EQUIVALENT
Neighbourhood
GEOLOCATION
Inbound Link Topology
NOTE: Not workable
with a .ie domain
eMarketing Workshop | 14 April 2011

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STILL AT HOME Dangers of replication!
Neighbourhood
GEOLOCATION
Inbound Link Topology
eMarketing Workshop | 14 April 2011

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What many Irish
DEFAULT Companies are doing:
Neighbourhood
GEOLOCATION Inbound Link Topology
NOTE: Can still compete
for unique brands, geo-
locator based terms and
unique search phrases
eMarketing Workshop | 14 April 2011

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Things that can impact Google’s
understanding of your target geography Domain Extension
Google Webmaster Domain Registration
Setting (generic TLD) Address
Neighbourhood Hosting IP Address
Inbound Link Topology
eMarketing Workshop | 14 April 2011

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SOME IMPLICATIONS OF
LOCATION-BASED SERPS
BASED ON INCREASINGLY GRANULAR GEO-LOCATION
eMarketing Workshop | 14 April 2011

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SEPARATE WEBSITES
(OR GEO-LOCATED SUB-DOMAINS)
DEPLOYED PER TARGET GEOGRAPHY
Contrary to popular opinion:
It’s not about buying up national key-
phrase based domains and redirecting
to your website.
eMarketing Workshop | 14 April 2011

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A “GEO-LOCATION STRATEGY”
IS REQUIRED
FOCUS ON EXTENDED / LONG-TAIL?
CITY-LEVEL TARGETING?
CATEGORY PAGES ONLY?
eMarketing Workshop | 14 April 2011

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ORIGINAL CONTENT
IS REQUIRED
DUPLICATE DESIGN /
EDIT CONTENT & KEY-PHRASE TARGETS
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“AUTHORITY” & KEY-PHRASE
TARGETING STRATEGY
IN HIGHLY COMPETITIVE SEARCH MARKETS
Entire website “authority”
focused on a narrow key-
phrase group Category Pages Only
TRAFFIC
Long-tail (lots of content)
KEY-PHRASE CLUSTERS
eMarketing Workshop | 14 April 2011

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OTHER INTERNATIONAL SEO
STRATEGIES
• USE OF MIXED MEDIA (optimised)
• MULTIPLE LOCATION ENTRIES IN GOOGLE
PLACES (incl. UK tel / fax etc..)
• LOCAL + ENGLISH + COLOQUIAL Key-phrase
Targeting
eMarketing Workshop | 14 April 2011

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2 PPC
Bigger Footprint than SEO | Instantaneous
BUT Expensive | 1:6 Click-Through Ratio | Has become sophisticated
eMarketing Workshop | 14 April 2011

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THE “OLD” PPC LONGTAIL
BEHIND THE TIMES?
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GOOGLE’S KEYWORD QUALITY SCORE
DETERMINES HOW MUCH YOU PAY PER CLICK + WHERE YOU ARE RANKED
GOOGLE’S KEYWORD
QUALITY SCORE CTR
QUALITY SCORE SCALE
1 - 10
eMarketing Workshop | 14 April 2011
Source: Google

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“RELEVANCE”: A MORE USEFUL MODEL
€ Low Quality Score
Poor Alignment / High Competition
Medium Quality Score
Low CTR / (often) Low Competition
High Quality Score
High CTR / Good Alignment
LOW RELEVANCE HIGH
eMarketing Workshop | 14 April 2011

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IRISH SERP
(AdWords + Organic)
Search on:
fashion design
eMarketing Workshop | 14 April 2011

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E.G. UK SERP
“Search Shelf Space”
(AdWords + Organic)
eMarketing Workshop | 14 April 2011

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IRISH SERP
(AdWords + Organic)
REVISITED
Notice anything the same?
News entries? (and related photo)
Left-side Column
eMarketing Workshop | 14 April 2011

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IRISH SERP
(AdWords + Organic)
REVISITED
Notice anything different?
Less advertising competitors?
Less sophisticated advertising
methods being used?
Different media mix? (no videos)
eMarketing Workshop | 14 April 2011

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UK SERP
E.G.
REVISITED
“Search Shelf Space”
(AdWords + Organic)
Notice anything “evolved”?
Rich media in Organic results
“Silo” Search
Inclusion of “News” in organic
results
.com sourced search suggestions
Notice anything different?
Media mix (search shelf)
Advertiser sophistication &
functionality
eMarketing Workshop | 14 April 2011
Number of Advertisers

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ADWORDS EXTENSIONS
Linking Your Campaign to:
GOOGLE PLACES GOOGLE MERCHANT CENTRE SITELINKS & PHONE EXTENSIONS
eMarketing Workshop | 14 April 2011

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In Summary
If you could do only three things in
PPC to improve your international
paid search footprint . . .
eMarketing Workshop | 14 April 2011

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International PPC
1. Understand New “Longtail” (using QS)
2. Use any & all techniques that
support geo-targeting (e.g. Link AdWords to a
local Google Places entry)
3. Keep pace with competitor
advertising (e.g. Reviews & Star Ratings)
eMarketing Workshop | 14 April 2011

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A CLOSING THOUGHT
eMarketing Workshop | 14 April 2011

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SEARCH TRAFFIC
... it leads to quality sales leadsearch traffic
- Specifically, high quality
IS ONLY USEFUL WHEN back of . . .
generation on the . .
A TRACKABLE
SEO COMPELLING VALUE
PROPOSITION
PPC
eMarketing Workshop | 14 April 2011

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Go n'éirí an t-ádh libh
COMPETITIVE STRATEGIES IN
INTERNATIONAL SEARCH
PLACEMENT
JOHN COBURN
eMarketing Workshop | 14 April 2011