DEVELOPING A GLOBAL SEARCH MARKETING STRATEGY FOR YOUR WEB SITE
William J. Hunt III, Global Strategies International, LLC, USA

Intro/Subject Matter

Search Engines are becoming more global focused by cataloging the data in a central database and allowing users to query data based on language or geography.  The best example is Google which currently supports more than 88 languages or dialects and offers a personalized version of its engine for 76 countries.   This creates an excellent opportunity for businesses, both large and small, to market their goods and services to consumers beyond local borders.   Leveraging the unique marketing opportunities of Search Engines in each market along with a basic understanding of how consumers use the Internet throughout the sales cycle are the foundations of success.   

All web site owners want their sites to consistently rank in the “top ten” of Internet searches. This concept, simple as it seems on the surface, is actually a complex proposition requiring informed decision-making and planning. The purpose of this document is help business owners and managers navigate this confusing sea of linguistic and technical concepts to plot a strategy to achieve success in their global online marketing efforts.

An effective Global Search Engine Marketing strategy is one where an advertiser effectively leverages the many opportunities within search engines, directories and portals to enhance the overall visibility of their Webs site to those actively searching for a specific product or service.  This strategy can be referred to as “Surround Sound” where a marketer leverages all of the natural and paid opportunities within a search engine results page to “speak” to the searcher using a uniform voice and complimenting messages.

The first of these opportunities is Natural Optimization, where your site gets included in the database and ranks on its own natural ability to match the respective ranking algorithms.   Natural optimization has it own set of challenges ranging from on-page keyword and html programming considerations to how many other relevant sites link to yours.  Additionally, there are linguistic, server location and programming concerns that determine if searchers will even see your site in the search engine results page.

The second opportunity lies in Paid Placement.  Paid Placement gives marketers the opportunity to immediately go to the top of the search engine results.  For this privilege, they pay the search engine a fee for every time their listing is clicked.   This has become a very popular yet complicated tactic since the actual cost-per-click rate is determined by competitive market forces from a bid-based auction process or formula driven based upon the highest pre-set per click rates of competing websites.  There are specific strategies for placement, bid rates and creative.  These all get more complicated once cultural and linguistic variables are added to the mix.  Nevertheless, this is a very effective marketing tactic especially when it is combined with Natural Optimization of the search Engine results.  

Conclusions

Marketers must take the time to effectively plan out their Global Search Engine Marketing strategy just as they would plan for any type of international expansion.  Understanding the unique attributes of the ranking algorithm for the search engines in each market and how well your site matched them is key to the overall success of your Global Search Engine Marketing Initiative.   Failure to do so could result in not only a loss of revenue but serious the company’s image could be damaged long into the future.