Digital Marketing and Technological Insight

Microsoft is finally seeing the light when it comes to the power of the browser and works to continue its mantra of  “software plus services”. Yesterday the boys in Redmond announced that they will be offering a “lightweight” version of various Office applications (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, etc.) that can be accessed through the browser. The new service, called Office Web Applications, will be part of the next release of Office. Office Web Applications will be delivered through Office Live and will offer free ad-based or subscription based access.

“As part of the next release of Office, we’re announcing that Microsoft will deliver Office Web applications - lightweight versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote - through a browser. With these new applications, people can use a browser to create, edit, and collaborate on Office documents. What’s great is that this provides a consistent Office experience when and where our customers want it, regardless of whether they are accessing their Office documents through the PC, phone, or browser.”

Now this should come as a shock to no one considering it makes perfect sense and Google has had tremendous success with their web-based Office type products. So the question becomes, will they work outside of Internet Explorer? Based on previous Microsoft product launches I would say no – or at least not function correctly. Now I am a huge fan of Firefox and Google’s Chrome, but if I was Microsoft I would make Office Web Applications I.E. exclusive – want to use our products then use our browser. All is fair in love and the browser war.

Check out some Office Web Applications screen shots below:

As with any website, it is common knowledge to apply standard SEO best practices in order to increase your search engine rankings.  However, when dealing with international search engines there are extra steps that should be taken into consideration to optimize your site properly.  Here are some best practices to keep in mind when it comes to international SEO:

International SEO Guidelines and Best Practices

Foreign extension vs. Subdomain
1.    Foreign searchers tend to search in their native language on local search engines
a.    An Italian consumer will search in Italian on Google.it instead of on Google.com
2.    Local search engines want to deliver the most relevant content for their users; results are skewed to what the local searcher would most like to see
3.    Using a foreign domain extensions is the ideal scenario when targeting a specific audience in their country of origin
a.    Goal: Target Italian consumers in Italy
b.    Solution: Publish your site at www.website.it
4.    While the ideal scenario is to have a url with a foreign extension, it is an acceptable and common practice to use a subdomain
a.    A subdomain is not affected by Google’s sandbox penalty which can help your site gain exposure in the short term.  Learn all the pros and cons of each strategy before moving forward.

International Hosting
1.    Sites with foreign domain extensions should be hosted in originating country if possible
2.    Search engines identify your site based on IP address – your site may be removed from searches if the IP address is not in the country you are targeting
3.    Use Google Webmaster Central for geo-targeting content

Identify Language in Metadata
1.    The language being used on the site should be identified within the meta data
a.    Examples:
i.    If the site is in English, use “EN”
ii.    If the site is in Italian, use “IT”
2.    Meta description should contain information that identifies your location (city, state, etc)
3.    If you have a local address, display it on the homepage

Localized Language
1.    Conduct keyword research keeping your target audience in mind, search behavior varies across countries and languages.
2.    All content should be translated for the native language. A human translator should be used whenever possible instead of an automatic translation tool.
3.    Use local language and spellings
a.    Holiday vs. Vacation
b.    Colour vs. Color

Local Inbound Linking
1.    Develop a linking strategy with sites hosted in the country of origin (it is preferable to link to sites using a foreign domain extension).

Tactics to Avoid
1.    Keyword Stuffing
2.    Doorway Pages
3.    Javascript Redirects
4.    All of these tactics will negatively affect your rankings and your site will be penalized

Google has always kept their search homepage free of clutter, unneeded text and of course ads. Well today I just noticed they added a link promoting the new T-Mobile G1 - the first android-powered phone.

When you click on the link it takes you to a splash page that lives within the Google.com domain, however that page is basically a shell to get you to click over to T-Mobiles website. I guess Google felt sending a visitor directly to T-Mobile from their homepage was pushing it - but man imaging the link-juice from that link if they did?

I am not against a company promoting its goods and services, especially on a website they own, but the Google.com homepage has always been a sanctuary for simplicity. Hopefully this isn’t a sign of things to come.

Advertisers who utilize Yahoo’s Sponsored Search can now target ads to specific zip codes -  Yahoo Search Marketing Blog made the announcement today. Only Ask.com offers this specific of an option when it comes to geo-targeting, Google AdWords allows for zip code guidance but does not get this exact.

Any search marketer should utilize geo-targeting in some capacity. Geo-targeting does result in fewer clicks, but those clicks are more targeted and qualified - the quality over quantity theory comes into play.  “While geo-targeting is usually seen as limiting your area to fewer clicks, one new geo-targeting feature can actually bring you more traffic. If you were trying to reach United States customers before, your choices were either to select the entire market — both the U.S. and Canada — or individually select each of the 50 states. (Oh, and the District of Columbia. How could I forget you, D.C.?)”

Here is the new feature live in the Yahoo Search Marketing interface:

Every month the Oxyweb Blog puts out a “world map of social networks around the world”. The map is a visual representation of the most popular social networking services on a country by country basis - rankings are based on Alexa data.

I love looking at this map for many reasons, the biggest being people in the United States tend to look at the social networking / media world from a MySpace vs Facebook standpoint. However, as you can see from the multitude of colors on the map that just isn’t true. It is a big and growing world out there and each country operates differently - this is the challenge and excitement of doing International Digital Marketing. Marketers in the U.S. do not even mention Google’s Orkut, however they dominate India and Brazil - two of the fastest growing economies in the world. Obviously Social Networking conversations should start with the big players, however sometimes you have to look outside your window and see who else is coming up the driveway.

Here are the map changes from September 2008:

Facebook gains Bahamas from Hi5
Facebook gains Belgium from Skyrock
Facebook gains Cuba from Hi5
Hi5 gains Cyprus from Facebook
Hi5 gains Luxembourg from Facebook

Here are the changes from august 2008:

Facebook gains Albania from Hi-5
Facebook gains Austria from MySpace
Facebook gains Bahamas from Hi-5
Facebook gains Italy from MySpace
Facebook gains Libya from MySpace*
Facebook gains Libya from MySpace*
Facebook gains Madagascar from Skyrock
Facebook gains New Zealand from Bebo
Facebook gains Qatar from Orkut
Facebook gains Uruguay from Orkut
Hi5 gains Syria from MySpace*

Check out the full-sized Social Networking Map Here…