Search Engine Optimization (SEO) for your website

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You’ve probably figured out by now that a fully fledged international SEO campaign is

outside the scope of your hour-a-day commitment. It may even involve a major web

development effort, creating unique sites for each of your targeted countries. But keep

this in mind:

And once your SEO campaign has an established ROI, it will be easier to swing

the additional resources for international SEO.

?Hola SEO!

According to the Selig Center for Economic Growth, the buying power of the Hispanic market in the

United States is expected to reach $992 billion by 2009—that’s 9 percent of the entire market!

The Spanish-speaking population within the United States is growing, and with it grows an impor-

tant sector of the search world. Many of the major search engines have created portals specifically

for this audience, for example, AOL Latino,Yahoo! Espanol, and MSN Latino. However,anecdotal

evidence suggests that the U.S. Latino market searches extensively on the major English-based

search engines using Spanish or English keyterms.

We won’t claim to be experts in this domain. SEO for the Latino market is still relatively uncom-

mon. But that also means it’s a great opportunity to find untapped areas, maybe that top-10

Google spot you’ve been having such a hard time capturing! And, last we checked,PPC prices for

terms in Spanish were much lower than their English counterparts.

Anyone ready to reach out to this audience may want to attend Search Engine Strategies Latino

conferences—the first of its kind was scheduled in July 2006 (see

www.jupiterevents.com

for more info).

And remember,much of what you’re doing in Your SEO Plan will aid your website in listings

regardless of language.You’re off to a great start already!

Now:

Determine whether international search is right for your site, and determine who you need to speak

with in your organization to get the ball rolling. Make a note of it in your Task Journal.

Pearl of Wisdom:

Everything you’re doing now for your SEO campaign will also help your inter-

national efforts in the future.

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