Search Engine Optimization (SEO) for your website

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Wednesday: Explore Local/International Search

Would your site benefit from a geographically targeted campaign? Whether it’s Paris,

France, or Paris, Texas, today you’ll choose the area that interests you and determine

whether you want to move forward in either of these:

• International search

• Local search

We’ll give you an overview and point you in the right direction for further

research.

International Search

The Internet knows no borders, but unfortunately, your SEO campaign does. If your

target audience includes an overseas component, you need to learn strategies for inter-

national SEO and put a focused effort into your international visibility. Ask yourself,

Which country are you targeting? Is your international audience composed of English

speakers? Which languages do you want to target? Answer these questions for your

organization, and then start your research on international SEO with these general

guidelines in mind:

International PPC

Google AdWords and YSM make it easy to add new campaigns and

set them up for different countries and languages. If your international ads are in Eng-

lish, it’s very simple to edit the targeting preferences on your current campaign to

include additional countries.

You should custom-write your ads for non-U.S.-based site visitors, even if they are

English speaking, to address their different terminology or needs. Separate sites or

landing pages will also improve localization.

To target additional languages, you’ll need to create new PPC campaigns with their

own language and country settings. Google AdWords also allows you to target specific

regions or cities within many countries. So, for example, if you want to sell to Ontario

in English but to Quebec in French, you can specify which provinces will see which

campaign’s ads.

If you are marketing to a European audience, you’ll also want to look into a PPC cam-

paign with Miva, at

www.miva.com

, formerly espotting. This company has a large PPC

presence in Europe.

International Organic Optimization

Let’s say you want your chic boutique website to

rank well for searchers in France searching for the French words “parapluie jaune.”

One approach would be to choose this term as one of your top target keywords and

optimize your landing page accordingly. Good start, but there’s more you can do to

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