What’s New in Marketing for August 2014?

The latest changes to the Facebook algorithm [@SmartInsights alert]

Google ends Authorship functionality [@SmartInsights alert]

Google AdWords changes match type criteria [@SmartInsights alert]

“Close variant” keyword matching to become default by end September can increase clicks by 7% on average

Importance: ★★★★ (If you’re not already using this feature)

Recommended link: AdWords official announcement

Context for the change to match types

The Match types advertisers use in AdWords are important since they control whether relevant ads are displayed to searchers based on the keywords they type. This in turn affects the clickthrough rates, Quality Score and the ROI you get on your campaigns.

Here’s a reminder of the main match types from iProspect:

What is the change?

In their announcement, Google explain that starting in late September, they’re applying close variant keyword matching to all exact and phrase match keywords. Previously it was possible to opt-out of these.

Close keyword variations include Close variations include misspellings, singular and plural forms, acronyms, stemmings (such as floor and flooring), abbreviations, and accents.

Google gives this example:

“Whether it’s “kid scooters”, “kid’s scooter”, or “kids scooters”, people interested in buying a scooter for their child want to see the most relevant ads despite slight variations in their search query”.

Implications for Marketers

Whether this is relevant to you as an AdWords advertiser and whether you need to discuss with your agency or search specialists depends on whether you have opted out of using close keyword variations previously.

Google estimates that this technique drives an average of 7% more exact and phrase match clicks with comparable clickthrough and conversion rates, so if you’re not using it already it’s a technique we thought worth alerting readers about.

Google also mention a new keyword matching whitepaper which could be worth downloading if you’re not fully up-to-speed on keyword matching.

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Should you act on Google’s new HTTPS ranking signal? [@SmartInsights alert]

5 reasons why migrating all site pages may be a bad idea

Importance: ★ (Signal currently affects only 1% of queries)

Recommended link: Google Webmaster Blog announcement

You will know that Google uses hundreds of ranking signals to return the most relevant results for a search, plus many filters to remove spammy or duplicate results too. But it’s rare for Google to announce what these are or to disclose new signals. So, the recent announcement from the Google Webmaster Blog that use of a HTTPS (HTTP Secure) will be used as a positive ranking signal prompted many, particular retailers who will already use HTTP Secure in checkout, to take notice. Google’s precise words were:

“Over the past few months we’ve been running tests taking into account whether sites use secure, encrypted connections as a signal in our search ranking algorithms.

We’ve seen positive results, so we’re starting to use HTTPS as a ranking signal”.

You may be wondering what HTTPS is? From a user point-of-view, it’s what we see as a padlock in the browser bar when we’re on a secure page like a checkout page. From a technical point of view it uses a security certificate to authenticate a website and encrypt communications between server and client – Wikipedia has full details.

I’ve been discussing the relevance of this for Smart Insights with Stuart Miller our CTO and we think no since we already use secure HTTPS for signup and payment pages and the risks of implementing it across all site pages look to high. The reasons are:

• 1. The signal only affects 1% of user queries according to the Google announcement. And we don’t know whether these relate to us, so the ““up side” seems small. I haven’t seen which type of queries discussed. Does anyone have any thoughts on types of queries?


• 2. Loss of ranking due to 301 redirects. We would need to redirect our existing HTTP pages to HTTPS since they are separate pages as far as Google is concerned. Since Google doesn’t now flow all of the authority for a page to a redirected page this looks like a risk to lose traffic.


• 3. You have to make sure all assets are secure. Each asset such as image also needs to be reassigned. If you use absolute rather than relative URLs that may cause some problems or at least redirects. Barry Schwartz on Search Engine Roundtable summarizes:
  
  

  
  

  “You need to test and then test, to make sure the HTTPS certificate doesn’t show errors to your users. There can be images, videos, and third-party includes that need to be adapted on the pages to ensure that it doesn’t give the user a security warning”.

  
  

  
  

  So that’s time consuming and could affect the user experience and conversion.

  
  


• 4. SSL certificates have a fee. Secure sites will already have these, but other types of sites will have to pay for them.


• 5. Pages may load more slowly. This isn’t significant (300ms in one test on this useful G+ thread by Google’s John Mueller), but ironic since Google is always telling us to take care of page load times which is also a signal.

So that’s how we see it. “No way”” currently, but one to watch for the future. What about you? I hope this summary helps you if you’re discussing making this change for your site or clients.

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Reviewing and improving your digital capabilities

How to simplify the website localisation process

How to simplify your website localisation project

A decade or two ago the extent of most business’s online strategies would have been whether or not to bother having a website. Now there are all sorts of things to consider, from social media marketing to optimising for mobile and, if you are looking to reach an international audience, localising your website.

Localisation can be a huge project but there are ways to simplify the process. It can also be hugely important when it comes to reaching new markets. The World Wide Web theoretically puts the whole world at your fingertips but in practice there are cultural and linguistic barriers to overcome.

There’s a temptation to think that a single English language website will suffice but numerous studies have shown this is not the case. A survey by Eurobarometer found that only 18% of EU internet users who visited foreign language (typically English) websites said they would frequently buy online in a language other than their own. A more recent survey by independent researchers Common Sense Advisory, meanwhile, found that more than half (55%) of international consumers only bought from websites where information was presented in their own language. For some nationalities, such as the Japanese, this rose to 70%.

Design with localisation in mind

It can greatly simplify your future efforts if you design your website with localisation in mind from the ground up. Keep the bulk of your content relatively simple to allow for easier translation later. This includes avoiding specific cultural references, humour and images that would not necessarily translate. This doesn’t mean you should stay away from such content entirely – you want your site to be engaging to whichever audience is viewing it – but these elements should form the peripheries to a simple core message.

In design terms, some tools are better suited to adapting your website at a later time. Using cascading style sheets (CSS), for example, allows you to keep your design elements separate from your content. This means you can switch out translated content without having to redesign each page from scratch. You will also need a flexible character encoding tool such as Unicode UTF-8, which can handle non-Latin scripts such as Hebrew or Arabic, as well as incorporating ‘non-standard’ Latin characters such as the German Ä, Ö, Ü and ß.

If you already have an English language website it can be just as time-consuming to internationalise it retroactively. Creating a single versatile template can save you time and effort in the long run however. Even if you are only looking to localise for one or two target markets initially, an internationalised main site can give you the flexibility to expand to new markets in the future.

Choose your markets

Full localisation is a major undertaking and it usually makes sense to limit your efforts at first. Google Analytics can let you see the geographical spread of your existing visitors but thorough market research is also essential before making such a commitment.

It’s worth noting that some languages can help you make inroads into several different countries and territories. French, for example, is used by large populations in Canada, Belgium, Monaco and Luxembourg, as well as former French colonies in Africa and Southeast Asia while Arabic is widely used throughout North Africa and the Middle East.

It’s possible to target your efforts by language but there are usually linguistic and cultural differences between individual countries, even when they share a common language. Targeting individual countries through Google Webmasters Geotargeting will allow you much greater freedom to tailor your content and specific keywords to those particular markets. You can also boost your SEO and give your localised site a more genuinely local feel by hosting it on a country-code top level domain, such as .fr for France.

Localise your content

The most important part of the process is to make sure your website is useful, relevant and engaging to your new target market. If the bulk of your original content is kept relatively simple and universal the translation process will be simplified. Working with native speaking translators you should also be able to add a more local feel to your website, including cultural references where they are relevant. Good translators can also help you to avoid any unintentional cultural faux pas and make sure that the whole website scans naturally for your audience. You should also ensure that elements such as currencies and time and date formats are correct.

Your localised websites do not need to mirror your core English language website exactly. They need to provide the visitor with everything they need but some content is more luxury than necessity. You might feel it important to have your company history, mission statement and a ‘meet the team’ section on your main website but you might not need to recreate these pages on multiple localised sites.

Identifying influencers can be a lot of hard work, especially as new influencers constantly appear while others fade away. But it can be worth the effort, as reaching out to a relatively small group of key people could have a major knock-on effect to your marketing campaigns.

Thanks to Christian Arno for sharing his thoughts and opinions in this blog post. Christian is the Managing Director of Lingo24. You can connect on Google+ or Twitter @Lingo24 .

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