| In the earl days
of the Internet, almost everything on the web was
in English because most Internet applications back
in the late 80’s and early 90’s started in the United
States. Consequently when the first search engines
came up in the early- to mid- 90’s, they were strictly
in English. Anyone overseas wishing to conduct a search
had to do it in English. There was no other option.
As the internet technology caught up around the world,
the web became a multi-lingual platform. In fact the
foreign web has been the fastest growing segment of
the Internet every single year since 1997.
Think about it this way, in 1996 75% of the web
was in English. Today English only accounts for
25%. The proportion has been reversed. Search engines
and directories understood the importance of language
growth early in the game and started to feature
multi-lingual platforms.
Today foreign language natives have a better inventive
to conduct a search in their mother tongue. As an
example, a Japanese user will access the Japanese
Yahoo! or the Japanese alta vista and would search
using keywords in Japanese by typing Japanese characters
in the search field. A German native would have
a better incentive to use google.de in German rather
than google.com in English.
Over the last few years, we have been offering
a solution allowing you to test the potential of
your online business to foreign markets without
having to translate your website. International
search engine submission is not about doing business
with foreigners in their native language but rather
bringing foreigners to your website to do business
with you in English!
It is not necessary to translate your website in
order to submit to foreign search engines, however,
you need to have at least 1 page in French optimized
with French keywords and meta tags in order to submit
to French search engines, or at least 1 page in
Spanish optimized with Spanish keywords in order
to submit to Hispanic search engines and so on.
Let's assume that you're trying to reach the Japanese
market: We will create an entry page in Japanese
for your site which will be optimized with your
Japanese keywords and meta tags. The look and feel
will be similar to your home page. We will use your
graphics and a translated text that introduces the
foreign user to your company’s products or services.
This page will tell Japanese users in a 10-line
paragraph what your website has to offer. This communication
will be culturally correct and search engine friendly.
At the bottom of the page we tell the Japanese
user in Japanese of course, that by entering your
website he or she can expect all content to be in
English, and that all correspondence should be in
English as well. The Japanese user will then click
on the link and will be redirected to your main
home page in English!
When foreign users find the multilingual pages which
we have created, we know that about 10 to 15% of
them will not click through to your site just because
it is in English! However, these visitors are not
true potential customers. In fact, if someone is
not willing to communicate with you in English,
this person is not really a prospect for your business!
Our methodology allows us to separate the curious
from the serious potential customers. We know that
over 99% of all foreigners search the web in their
own language first. We also know from experience
that 85% to 90 % of them will click through from
the entry page to your English home page.
Once again, it is very important to stress that
doing business with foreigners is not about doing
business in their language but rather encouraging
them to do business with you in English!
Let’s go back to our example. When a Japanese person
using a Japanese Search engine types your keywords
in Japanese, they will find your "Japanese
entry page" which we have created, optimized
& submitted to Japanese search engines. They
will read the intro to your site and click to be
redirected to your current main home page in English!
By the way, the same applies for every language
whether we promote your site on French search engines
or Chinese search engines, it does not matter, the
method remains the same!
Preparing your website for a multilingual search
engine submission campaign takes much more than
just translating a page and its meta tags. Creating
and optimizing a webpage for foreign search engines
is a process that goes way beyond mere translating!
For example, French and German speaking search engines
have a different keyword allowance. When it comes
to Asian search engines we no longer consider keyword
allowance but rather the number of characters allowed!
Each language has specific technical ramifications
that require attention to its own language algorithm.
This is why we work with native speaking search
engine experts who are attuned to the requirements
in their language. For each language we have native
technicians whose job is to stay updated on the
latest rules and regulations proper to the search
engines in their mother tongue. They work in close
collaboration with our translators and copywriters!
Once again, just being bilingual is not sufficient!
Preparing for the multilingual Web goes way beyond
an ordinary translation. We can guarantee that the
foreign language pages we create for your website
will be culturally and technically correct.
Currently, Internet users searching on German,
French, Hispanic, Portuguese, Italian, Japanese
or Chinese search engines probably cannot find your
website because it has not been optimized or listed
accordingly.
Many website managers report that their site shows
up abroad! When looking at their traffic reports,
they note that they are receiving visits from China,
Germany, Africa and so on! Here is what they should
know:
The foreign visits that they currently experience
are from astute foreign users who have accessed
English language search engines and conducted their
search in English. These users are in a small minority.
It is commonly understood that they are less than
1% of the foreign web users. Think about the fact
that over 99% of all searches abroad are conducted
in the native language of the user. This is of course
only normal.
Additionally, when we refer to "submission
on French search engines" we do not refer to
"submission on search engines in France only"!
We are referring to a submission campaign of your
website in all French-speaking markets! We will
submit to markets from Belgium to Switzerland and
from Quebec to Tahiti without forgetting Africa.
"Submission on French search engines"
refers to all French speaking markets!
Of course, when we say Japanese search engines
only Japan is concerned! But you will notice that
we never say "Spanish search engines"
but rather Hispanic search engines! There are great
search engines in Spanish not only in Spain but
also in South and Central America, in Mexico and
in the U.S. just to list a few!
Do you realize that about 35% of all visits on
Chinese search engines emanate from the large communities
of Chinese immigrants in the U.S., in Canada and
in Europe? Did you know that the Hispanic population
in the US represents one of the most lucrative Spanish-speaking
online markets? In order to put that into perspective,
you must realize that in the US today nearly one
out of every nine persons are Hispanic heritage.
More than just targeting countries, we give your
website exposure to “global language market shares”
on the Internet! Your customer may be a Chinese
man in San Francisco, a German immigrant in Toronto,
a Cuban in Florida or a Japanese expatriate in Paris!
We truly look at languages on a global scale!
When it comes to Internet marketing, promoting
your site on the foreign web is similar to going
back in time. Don’t you wish to go back to 1995
with your current knowledge of the web. Well, the
keyword density on the foreign web is similar to
what things were like in the US web 10 years ago.
It is not nearly as competitive. There are still
success stories to be written. Don’t wait until
it is too late to land top rankings. Don’t wait
until the keyword density of multilingual search
engines catches up with those on the US web.
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