International Business and Technology Blog

More frequently than ever, end customers as well as businesses start their product searches and procurement processes online. Search engines have become today’s marketplace, where customer demand meets supply. If you want to stand out amongst your competitors, you need to be visible online. You need to optimize your website for search engines.  

Google is the #1 search engine in the USA with a 67% share, and it dominates the European market. It boasts a 97% share in Poland, 96% share in Spain, 95% share in France and Italy, 93% share in Germany, and 89% share in the UK. See table at the bottom of the blog for more countries.

If you want to proactively march towards meeting your customers and potential distributors, we strongly recommend you follow Google guidelines for search engine optimization. However, optimizing your website for Google search engine does not mean optimizing it solely for google.com. Google.com is a US Google search engine, targeting American consumers and businesses, featuring offers of local products and services. Europeans, on the other hand, use their local search engines when searching online, e.g. google.co.uk in the UK, google.de in Germany and google.fr in France. Search results and ranking positions are unique on each of these local search engines. But don’t panic! Having a physical presence in a country is not necessary to be visible on a local search engine. The #1 factor is your website's language. You need to have country specific websites or at least landing pages for your main export markets (Check out our ebook Country specific websites in the UK, Germany and France for more information on how to build them).

When preparing content for your local websites, research which keywords or key phrases are frequently searched for by your local audience. Start with your product/service titles. Do not simply use the first translation suggested by your translator (who should be a native speaker!). Research synonyms and different variations to determine which translation will have the greatest potential to rank well. Google AdWords Keyword tool can show you search volumes for each alternative of your product/service title in a foreign language, specifically for your target country. Write rich, unique and value-adding product and service descriptions, naturally implementing your keywords in the text. Make sure you implement your keywords in the page title, headings, bold text, URL, image alt text, and other locations. When it comes to writing product descriptions, do not strictly stick to a list of bullet points with your product technical specifications and dimensions. A bit of context to your product will resonate well with search engines, and improve user experience for your potential customers. Describe the way your product could be used, its different applications, include customer reviews or case studies.

Another important factor that lets Google know you should appear in local search results is use of a local country code (e.g. de for Germany) in your top-level domain. The following options are possible: 1) domain, e.g. yourbusiness.de , 2) subdomain, e.g. de.yourbusiness.com, or 3) subdirectory, e.g. yourbusiness.com/de .

There are over 200 factors in the complex algorithm that determine your ranking position; creating high quality content is the first and most important step towards increasing your visibility online.

Read more in our ebook Optimizing websites for European search engines, including importance of social media, factors that could lower your ranking, and tips for search engine optimization in the UK, Germany and France. Or get in touch with us to discuss how we can help you build and optimize your European websites!

Source of statistics: Return On Now