Global Search Integration: Yes We Can
by Aaron Goldman , Wednesday, January 21, 2009  OBAMA'S INAUGURATION GOT ME THINKING about how much work the U.S. has to do to improve its standing internationally -- and all the hurdles in its way. It's not unlike the laundry-list of challenges that search marketers face when trying to centrally manage global search programs from the States.
Here are some of the key differences that make international search integration difficult:
1. Search Engines - While the Big 3 dominate worldwide --- especially in the U.S. and Europe --- some countries have local engines boasting top share of market: e.g., Yandex in Russia, Baidu in China and Naver in South Korea. Accordingly, there are different algorithms, ad specs, and T&Cs to consider. Even the Big 3 have different contacts and agency incentives in various regions.
2. Language - Search marketing is word play at its highest level. The nuances of various languages complicate matters like keyword selection and ad copy development. For example, German words often carry long compounds, rendering keyword insertion strategies moot.
3. Culture - People in different countries use search engines differently. Fellow Search Insider Gord Hotchkiss shared some interesting findings about how searchers on Baidu scan the SERPs in a scattershot fashion versus the golden triangle that ruled Google prior to universal search.
4. Audience - The global search audience is quite diverse, and the almighty post-search sales conversion is often tied to economic fortunes. Not every country is stuck in a recession like the U.S. Accordingly, conversion rates will vary widely from market to market.
5. Currency - Speaking of the economy and conversion rates, currency conversion rates are always changing. This makes it tough to benchmark costs from one country to the next, much less manage a global search marketing budget.
6. Search Interfaces - Broadband and mobile penetration skew regionally and, in turn, so does search activity. For example, Asia Pacific boasts more mobile searches due to more advanced handsets.
7. Marketing Organizational Structures - Many global corporations have decentralized marketing communications teams and multiple regional agencies, making it difficult to rally stakeholders around common objectives.
8. Goals - With marketing teams fractionalized and consumer awareness levels ranging by region, it's not uncommon to have different markets managing to different goals: e.g., demand gen in EMEA, and brand awareness in APAC.
9. Regulations - The oft- cited issues of censorship in China is one example of how local government regulation can thwart the best-laid plans of mice and search marketers.
Some Assembly Required
Just as Obama had to put together the right Cabinet to carry out his agenda, so, too, search marketers must commandeer the right resources to overcome the hurdles to global search integration. Here are some places to turn:
1. Internal Champions - Find the person or team in the marketing organization that can take the business case to the C-Suite for centralizing global search strategy and budgeting. Show the efficiencies that consolidated management, shared learnings and cross-market optimization can have. Then it becomes easy (OK, easier) to take a portfolio approach to search, with each region managed to a goal that's a subset of the overall objectives. Some countries can be more branding-focused, others held to strict ROI metrics so long as the overall portfolio is hitting corporate goals.
2. In-Market Experts - Beg, borrow, and steal, if you must, but find a way to procure in-market resources to translate the global search vision into the realities of each region. It's impossible to effectively manage search in different regions without feet on the street that know the market intimately.
3. Agencies - Some search agencies have resources in all the major regions across the globe (or access to local resources via holding company networks) and are well-practiced at setting strategy globally and executing locally. Some also have workflow tools that standardize processes across regions.
4. Search Engines - The Big 3 have tools like Google Insights that can provide country-level trends. They also have translation tools that can be helpful in a pinch -- but be careful not to confuse translation with regionalization. Finally, if your spend is large enough, or you work with a big agency, the engines can provide dedicated global account management teams to support your program.
5. Bid and Campaign Management Technology Tools - Some ( non-commoditized ) tools like Kenshoo are built for multi-region programs and have features to standardize currencies, build campaigns to different engine specs, suggest keywords in various languages, optimize based on different engine algos, etc.
6. Systems-Integration Platforms - Technologies like Covario can suck in data from all the various sources in play and give you one worldwide dashboard to monitor.
Change We Can Believe In
Remember, while democracy may not be universal, search is. Per TNS, search is the most frequent online activity worldwide, with 81% of Internet users using a search engine to find information.
The key to success for global search marketers is not to fall into the ethnocentric trap of assuming that what works here can work everywhere. Surround yourself with an army of international search advocates and weapons of mass centralization -- and you can bring about the change that your organization has been striving for.  | Aaron Goldman is a consultant at Resolution Media, an Omnicom Media Group Company. Resolution Media helps marketers connect their brands to their audience through queries. Aaron blogs at DigitalSeaChange.com and GoodURLBadURL.com and can be reached at AGoldman@ResolutionMedia.com. |
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