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6. Geotargeting for Language or Regional Targeting

The various ways that people search and the results the search engines are delivering are evolving rapidly. Smarter queries and more complex algorithms mean that you need to use various techniques to be sure you are showing up in the results. Local search, advanced search, regional search and language-based searches are some of the filters an end-user or a search engine can use in determining who shows up, when they show up and where they show up.

Geotargeting is one tool Google has refined and one that you can manipulate to a point in order to increase saturation in any market. Beyond the obvious on-page considerations, different searches will deliver (in most cases) a different set of results.

The results can differ greatly depending on several considerations;

1. The IP of the end-user

2. The server location of the website

3. Any geographically targeted settings in Webmaster Central

4 . The relationship between the search filters and the resulting web pages (I.e. Did they search for Pages from [region] or Pages in [language]

5. If the end-user is searching a different extension than the defaulted engine (they manually enter Google.com searching for US or English results in a non-US region.

The other elements that will affect rankings will be back links;

1. Are the links from a TLD that matches the destination URL (I.e. .nl linking to an .nl website)?

2. Is the IP linking website located in the same region and the linked URL?

3. Page rank, linking anchor text, additional outbound links on the page linking to you

4. On-page relevancy

5. Language based meta-tags

6. Everything in the above 5 items relating to the linking website/page

Any one of these elements can give you an edge over your competition. Searching any of Google’s (non-US) datasets will generally return a variety of websites when no language or location filter is selected. These can include internal pages in a website, subdirectories (www.yoursite.com/french), Sub domains (www.french.yoursite.com) and various TLD’s (top level domains like .com and .nl). All 11 of the above factors are present (but not exclusive) in the automatic algorithm.

The problem is that no one really knows which approach is best, or which algorithmic attribute is the most effective, so what can we do with this? What we want to do is to look at the existing results using the available search filters and the existing websites that are ranking high to determine what the best strategy for your website is. This takes deep page analysis of your competitors.

The important thing to note is that there is a hierarchy between one and the other in terms of which is the best solution. Every website has its own individual solution based on their demographics, site mechanics and available resources.

What you need to consider are;

1 .Your target market?

2. If you need or don’t need geographical targeting?

3. If you need language based subdomains or subdirectories?

4. Should you move hosting?

Can I afford to do it all?

How & When to Use Geographical Targeting

Here’s what to do if you wish to:

Geographically target a region
1 .Create a subdomain or a subdirectory in the native language and use Webmaster Central to geographically target it
2 .Host the subdomain on a server in the native region and use geographical targeting
3 .Build back links from similar TLD’s

Target a specific language

1 .Create a subdirectory in the native language (I.e. www.yoursite.com/nl/)

2 .Build back links from same language websites

3 .Do not use geographical targeting

The reason that you do not want to use geographical targeting along with a language-based strategy is that if the end-user searches in the native language on Google.com, a site using content in that language will be stronger than the same site with geographical targeting in place. (This isn’t dependent on whether you use subdirectories or subdomains unless you hosted the subdomain in the target region).

The answer for me is that I want it all…and NOW!!

I’ve recently had subdomains rank with geographical targeting turned on and in the native language rank top 10 in 6 weeks. I’ve had brand new websites with the appropriate TLD’s (I.e. .nl, .de & .es) show up in 8 weeks. I’ve even had a .com hosted in the US without geographical targeting show up in the top 10 results for “Hollywood” terms when they had never been in results in the UK.

You can start with subdomains. Look at your log files to determine where the current traffic is coming from to tell you what to do first. Bounce rates can also tell you a lot.For example, if your secondary traffic source is Germany and you have a high bounce rate, start with a language-based subdirectory, then maybe move onto creating a subdomains, hosting it in Germany, then set the geographical targeting to Germany in Webmaster Central. Then go back and start all over again using the region that has the next highest contribution.

Important Things to Remember!

• To target a language using only subdirectories do not use geographic targeting

• You can target a language with both subdomains and subdirectories but if you have a

top-level TLD (.com) use subdirectories versus subdomains.

• You can use Google geographical targeting on subdomains and subdirectories

• Your title should be in the native language and/or use regional slang terms where

they apply.

• Use language-based meta tags whenever targeting language-based searches

• Host subdomains that are for geographical targeting in the target region

• When you implement the subdomain strategy, link to it from the original website

• Create new sitemaps for each subdomain

• When creating meta tags and content be sure to use native slang. (If you sold pants in the US and the UK. Pants are referred to as trousers. Sweaters are referred to as jumpers.

• Get back links from same TLD’s (get a .nl link to your .nl site in the native language)

• If you have a ccTLD (like .nl or .de) do not use geographical targeting. These domains are already associated with its designated region

TIP – In the past when you moved domains to a new host (or in this case Subdomains) it could take up to a week. Google WMC now has a tool that makes this almost instantaneous. Just get your ‘A’ address, move your content and any redirects from the parent site (Remember linking to the new subdomain from your parent site will pass nearly 100% of the PR, trust and authority, even though its seen and treated as a stand-alone website)

In a nutshell, I recommend that if you already have an existing website with a TLD like a .com or .cu.uk, and they are your target market, do not use the geographical targeting option. Start building subdirectories using the top native language determined by looking at Google Analytics or your log files. Identify your top referrer language. If the languages are close, as it the case between the US, UK, New Zealand and Australia, use native slang in the title, metatags and content. Build a new xml site map and manually submit it through all the main search engines.

The next step is to create a subdomain and get it hosted in the region that you are targeting. Build content in the native language and get r submit it, as well as setting up the geographical target in Webmaster Central.

By implementing this strategy, you will have a significant advantage over most of your competition (or a little less after this article is released).

Whether the search is initiated in the region or outside the region, whether your site is located in the region or just hosted there, or even if they search in the native language or manually enter a specific Google engine like Google.com.mx or Google.es, you will have improved saturation.

UPDATE - If you own a country specific ccTLD like .nl, .be or .ca, build this site as soon as possible. These are finally starting to outrank TLD’s like .com. In past issues of Top 12 Tips I recommended using TLD’s and subdomains. I still recommend subdomains but now ccTLD’s are finally coming to fruition in terms of Google’s past ccTLD prejudice and I said to be on the lookout for this. Well now its happening so get your ccTLD’s in order with some fresh content.

The easiest short-term solution until you can do it right is do buy a drupal or Joomla (or even WordPress for that matter) from Template Monster (under $100) and put an RSS feed, a phpBB forum and a blog in place to get it crawled regularly. Work on your permanent site and when you launch you can either use redirects or bolt it on to the site and benefit from any rankings/traffic plus get a head start as well. Also remember to link to it from your existing domain. This will give it a little push as well.

7. Canonicalisation

Because of development issues, server settings, programming platforms, and even natural site progression a site may have multiple version of a homepage or even an entire site. Let’s say you upgraded your site from an html site to a php site. Many times in the crossover pages are left on the server and are crawlable to the robots. These present several issues. You may have the same content and the new page never gets indexed. Links back to you may be to different versions. To mention just two of the most serious issues.

I’ve seen a website that had 8 individual and crawlable versions of their homepage live at the same time. This can reduce the strength of your page. (Ever see a site that has a lower homepage PR than an internal page?) The simplest and least painful way to fix this is with 301 redirects.

8. Links or Websites?

I have a lot to say about links, and since at least half of the questions I get in the forums, at conferences and from clients is about links, I’m guessing it’s what you are most interested in. So Google has said over and over not to buy links. If you do buy them then you have probably seen some damage, depending on your techniques.

Establishing what links to buy and where you buy them from has always been a bit speculative because everything from page size, site size, the number of other links, the quality of the links, the relevancy of the site and various other factors have affected what a link is actually worth. Then you had to deal with things like checking the integrity of the link was still intact, or even still there. There are dozens of tools out there that were built just for this purpose.

So what do you do? I had a look at all the different methods available and several are still effective (I.e. blog posting, blog rolls, establishing forum links, Yahoo Answers and so on) and in the end, what I’ve found is that the clear winner for my money is going out there, doing the homework and negotiation and actually buying sites. If I own the site then I also own the content, and more importantly the links I’ll put in the existing content. I’m looking for related content or a website with a silo of related content that I can take existing keyword phrases and change them into hyperlinks.

I usually look at the overall spend on “sponsorship – wink, wink” x 18, in order to establish a maximum offer. So if the total amount the client is spending on links is £1000 per month, I look to buy a site for up to £18k. Anyone that has looked around at brokerages that sell sites knows that £5k can buy you a lot, let alone £18k. Take into account the money saved on maintaining purchased “sponsorship” dues versus your campaign expectations. Outside of hosting and domain renewal you will own the links forever – they will never expire.

There are a few other factors to look at before buying a site;

• Domain Age – 2 years minimum unless other factors outweigh this factor

• Page Rank – yes it does matter when buying a site because it represents G-Trust

• Number of existing back links

• Quality of those back links and are they to any deep pages?

• How many pages are indexed with Google?

• Install McAfee Site Inspector on your computer. It will flag any issues to do with bad history, malware or any one of many other problems it may have

• Other pluses are host location vs. target location, the number of registrants of the domain, DMOZ listing and rankings. If it’s a forum, the number of active members and recent posts are important.

SEO Tips Part 4

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