360DigitalInfluence

Today I had a chance to catch up with Anne F. Kennedy of Beyond Ink, who’s going to be moderating a panel about global search marketing trends at SES Chicago. Anne’s been a search maven for ten plus years and serves on the Search Engine Strategies advisory board.

Also, for any last-minute attendees, SES Chicago provided me with a discount code to share that’s worth 20% off your registration fee. Enter the code  20SEOPR on the SES Chicago registration page.

Anne F. Kennedy
Managing Partner and Founder
Beyond Ink

 
Q:   You are moderating the “Search Around the World: Europe, Asia/Pacific & Latin America” session on Day One of SES Chicago. What are some of the topics you’ll be covering during this session?

A:   We’ve been presenting this panel at every SES this year, including overseas. In it we have given a quick overview of search engine marketing in other countries. For Chicago, we will be covering BRIC, not the kind you build with, but the emerging markets in Brazil (and Latin America) Russia, India and China, as well as established markets in Europe, Japan and Korea. Our focus is always on what it takes to succeed in search in other countries – not always the same factors as the US/UK markets. We will go around the world in 60 minutes, faster than Phineas Fogg, and even a speeding bullet!

Q:   In the U.S., search is such a central part of the online experience for most Internet users. How similar or different are Europe, Asia/Pacific and Latin America?

A:   As different as each individual culture, and that can be significantly different from what we are accustomed to in the US. The principle differences include the acceptance and indeed popularity of paid search results in some countries, as well as the greater use of mobile phones for searches instead of PC’s. One more big difference is Google’s share of market; the most popular Search engine in the US has stiff competition from locally popular media, and in some countries, Yahoo has a larger market share than Google.
Q:   From an organic search and pure visibility perspective, how important is having a presence in social media in Europe, Asia/Pacific and Latin America?

A:  Social media use is on the rise around the world, but almost exclusively for keeping up with friends, family and community. The notion of “having a presence” in a marketing sense, is not fully realized outside the US. So, it would be as important as it is in the US, if it were possible to have it, which it doesn’t appear to be at this time. (Confused? Welcome to the world of global social media marketing!)
Q:   Could you share 3 blogs, communities, Twitter users or Web sites that you follow to stay ahead of trends in International search marketing?

A:   To be honest, there isn’t much out there, which is a situation we hope to change soon. The best information I get comes in the form of original research by local country search marketers, who are on the ground doing search in countries other than the US. These are the people we have brought in for this panel; they all a have direct country experience and will share insights they have gained over the years.
Q:   If you were to define 2-3 key trends that will emerge over the next year with respect to global search marketing, what would they be?

A:   Mobile devices will continue to grow faster than PC’s as search access tools. Each country’s own search engine will retain and increase market dominance (sorry Google!). Paid results will continue to have greater acceptance overseas than among US users.