Globalization,

the final frontier:

How US businesses can capitalize by looking to international markets

Globalization, the final frontier:

How US businesses can capitalize

by looking to international markets
About the author
Ian Harris, President,
Search Laboratory Inc.
Previously Chief Technical Officer for one
of the worlds largest web localization
companies, Ian has helped companies such
as British Airways, IBM and HSBC tap into
new overseas markets.
Working in website internationalization and
multilingual search engine optimization for
the last ten years, Ian witnessed many large
organizations ineffectively trying to build
search campaigns in other languages; either
by translating keywords or by employing a
student intern to do the necessary work.
Ian had identified a gap in the market for
a dedicated multilingual search marketing
service and in 2005 created Search
Laboratory to fill this gap.
About Search Laboratory Inc.
Search Laboratory is a global leader
in search engine marketing (SEM)
delivering profitable campaigns, including
mathematical pay-per-click (PPC), ethical
search engine optimization (SEO), and realtime bidding/programmatic, to clients in 18
countries worldwide.
Working in over 35 languages, Search
Laboratory can help you increase revenue
from your existing search marketing or help
you tap into new markets overseas.

Helping its clients maximize profit from

their website by improving their position
on Google and other search engines like
Baidu, Yandex, Naver, and Daum, Search
Laboratorys team are specialists in helping
businesses go global online.
Chosen by many big brands including
PepsiCo, Polycom, HP Autonomy, and
Superdry because of its customer-centric
ethos to campaign planning, Search
Laboratory delivers tangible, revenue-driven
results, based on scientific rigour and a
deep understanding of language structure,
colloquialism and customer buying habits.
To discuss your current search engine
marketing capabilities, please dont hesitate
to contact us:
Phone: (646) 473-1826
Email: inquiries@searchlaboratory.com
Web: www.searchlaboratory.com

Contents

Executive summary 4
Introduction 5
Behind the story: Independent research 6
Which industries are leading the international race? 7
Retailers are slow to expand internationally 8
Is the technology industry dangerously complacent? 9
Size doesnt matter 11
International success defined by geography 13
Establishing trust: The importance of localization 16
Gaining visibility: The importance of search engines 18
Conclusion 24
Contact us 25

Executive summary

Executive summary

US companies have reacted to the recent economic

instability following the recession by looking to the global
market for new sources of revenue. In this white paper we
examine to what extent this internationalization of American
companies has occurred, by industry, size and region.
Based on our own bespoke research, and with a
particular focus on ecommerce, we have found that
whilst US businesses have embraced the global
marketplace they are still missing opportunities. In this
paper we reveal which industries are falling short with
their internationalization as well as those which are not
taking full advantage of their efforts abroad. We also
show that there is a bias towards international expansion
depending on a business geographical location within
the US.
This paper asserts that with some relatively minor
refinements to online strategies, businesses could
achieve an improved performance in the global markets.

Introduction

Introduction

The continuous rise of ecommerce has opened up the global

marketplace to US businesses and this has seen overseas
revenue increase for most but the truth is American ecommerce
globalization is currently a story of missed opportunities
rather than one of success. The majority of business decision
makers believe their organization is not taking advantage of the
international openings available to them, despite the awareness of
such opportunities being higher than ever.
In fact the number of businesses failing to live up to their full
potential in the global marketplace is much higher. This is
because there are inherent shortcomings in the online strategies
of organizations, including the following:
A refusal to localize websites to the native markets language
Prioritizing investment into the wrong marketing activity
during the expansion process
Online strategy is not centralized but instead outsourced to
multiple in-country agencies
In this white paper we will identify which industries, regions and
different sized businesses are suffering from these shortcomings
and detail how they can overcome such issues.

Behind the story: Independent research

Behind the story:

Independent research
This white paper has been informed by a nationwide
independent research study of US business decision makers in
organizations with over 50 employees, commissioned by Search
Laboratory. The study investigated the prevailing attitudes
towards overseas trade, with a specific focus on international
online strategy among these decision makers. Two hundred
different organizations were surveyed for the research.

77%

Proportion of businesses looking

at international opportunities
because of the economy

46%

Proportion of businesses whose

revenue from overseas trade has
not increased since 2011

The study covered the international versus

domestic revenues of these businesses,
and the growth and decline of such
revenues over the last three years to secure
a picture of the role international expansion
plays within the recent economic recovery.
In order to represent attitudes fairly, the
study spanned a wide variety of vertical
market sectors, including retail, technology,
travel and tourism, manufacturing, finance,
and professional services.

Which industries are leading the international race?

Which industries are leading

the international race?

It is only natural that different industries will

have different attitudes and approaches to
international trade. The leisure and education
sectors, for example, are pre-eminently
introspective. However for other industries,
like technology and retail, selling overseas
represents not only an opportunity but is in
some cases a necessity.

This trend is representative of the

increasing opportunities available for
American companies abroad. Driven by
ever-developing markets such as Russia
and China, and a demand for US brands
in Western Europe decision-makers are
acutely aware of the opportunities this
presents.

On the whole, international ecommerce as

a proportion of companies overall revenue
has increased in the last four years but
at different rates depending on the sector.
The healthcare and pharmaceutical industry
leads the way with all the companies we
surveyed reporting an increase, while
the technology and professional services
sectors have also seen considerable
growth. At the other end of the spectrum
the travel industry has seen its overseas
trade decrease by 13% by far the biggest
drop of all the industries we surveyed.
Manufacturing is the only other sector that
has seen a decrease.

Decision-makers are also aware of the main

obstacles to international business success.
Every single sector claimed the most
difficult challenge is establishing trust
with a foreign consumer. Second to this
was the problem of gaining visibility in
the marketplace and competing with
established local businesses.

75%

Proportion of decision makers from

businesses in the professional services
and logistics sectors that believe their
organisation is neglecting key opportunities
in the global markets

The tactics employed by companies to

overcome these obstacles, specifically in the
online arena, are again industry-sensitive.
Whilst all agree that website localization is
the most important online strategy, there
is less harmony when it comes to whether
SEO should be preferred to paid media
spend or vice versa. There are even some
for example 9% of retailers which hold a
similar opinion on the importance of using
the native language when selling online. The
vast majority however (82% of businesses)
did not recognize this as an imperative factor
for success in international markets.
The most striking discovery of our research
though is perhaps the number of decision
makers, across the industry spectrum, who
believe their organization is neglecting key
opportunities in the global markets. Three
quarters of decision makers from businesses in
the professional services and logistics sectors
fall into this bracket and (with the exception of
only the pharmaceutical and education sectors)
the rate of decision makers who hold this
opinion does not drop below 40%.
In the next section we take a closer look at
the retail and technology industry attitudes
to international commerce, with a specific
focus on online.

Retailers slow to expand internationally

Retailers slow to
expand internationally

The American retail industry is surprisingly

introverted when it comes to selling online,
with 40% of businesses in this sector
reporting that they only trade domestically.
Whilst of course this means that the majority
do sell internationally, four in ten is still an eyecatchingly high rate, especially for an industry
that is perfectly positioned to take advantage
of foreign markets. One only needs to look at
the international success that foreign retailers
like ASOS, House of Fraser, Otto Group and
Bon Prix have enjoyed from their overseas
activities to understand the opportunity being
missed here. Especially when taking into
consideration the potential international pull of
US retail brands.
The potential lucrative rewards on offer to
US retailers is made clear by the amount of
revenue these businesses are taking from
overseas selling. Over three quarters (77%)
of retailers said they get 10-50% of their total
revenue from international business, with
8% answering 51-100% of their total revenue
comes from international business.
These figures could arguably be much
higher if there was a greater importance
placed on tackling the linguistic obstacles
posed by trading in foreign markets.

91%
Proportion of retailers who believe
communicating with international
customers is very important
yet 23% still use an English-only
website to sell abroad

Whilst 91% of companies answered that

communicating with international consumers
in their native language was very important,
nearly a quarter of these same companies
are working off an international website
which is only in English. This can either
be interpreted as an acute contradiction
or as an indication that retailers are in fact
conscious of the critical importance of a
native language website but dont have the
capabilities or budget to execute this.
With this fact in mind its not surprising that
retailers rate establishing trust with
local consumers as the most difficult
challenge facing those who wish to
sell internationally. As we have seen,
consumers are naturally more inclined to
purchase from a website that is selling in
their own language. Linguistic and cultural
sensitivity are arguably even more crucial
to business success in the retail sector
because its such a competitive industry. If a
consumer feels alienated or uncomfortable
because a business has failed to localize its
website it could be something as simple
as an image that is clearly Americanized to
a European audience for example then its
too easy for the consumer to go elsewhere.
This is not always the case with other
sectors, which can sometimes mask these
cracks by relying on their niche offering that
is not as widely available.
The much heralded economic challenges
of the last few years have seen over
three quarters of retailers cast their gaze
internationally as they look for new sources
of revenue, but it would seem that for nearly
half this is little more than just that a fanciful
gaze. US retail businesses have been slow
to increase their overseas trade with 46%
reporting that in terms of proportion of overall
revenue international sales have seen no
growth since 2011. This seemingly blinkered
approach to international potential is again
brought home by the majority of retail decisionmakers admitting that they were missing
opportunities in the global marketplace.

Is the technology industry dangerously complacent?

Is the technology industry

dangerously complacent?

The US has the strongest technology

industry with eight companies in the top 10
of the PwC Global 100 Software Leaders,
so its no surprise that over three quarters
of businesses from this sector are trading
overseas. After all there is always going
to be demand internationally for market
leading technology and this is reflected
in the number of technology companies
selling abroad. This strong demand can
also be cited as an attributing factor as to
why the technology sector has one of the
highest percentages of businesses selling
exclusively from an English language website
in international markets. There appears to
be a build it and they will come attitude
to global ecommerce from technology
companies. Its no surprise that just 36% of
decision-makers rate site localization as the
strategy which requires the most investment
when entering international markets every
other industry except education places
much more importance on this.
Reluctance to localize however has not held
back the technology sectors international
push as nearly nine out of ten decision
makers in the industry report that their
companys overseas trade has increased
in the last three years. Online marketing,

promotion and advertising are what has

driven this growth, more so than any other
sector researched.
At this point the argument could be made
that if technology companies have seen
international sales grow considerably on the
back of a strategy which is not hinged to
localization, then they need not adhere to
the status quo of selling in the consumers
native language. Indeed, consumers may
be buying, but just how many potential
customers are being lost because of this?
Even in the unlikely case that this number
is too small to warrant costly localization,
what happens when in the future a domestic
technology company does come on the
scene? No matter the scenario, there is no
better alternative to a localized website and
marketing strategy and whilst the short-term
gains may cloud this fact, any company
adopting this approach leaves itself vulnerable
to a domestic rival.
It is pertinent that presently, competing with
established local businesses is seen as the
least difficult obstacle to overcome for the
sector when trading overseas.

Retail

Technology

Manufacturing Logistics

Site localization deserves the most initial

investment after entering a new market

46%

36%

41%

100%

Online is an important channel for overseas

promotion

73%

91%

90%

50%

A local web domain is important

82%

88%

90%

100%

Establishing trust with local consumers is the

most difficult challenge to overcome when
entering a new market

46%

41%

49%

46%

Gaining visibility is the most difficult challenge

to overcome when entering a new market

32%

41%

32%

25%

Competing with established local brands is

the most difficult challenge to overcome when
entering a new market

23%

18%

19%

25%

Is the technology industry dangerously complacent?

Just 36%
The proportion of technology
businesses that prioritize
website localization in their
international strategy

Multilingual approach alone not enough

Even those technology businesses which have taken the
multilingual route are not immune to pitfalls. Technology
companies, even more so those in the US that are at the head
of the industry, tend to sell in numerous international markets
and this means languages in double digits rather than two or
three which invariably means lots of territories to localize for.
The first pitfall, as weve seen above, is to just stick to an English
website however the second is to try and solve this multilingual
conundrum by employing an online agency in each domestic
market. But who knows the market better than an agency based
there? A good point indeed, but stop and consider that this
approach usually ends up with upwards of a dozen agencies for
example all being managed from the US, resulting in a fractured
strategy. Businesses opting for the multiple-agency route
can expect a lack of central performance metrics leading to
inconsistent reporting and a huge organizational overhead from
managing these numerous agencies.

10

Size doesnt matter

Size doesnt matter

As with different sectors, different sized

businesses also have varying attitudes to
international ecommerce. One could expect
to see a trend of bigger companies having
more overseas trade however this is not the
case.
Businesses with over 250 employees (for
the benefit of this paper we will refer to these
as enterprises) have the highest rate of
domestic only trade at 49%. This percentage
drops alarmingly to 33% for the smallest
bracket of employees 50-99 (SMEs) and the
same companies are taking a considerable
portion of their overall revenue from foreign
markets. This is no anomaly either, with
companies boasting between 100 and 249
employees all reporting a similar level of
domestic only trade of between 33 and 22%
before it spikes in the enterprise bracket.

A myriad of factors could explain away this

surprising trend, but one predominant theory
is the different attitude towards online from
smaller businesses and their enterprise
equivalents. For example three quarters of
SMEs said online as a channel for promotion
was very important, whilst just 43% of
enterprises said the same (as the below graph
shows). There is also a greater importance
placed on site localization and search engine
optimization by start-ups compared with
enterprises.
Our findings are supported by the
experiences of David S. Tradewell, US
Commercial Director of digital marketing
consultants Econsultancy.

Graph: Percentage of decision makers that rate online promotion as very important

50-99 employees

100-149 employees

150-199 employees

200-249 employees

250-299 employees

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

11

Size doesnt matter

Big ships take longer to steer

David S. Tradewell, Vice President, Client Development
Econsultancy

Attitude is probably part of the equation. Smaller businesses

are usually newer businesses. By their nature, they are more
likely to start looking beyond the domestic market to an
overseas one. Part of this is also a question of agility.
Large enterprises are like big ships they take time
to change course whereas a smaller business can be
more agile. Innovation has also democratized access to
technologies that were once only the preserve of large
corporations. Whether thats the growth of open source
and SaaS ecommerce platforms, or the availability of cloudbased resources and outsourced fulfilment solutions, digital
and the web technologies have levelled the playing field.
Small businesses have an ability to play on the global stage
more than ever before and the gap between their capabilities
and those of large corporations is being narrowed though
this disruptive innovation.

12

International success defined by geography

International success defined

by geography
There are some stark geographic splits between the number
of US organizations trading internationally with the West
Coast leading the way as the region with the broadest
horizons. More than 80% of companies on the West Coast are
selling abroad, compared to 57% on the East Coast and 46%
in the Midwest.
The West Coast
Focusing on the West Coast first, we have
already heard how this region has embraced
internationalization. However investigating
further, its clear that this global approach
goes deeper than the bare figures suggest.
Our research showed, companies on the
West Coast are much more likely to sell
internationally in multiple languages than their
East Coast and Midwest counterparts. It is
not farfetched to suggest that this stat has
a bearing on the number of organizations
from this region that rate online as a very
important channel for online promotion.
An online presence in the local language
is going to deliver more success than one
in just English and therefore is going to be
considered more important.

81% on the East Coast consider a native

language website very important versus
77% on the West
33% on the East Coast consider gaining
visibility in an international market as
the most difficult obstacle to overcome
versus 39% on the West Coast
However this is where the similarities cease.
The East Coast is the only region where
revenue gained from foreign markets has
actually decreased since 2011 yet has by
far the lowest rate of decision makers who
believe they are missing global opportunities.
Similarly the East Coast is the only region
where decision makers admitted to being
less aware of global business opportunities,
with 7% admitting to this.

On some levels attitudes towards overseas

trade do not differ greatly from coast to
coast:

So is this just a case of there being more

domestic opportunities on the East Coast for
companies to have no need to look outside
their own borders? Research suggests not.
In fact domestic trade in this region has
decreased by nearly three times as much as
the Midwest and West Coast. Nearly 80% of
Eastern decision-makers reported that recent
economic instability has led to companies
looking abroad for global business and the
problem for this region is not that there is
enough trade at home.

In the last three years 60% of West

Coast businesses have increased their
international revenue versus 59 % of their
East Coast counterparts

Instead the problem appears to lie with

the East Coasts attitude towards online
strategy. The West Coast and even the
Midwest have a more enlightened approach

The East Coast

Businesses on the East Coast are selling
internationally at a general rate of just above
half and around one in three are doing this
via a localized website in the markets
native language.

13

International success defined by geography

than the East. Eastern companies rate site

localization as being less important than the
other two regions, but consider paid search
more than three times more important than
the West.
Whilst paid search is a staple of a successful
online strategy, paying for traffic that is
being directed to a non-localized website
is ultimately wasting budget because
conversion rates and sales are going to be
much lower than on a site designed for the
native market. Site localization should be
the focus of the largest initial investment
for a company entering a new market
its the foundation your global strategy
should be built on, anything else is putting
the cart before the horse. This inefficient
approach is echoed by 15% - more than the
Midwest and West of Eastern businesses
considering a local web domain not
important. Now it should be said that a local
web domain isnt always the best route to
take, sometimes it can make more business
sense to stick to a .com, but this attitude
again belies a predisposition to insulation on
the East Coast.

Graph: Geographical attitudes

to internationalization

The Midwest
Businesses based in the Midwest still
trail their coastal counterparts but not
for long. Since 2011, 70% of Midwestern
businesses have seen international trade as
a portion of their overall revenue increase.
This is considerably higher than the other
two regions and not a single organization
reported that international revenue has
gone down.
In a polar opposite of what weve seen on
the East Coast this growth in the Midwest
has been driven by a forward-thinking
online strategy. More than any other region
the central statistics rank online promotion
in foreign markets as the most important
means of attracting new customers.
The same is true for communicating
to international customers in their own
language.
The recession and economic turmoil can
also take responsibility for this recent
increase in globalization. While the economy
has indeed played its part in East and West

West coast
East coast
Midwest

100

80

60

40

20

0
Businesses with sites in
multiple languages
14

Increased awareness of
international opportunity

Businesses that consider

online important

Increased overseas
trade since 2011

International success defined by geography

Coast companies taking the leap into foreign

markets, it has not been on the same level
as the Midwest.
The Midwest is leading globalization in
the US and as weve covered there is an
enlightened approach to online in this
region, but it is by no means perfect and
more revenue could be expected with
some refinement. There are still too many
organizations prioritizing paid search
initially over site localization and a reversal
of this would go some way to solving the
establishing trust in the local market problem
that these businesses have.
Another potential area for improvement
is that many Midwest companies employ
agencies in each individual country which
can prove troublesome, as outlined earlier.

70%

of Midwestern companies
have seen international revenue
increase since 2011

Economic irony
David S. Tradewell, Vice President, Client Development
Econsultancy

Its one of the ironies of an economic downturn that

businesses can often become more parochial and inward
looking at the very time that they need to be looking outward at
international opportunities. Thats certainly been the case with
some of the businesses weve worked with.
Whats interesting is that businesses on the coastal
extremities of the US tend to have a much more international
outlook regardless of the economic situation. New York and
San Francisco in particular are two places where businesses
tend to think of the international opportunities more so than
perhaps than those that are based in those states that are at
the centre of the country. Thats a massive generalization of
course, but its certainly been reflective of my experience.

15

Establishing trust: The importance of localization

Establishing trust:
The importance of localization

Regardless of industry, the size of the

business or its geographical base we have
already established that there are a great
number of organizations embarking on
international expansion. Of all those surveyed
the most difficult obstacle to this globalization
was establishing trust in the local market. This
is not surprising considering the number of
businesses which admitted that their online
efforts were not localized.
Imagine seeing an online advert in Japanese
that directed you to a website populated by
the same language would you buy from
this website? Probably not, so therefore
dont expect consumers in other markets to
do just that for the English equivalent.

www.cuidadodesalud.gov/es

16

Localization is hard to get right and very

easy to get wrong. One misplaced word
or incorrect phrase and you will lose your
audience. The best way to avoid these
pitfalls is to use a mother-tongue linguist for
your marketing localization. Authenticity is
crucial here. Native speakers are by nature
equipped with the necessary vocabulary
and knowledge of a languages nuances.
Language is not the only reason why native
linguists should be used though. Social norms
vary greatly from one country to another, so
the insight that a local can provide about
business and consumer culture in their
country of origin can be of great value to a US
company targeting that market.

Establishing trust: The importance of localization

When the US government rolled out its

new healthcare policy, known to most as
Obamacare, it also launched a Spanish
website to accommodate Spanish speakers.
Unfortunately the site, www.cuidadodesalud.
gov pictured opposite, was not properly
localized and was littered with literal
translations of English sentences. The result
of this was many grammatical errors, making
it hard for the Spanish speaking audience to
understand. The site was also littered with
links which led to English-speaking pages.
This localization failure was widely reported
in the media including on the Huffington Post
and CNN.

Paint the correct picture

Mother-tongue linguists can also help you
avoid infringing on cultural sensitivities
when it comes to your website layout and
choice of images. Photos that are clearly
US-centric may not work in more reserved
European markets, (see example below).
Due consideration must also be given to the
appropriate use of gender and ethnicity.

These nuances may seem trivial but they

do discourage potential customers, causing
them to navigate away from a webpage
where they may have otherwise continued to
make a purchase or initiate a sales inquiry.

17

Gaining visibility: The importance of search engines

Gaining visibility:
The importance of search engines
After establishing trust, gaining visibility in the local
marketplace was cited as the next most difficult challenge
however both problems can be simultaneously overcome
through a committed approach to localization.
Once you have localized your website for
your target international market it is of course
imperative that you start attracting traffic to it.
Search engines offer ecommerce businesses
arguably the best chance and certainly the
most realistic chance of gaining visibility in a
new market.
An organizations prominence on the search
engine results pages (SERPs) presented to
potential customers is crucial to its chances
of being discovered in a new geographic
market. The starting point for this process lies
with the identification of the search terms that
your target customers are searching for on
the likes of Google.

To suggest that a set of optimal English

language keywords translate directly
into another language is both delusional
and negligent. The generation of optimal
keywords requires research into the nuances
of the language by an individual who has a
working knowledge of search marketing.
A simple concept such as car rental has
many colloquialisms in other languages
that have no seed keyword or concept in
English. A direct comparison between the
UK and US, two English speaking countries,
shows the complexity of this task; in the UK
the major head term is car hire whilst in the
US it is car rental.
Paid search in international markets

For US businesses looking to attract custom

from overseas, this means not only analyzing
the search terms used by their Englishspeaking customers but foreign language
terms must also be identified.
Again, this is a task that should be
performed by native speakers, who can
creatively and effectively explore the full
variety of potential search terms that
could yield results in a search marketing
campaign. Automated translation tools, no
matter how advanced they profess to be,
are simply not up to the task. Likewise nonnative speaking human translators also fail to
capture important local phrases, due to how
they have been trained to translate from one
language to another.
Even professional translators struggle to
create keyword lists in a different language
by translating lists of English keywords.

18

Paid search and online media adverts are

effective tactics for attracting traffic in your
international market and one that 27% of
US companies are using. However as we
have outlined above, pay-per-click (PPC)
advertising is a futile effort if you have not
correctly localized the keywords you are
targeting and the web page these ads are
directing traffic to.
Its generally a mistake for a company
to hand over its English language PPC
keywords and adverts to a translation
company or alternatively to put them through
an automated translation tool. The creation
of a search marketing campaigns in other
languages isnt a translation job and such
attempts to shortcut the process are likely to
drastically reduce the organizations scope
for success.

Gaining visibility: The importance of search engines

English and not their own language and has

decided to continue on regardless.

Dont soft launch with paid search

A company considering expansion into a
foreign territory may wish to test the market
by running paid search adverts in that
country, in the local language, pointing back
to the original English website. A soft launch,
if you will.
Unfortunately this is not a tactic that is likely
to prove successful. Customers investigating
new sites remain extremely languagesensitive so the vastly reduced conversion
rate caused by this language barrier will
render the ads uncompetitive. To make
matters worse, customers only drop out of
the cycle after they have triggered a charge
by clicking through the sponsored link,
resulting in considerable wasted investment
and some very uncomfortable conversations
at the next board meeting.

Paid search can answer your

SEO questions
Our research found that more US
companies (29%) are prioritizing SEO in
their initial activity after expanding into a
market than paid search (28%). Whilst it isnt
necessarily a mistake to put SEO before
paid, running PPC ads first can help to
ensure your SEO is more informed. This is
because PPC campaigns can be used as an
exploratory strategy to test the effectiveness
of potential keywords, the most potent of
which can be subsequently built into the
corresponding SEO campaign.

It may be that the company in question has

already been receiving orders or sales from
this particular international market and this
is what has prompted consideration of a
possible expansion.

It should be stressed here that only a fraction

of internet users searching on any given topic
will be doing so with an intent to buy or to
initiate an inquiry. Those searching in buying
mode have often completed their research
and narrowed their key search terms to
enable the identification of their desired
product or service.

Regardless, this soft-launch strategy is still

destined to fail. The problem here is that the
foreign attention the company has received
is unlikely to have come via a search engine.
The referral is far more likely to be from a
personal recommendation, a forum, or from
another unrelated source. In these instances
the user is already aware that the site is in

With this in mind, the majority of search

terms used to retrieve information on a
subject are unlikely to convert into an
enquiry or a sale. Executing a contained
PPC campaign can provide valuable and
cost effective insights here, highlighting
the variances in search habits between
geographies and their market sectors.

Graph: Percentage of businesses prioritizing budget

allocation in first two years after entry into market

150-199 employees

200-249 employees

250-299 employees

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

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Gaining visibility: The importance of search engines

Its not all about Google

When you hear the term search engine you
probably think Google, but thats not always
the case internationally. Here are a few of the
key search engines and where they are most
popular:
Yandex Russia & Turkey
Baidu China
Naver South Korea

SEO in international markets

SEO is a critical component of any successful online strategy and should not be overlooked
when entering a new international market. In terms of the nuances of an SEO campaign
a one size fits all approach does not work. A number of variables including the type of
business, website and budget all affect what work is needed. There are some fundamental
steps to follow though:

No.1 Convenient and relevant content

Your website needs to provide the user with a quality experience as search engine
algorithms now consider a sites usability when determining its ranking. Search engines like
Google are intent on making the internet a better place for users, so your website needs to
reflect this. For example a user searching for mens jeans will be presented with a search
results page that directs them not only to websites specifically featuring mens jeans, but to
those sites that present their content in a logical, structured and familiar manner. The use of
correct, fully localized language is also key here.
If Google and the other search engines did not scrutinize the usability of the websites they
are suggesting and instead returned all kinds of sites that werent optimized and frustrated
the user, then the search engines would be in danger of losing customers themselves. Think
of this usability scrutiny as a search engines quality control of their product.
You need to ensure your website passes this quality control by having a site that presents the
user with the desired content via the lowest number of clicks possible.

No.2 Know your market

There are many regional differences that have to be taken into account when entering a
new market. Address formats, for example, differ from region to region and need to be
accommodated on pages where users leave their mailing details. Some countries, such
as Ireland, do not use a postcode at all. Customer forms therefore need to reflect this and
ensure the user can easily input their details failure to do so is likely to lead to the customer
abandoning, having lost confidence in the site.

No.3 Technical and linguistic help

Preparing a domestic website for translation into multiple foreign languages requires
considerable technical prowess as well as linguistic skill. For sites that will need to provide
regular and consistent updates across all language versions, preparing the English content

20

Gaining visibility: The importance of search engines

management system is crucial. For a developer, the process is fairly simple when they know
how to avoid the pitfalls, but when they do not, the penalty can be immense; translation
becomes difficult or impossible and the site may fail entirely to list on foreign search engines.
It may also mean that future updates become prohibitively expensive because the legacy
structure has made it impossible to apply cost-saving tools and techniques.
If separate partners are being used for translation and web development, it is vital to ensure
there is collaborative dialogue between them. There are several factors at play here. First,
there are hidden elements within the sites infrastructure that are important to optimize from
an SEO perspective, which will require accurate translation if they are also to benefit the
foreign language versions of the site. An example of this is the use of URLs. SEO-friendly
URLs include strategic keywords in the directory structure or filename. These keywords are
then identified by search engine spiders and contribute to a sites overall page ranking.
SEO-friendly URL:

www.yoursite.com/digital-cameras/kodak-x1.aspx

Non-SEO-Friendly URL: www.yoursite.com/products.aspx?cat=1&subcat=9&prod=3

When placed in the hands of a translation agency, the URLs are often forgotten in the
localization process leading to several problems. First the foreign customer will see
immediately that this is an English-speaking site and potentially cause them to leave the
website. Secondly the keyword friendly URLs that remain in English will not support foreign
language SEO, where the search engine spiders are tuned to identify and favour keywords in
their local language.
If SEO-friendly URLs are going to be used, businesses must ensure they translate clearly
between languages. If this is not possible, the business should stick with non-friendly URLs.
This is because the detrimental effect on a foreign customers disposition toward a site when
they are exposed to URLs that are clearly not tuned for their language will usually be greater
than the benefit the URLs will bring to the sites overall search ranking.

No.4 A locally registered domain is not for everyone

A locally registered web domain (.fr or .co.uk for example) was deemed important when
entering a new international market by 88% of the US businesses we polled. However, a local
domain is by no means a necessity and for some businesses, dependant on their individual
circumstances, it can be more beneficial not to have one.

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Gaining visibility: The importance of search engines

E-commerce and online retail companies

How a retailers domestic site is registered
will have a bearing on the approach it
should take when expanding overseas.
When looking to target a new geographical
area such as Germany, a US retailer with a
.com address should consider registering a
Germany specific .de top level domain (TLD).
This will instil both assurance and familiarity
in German customers which is not possible
with a .com domain.
It must be noted though that this approach
does not always turn out to be practical
in the long term. While a locally registered
domain is useful for gaining the trust of
foreign customers there are additional
variables which need to be managed.
For many large e-commerce companies,
overlooking these variables could lead to
massive wasted investment, unnecessary
systems complexity and needlessly high
maintenance costs.
For example some countries, like Australia,
require a company to have a local country
registered office before a country specific
TLD will be granted. The simplicity of
establishing a foreign premise varies widely
from market to market and should be
investigated thoroughly before a final domain
strategy is approved, especially if the retailer
is intending to limit overseas business to
distance selling.
Caution should be exercised here even if
the retailer is intending to establish a locally
registered office and operate via a locally
hosted site. The problem here is one of
complexity. Most large e-commerce retailers
offer a wide range of products through a
catalogue-style web store, which is updated
automatically in real time according to the
movement of stock through the business. In
order to maximise stock control and provide
customers with a complete picture of all
available products regardless of geography,
these sites must be integrated.

22

The task of linking and automating the

publishing functions across sites that
are hosted in different countries requires
significantly more resources than localizing
a centrally hosted site. This is a bigger
challenge than stock control alone. Should
the need for an additional piece of business
be identified (where the sites functionality
is expanded to provide more customer
options), the volume and complexity of
cross-site integration work can grind to a
halt and cause web development costs to
spiral out of control.
Whats the alternative?
Instead of dropping the .com address
altogether retailers can adopt a specific
subdirectory for each new market, such
as .com/de for Germany or .fr for France.
This will ease the initial integration and
ongoing management of the site. In
these instances automated updates and
modifications to business logic can be
applied simultaneously to all markets via
a centralized dashboard. You should be
aware, however, that this approach will
sacrifice some of the SEO benefits offered
by a locally hosted domain but this can at
least be partially offset if care is taken during
the creation of the localized subdirectories.
Specific coding techniques can be
employed to engage with search engine
spiders, which crawl websites to rank their
usability, in order to inform them of the geospecific nature of each subdirectory. These
techniques ensure the spiders review the
subdirectories accurately and assign them
an appropriate search value. Finally, since
the localized subdirectories remain part of a
much bigger, centralized site, they will also
benefit from the wider sites overall SEO
value something that is not attainable with
individual, locally hosted domains.
Diligence in planning and exploring options
for site registration and hosting is vital.
Throughout, maintenance and development
resources need to be weighed against the
customer benefit of providing a fully local
web store.

Gaining visibility: The importance of search engines

For B2B companies:

For B2B companies looking to attract
inquiries from foreign prospects, a locally
registered domain is usually the best
approach, subject to the market by market
restrictions outlined above. Here a wellplanned mixture of PPC and SEO will
generally provide the awareness and local
market credibility needed to stimulate
demand.
Localization begins at home
Sometimes its worth stating the obvious:
companies that decide to translate their
site or landing page and deploy supporting
search campaigns open themselves up to
customer service calls and emails in other
languages. Care should be taken to ensure
appropriate resources are in place for
dealing with these when they start to flow in.

23

Conclusion

Conclusion

There can be no arguing that on the whole US companies are

missing out on international business opportunities. This is
especially true of retailers. Not only have they been generally
slow to embrace global markets but they are also arguably the
best suited sector to do so. At the other end of the spectrum, the
technology industry has taken the international plunge and has
enjoyed great success in doing so. However, the methods and
strategies technology companies have employed to expand their
online presence into foreign markets is flawed and with some
refinement these businesses could certainly achieve further
success internationally.
Away from industry specifics, those companies that embrace
localization and utilize mother tongue linguists within a
centralized online strategy can be expected to have the
best chance of firstly establishing themselves in a foreign
marketplace and secondly making a success of the endeavour.
Those companies that continue to ignore these tactics can
equally be expected to fail. The choice is yours

24

Contact us

Contact us

Wed love to hear your feedback on

this report, or help with any questions
you may have relating to your digital
internationalization strategy.
For more information on any of the themes
explored within this paper, or to discuss your
current search engine marketing capabilities,
readers should contact Chris Attewell,
SVP Americas, Search Laboratory:
chris.attewell@searchlaboratory.com or
contact us via one of these methods:
Phone: (646) 473-1826
Email: inquiries@searchlaboratory.com
Web: www.searchlaboratory.com

25

Tel:
Email:
Web:

(646) 473-1826
inquiries@searchlaboratory.com
www.searchlaboratory.com