Global Search Engine Optimization is really not that hard. Your competitors are global, and if you don't start playing offense internationally, you will be playing defense. Learn how to optimize your keywords and start getting natural traffic globally. Stop playing soccer if your competitors are playing football.

2. Eli Schwartz is the Online Marketing Manager
for SurveyMonkey, the world's largest online
survey company. He oversees all SEO efforts
and strategies on SurveyMonkey properties
across 16 languages. SurveyMonkey serves
over 20 million customers worldwide, including
99% of the Fortune 500, and collects over two
million online survey responses daily.
Follow @5le

3. • Why International SEO
• Size of opportunity
• Keyword research
• Content creation

4. What percentage of your
time do you focus on
search optimization efforts
for

5. What percentage of your
time do you focus on
search optimization efforts
for

6. Google vs Bing

7. Internet Users Around the World
Source:
internetlivestats.com/

8. So, focusing on the US
only could be as
shortsighted as…

9. Languages Spoken Around the World
English
(Primary &
Secondary)
Source:
ethnologue.com/

10. Ecommerce Spend Around the World
Source:
Emarketer.com

11. Look at Current
Traffic in GA
There are likely international visitors that are
not as satisfied

14. Ecommerce

16. • Based in China
• Primary customer base is in China
• Has an English language interface
• 24k employees
• $7.5 Billion Revenue in 2013 (WSJ)
• In 2013 did more transaction volume
than eBay + Amazon

17. Social Media

19. • 250 million accounts
• #22 worldwide on Alexa
• Popular in Russian speaking countries
• Already has English language interface

20. SEO

22. • Founded in Germany
• Started with European customers
• Expanded into US customers by
localizing offering
• Newly opened office in Silicon Valley

24. International SEO
isn’t so Hard (or
Costly)

25. • ccTLD vs subdomain vs subdirectory
• HREFLANG
• Local Hosting
• Local Links
• Local Trust Symbols
• Mobile

27. Don’t Machine
Translate

28. Google can recognize machine
translated content AND you will offend
real users

30. Optimize
(Optimise) for What
People Type

32. Spelling Correction
is Not as Robust

33. Google.com Google.fr (France)

34. Synonym Matching
in English

35. Near identical results for both terms

36. Synonym Matching
in German
(Google.de)

37. Both terms mean “Customer Survey” and
user intent is similar

39. Prepositions in
English

40. In English, prepositions cause only minor
differences (except in specific cases)

42. Prepositions in
Portuguese
(Google.com.br)

43. Other languages have much larger
differences

45. Basic Special
Characters Matter

46. Special character usage changes results
• Slashed O
• Umlauts
• Accents

48. “Did you mean”
but results are
unchanged

49. Compound
(Concatenation)
Words

51. Phrases can be broken by a space, dash
or concatenated as one word

52. Same Language
Different Meanings:
“Char”

53. Quebec France

54. It’s Not Just
International: Pop
vs Soda

55. Even within one country we have different ways of
referring to the same exact thing

57. Adwords Tool is
NOT the Starting
Point

58. In English, you might just go to Adwords Keyword
Tool and call it a day
Internationally, just blindly trusting search volume will
give you a weak keyword foundation

59. Understand
Keyword
Weaknesses

61. None of these
are relevant to
SurveyMonkey’s
Business

62. Square One: Learn
Just One Word…

64. Start Googling

65. Search the just discovered keyword in your target
language AND country

66. Search Translation
Alternatives Too

67. Some of these
might be the
better keyword

68. Two Tabbed
Searching:
Translate vs
Original

69. Use Chrome’s automatic translation

70. Search
Translations To Get
Right Word

71. As in English, not all translations will be relevant
to your business

72. Add Keyword
Modifiers to
Translate

73. Adding a modifier gives Google Translate context
around the word.
Without modifiers, Translate had suggested the
Spanish word “estudio” as the correct translation.

74. Some Translations
Are Very
INCORRECT

75. Attempted to use a modifier to learn
primary keyword
Google’s suggested translation was a
xxx term

77. Look at Number of
Results for Clues

78. Google.fi (Finland)

79. Google.fi (Finland)
Low number of
results means you
are on the wrong
track

80. View All Search
Competitors in Two
Tabs

81. Spanish Original
English Translation
via Chrome

82. Use Chrome’s automatic translation
• View each competitor site to find
keywords
• Look at the English to find important
keywords
• Compare words to original and add
translated word to keywords worksheet
in a spreadsheet

83. Don’t Forget About
Popular Slang
Terms

84. Google.de (Germany)

85. Google.de (Germany)
Means “Sunday
Poll” which is what
Germans call a
Political Poll

86. Use Knowledge
Graph to Learn
Intent (US)

87. Google.com

88. Google.com
Search word is Italian
word “piazza”
Knowledge graph
shows Piazza as a
company and an
Italian square

89. Knowledge Graph
Brazil

90. Google.com

91. Google.com
Search word is Italian
word “piazza”
Knowledge graph
shows Piazza as a
soccer player in Brazil

92. Knowledge Graph
Germany

93. Google.de (Germany)

94. Google.de (Germany)
Search word is
Italian word “piazza”
Knowledge graph
shows Piazza as
Piazza Navona – a
popular tourist spot
in Rome

95. Knowledge Graph
Italy

96. Google.it (Italy)

97. Google.it (Italy)
Search word is Italian
word “piazza”
Knowledge graph is
gone

98. Look Up Search
Volume of Keyword
List

99. Once you have a large list of keywords:
• Paste in all keywords into Google
Keyword Planner
• Download results in a CSV
• Search translations in Google
Translate

101. Buddy Up With a
Native

102. Native speakers will tell you which
keywords are actually correct

104. Translate Existing
Content

106. Make Sure Your
Translations Make
Sense

108. Double Check
Translation Work

110. Keywords Need to
Be Culturally
Relevant

112. Leverage Keyword
Data into New
Content

113. Google Trends

114. Trends data is available for many years in
multiple countries

115. Trends data is available for many years in
multiple countries
Trends data is
available for many
years in multiple
countries

116. YouTube
Worldwide

118. Look for Popular
videos

119. Twitter Trends

120. Twitter trends will show popular topics for nearly
any country

121. SurveyMonkey
Audience

123. Learn From the
Data and Update

125. 5 Things to
Remember

126. 1.Huge growth potential with
international search
2.Focus on keywords
3.Watch out for cultural
nuances
4.Continue to grow content

128. 5. Don’t be
Lazy!!!