Posts Tagged ‘international search review’

Search engine marketing in Malaysia – International search review issue number 7

August 1st, 2011

Reform has this week published the latest paper in its international search review series. Continuing the focus on markets in Southeast Asia, this instalment looks at the internet and search market of Malaysia.

With internet penetration increasing from 15% in 2000 to 59% in 2009, it’s clear that there has been significant change in this country’s technological outlook over the last decade.

This is another market where Google has consolidated its dominance of the search engine arena, growing its share from 51% in 2008 to 85% in 2011.

The increase in internet penetration (16,902,600 internet users as of June 2009) has occurred in spite of the fact that the quality of the broadband in Malaysia is still rated as ‘poor’. This, combined with a growing number of increasingly sophisticated mobile devices, has led analysts to believe that mobile search will become ever more important in this market.

Advances in mobile technologies can also be looked to as the facilitators for the phenomenal popularity of social media sites in Malaysia. This is a country that has Facebook penetration of 88.4%, and which accounts for .47% of Twitter’s world voice.

Since 2009 the number of Malaysian web users using social media to keep in touch with family has increased to 71%.

To find out more about the search market landscape in Malaysia, download a copy of the review – and let us know any comments or feedback that you might have. You can also download past issues of the International Search Review to see what we discovered about Chinese internet development and the Russian search behaviour evolution amongst other things.

Contact us and we’ll send you the next issue of our International Search Review before anyone else.

Blog post by Juliette van Rooyen, Consultant at Reform.

Search Engine Marketing in Japan – International Search Review Issue Number 5

February 17th, 2011

Reform published the fifth installment in its “International Search Review” series this week. After venturing all the way to Google friendly India in our previous review, this time we decided to mix things up a bit and check out the land of the rising sun… Japan.

It’s currently the third largest economy in the world but many western businesses find entering into the Japanese marketplace difficult (just ask Facebook). Yet the potential of the Japanese market makes it a worthwhile goal for companies focused on a global presence. With over 94 million people online, Japan also has the third largest population of internet users in the world. This translates into a high amount of paid advertising and PPC ads. In this International Search Review, we break down how the Japanese marketplace can prove difficult for foreign businesses and why it’s worth the effort.

Key stats and findings to take from our review of Japan search market include:

  • This is a market with a broadband penetration of 75%.
  • 90% of all Japanese have a cell phone and 40% of them use their mobile to surf the web.
  • Mobile usage is growing faster than regular internet use.
  • With Google’s partnership with Yahoo! Japan, they now control the organic search results for 84% of the market.
  • Differences in alphabet can create problems in keyword usage.
  • Mixi, not Facebook, dominates the social media marketplace but Twitter has shown that a western brand can be effective.

 

To find out more about the search marketing landscape in Japan, download a copy of the white paper here – and let us know any comments/feedback. Contact us, and we’ll send you the next issue of our International Search Review before anyone else.

Blog post by Matt Dorville, SEO Strategist at Reform

Update on International Search Review 4 – India

December 28th, 2010

Well, our review on the Search Market in India was the fourth in our series of International Search Reviews from Reform. It was an interesting piece, but I figured the best way to learn how the market really works and to generate insight is to actually go there (for a holiday of course). So here are some things that I inadvertently learned while in India, from a search and web perspective.

Things I learned in India:

1) The Market – As we’ve all been hearing, India is a market that’s barely tapped when it comes to internet usage, and the online population is set to explode, like it has in China.

Now that I’ve been there, I’m not sure if I agree 100%. While things like food and transportation were much cheaper in India than in the west, broadband was actually pretty much the same price as in the west, if not more expensive in some places. Many “offers” were still in the 15-45 dollar per month range, at the very least.

Considering that buying a home is significantly cheaper in India and an average salary is about $3.5k (though figures online do vary quite a bit, so to put it in perspective, some of the top jobs in India are in IT and they still make under 10k USD on average), broadband is proportionately an expensive offering and only for the well off. And from being outside the major cities part of the time, it felt even more far fetched (mainly because broadband was not available everywhere yet).

Though I did see a fair few billboards advertising “high speed internet access coming soon”. So at least it will be an option outside the major cities soon.

2) Google Billboards – Speaking of billboards. Google buys billboard advertising spaces on the highways of Delhi. However it took a few passes to realise it was a Google advertisement, and considering how manic the traffic is in India, with constant horns blaring and cars cutting in from all angles in their attempt to convert a three lane road into eight lanes – I doubt anyone even notices it.

Plus, they probably shouldn’t encourage speed on these roads anyway. By that I mean, the ad is for Google Chrome and it’s mainly a picture of a Windows-esque folder that says “Install Speed” on it – with Chrome’s logo in the bottom right corner. Google does dominate the search market here, perhaps because the search market is mainly those who are quite internationally savvy to begin with. Ask the regular people on the street and some of them will have no idea who Google is.

So putting an ad up that is mainly for people who already know who you are is a bit misleading.  The ad looked too subtle perhaps.  Where as every other ad on the road had the brand name in big letters, pushing the big brand name as much as it can.

3) Use PPC and Affiliate Networks To Make Money At Home! – I did manage to get a camera shot of this (shown below), seen all over trains and lampposts especially in Mumbai. Yes, perhaps some of the stereotypes are true unfortunately. Just click away on affiliates, fill surveys, click PPC ads, enter data, etc and make money at home! Ezeeincome.com was one of several sites advertising here, the shot above was from an “economy car” in one of Mumbai’s overland trains, which were busy as expected, but still worth using, though perhaps not during rush hour.

Beyond search, big name sites like TripAdvisor.in will “reimburse” you for reviews, with credits and vouchers one can use elsewhere.  On a computer in India, I saw a pop-up saying I could earn money with each review made on tripadvisor.in, but taking a screenshot was the last thing I was thinking of at that moment (plus it wasn’t my computer!).

4) Mobile Phones – The government is discussing a national broadband plan for the coming years. But with current offerings costing a fair portion of many people’s monthly salary – hopeful predictions like http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/infotech/internet/237-mn-internet-users-in-India-by-2015-Report/articleshow/6479094.cms are still far away. However, mobile broadband will make it much more possible.

Everyone seemed to have a mobile phone out there. Some looked like the one I had ten years ago. But I also saw many phones that were perhaps newer than my current phone. Even outside the cities, I saw kids calling and texting away – while piled on a 3 seater vehicle that had more than ten people in it, so this is definitely a market ready for mobile broadband. But 3G mobile broadband is not readily available yet, especially outside the big cities.

So why the big mobile takeup? Well, it doesn’t require a full computer, and it’s cheaper. Basic plans started from under $6 per month, with text messages costing less than two pennies. Calls were also about one cent a minute. But again, adding wireless internet access to the mobile phone was expensive. And 3G wireless access is just being launched – so even though many people had 3G compatible phones, they were using them for traditional means such as phone calls! Chances are the mobiles might have came with the plans, as the actual mobile device costs are again similar to that in the west, which means too expensive for most.

Articles like http://www.domain-b.com/industry/telecom/20101227_mobile_network.html are perhaps misleading. Yes, there are more mobile phone subscribers and their phones are connected to a wireless network, but the network is not necessarily one with any real internet access, let alone 3G. Major provider Tata only launched 3G in November 2010, while Airtel delayed their launch till 2011.

So will people be using their 3G phone for things like video chats and internet access when ready? Not if the Indian government have any say, as they look to delay plans further – http://www.slashgear.com/india-faces-3g-data-video-call-ban-over-real-time-security-fears-22120687/

On a side note, I didn’t see a single iPhone.  Everyone had Nokias!  I even looked this up when I got back and turns out that most of the top phones in India are in fact Nokias and iPhones are not nearly as popular here.  There’s an interesting report by Google/Admob at http://metrics.admob.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/AdMob-Mobile-Metrics-May-10.pdf if you’re interested in more details.

Summary – Is India a booming market with loads of potential in the internet marketplace? Yes. But it might take a little longer than expected before it fully expands across the country’s population.

How does it look today? Take a look at our India search market review (with downloadable PDF). Or view information about other countries in our series of international search market reviews. Thanks again to all those who commented and gave us feedback and help in 2010, Issue five of our series is set for release in early 2011.

Search Engine Marketing in Korea – International Search Review Issue 3

June 18th, 2010

Reform continues on its world tour with issue number three of the “International Search Review.” After the first two issues covered China and Russia, this one looks at a search market that many western marketers struggle to decipher. Download a copy of the full “Korea Search Review” issue here.

South Korea (like China and Russia) is another one of the top ten markets in the world when it comes to internet population and is a market that adapted broadband faster than most western markets – to the point where viewing TV via the internet is far from a new thing. TV might also be the last chance for Google to crack this market, as rumours circulate about Samsung and Google partnering on a TV and mobile internet service – and “mobile search” usage being something that Naver may be a step behind on.

Still, Naver and Daum are the main search engines in South Korea, and SEO in this market is much less of a consideration for marketers here. For one, SEO is not nearly as important – taking up only a small portion of a search engine’s results. At the same time, it’s not nearly as advanced either, as engines like Naver opt to fill the results with links to their own sites, along with various different types of PPC and paid placements listings. Users are content with this, showing a brand loyalty that reflects in browser usage too (Internet Explorer has a 98% share in this market), thus making the chance of changing user preference even slimmer.

Yahoo!/Overture Search Marketing provides the only real opportunity for western marketers to partake in PPC here (though local sites are still given some priority), while SEO has little to do with tags, content and link strength, but more to do with saturation such as via social media and user generated content.

South Korea is also a big market when it comes to online communities, such as gaming and social networks. Over 90% of South Koreans in their twenties have accounts in CyWorld (the biggest social network in Korea), while Facebook and MySpace have failed to crack the market at all. CyWorld has also become a place where companies effectively promote products, including via endorsements that fans can integrate with.

Download a copy of the full “South Korea Search Review” issue here

Key findings in the document include:

- Search engine usage: Naver 77%, Daum 11%, Yahoo 5%, Google 2% (source: Nielsen, Jan 2010)

- 37.5 million internet users (source: Internet World Stats)

- 95% broadband penetration (source: Arstechnica, 2009)

- South Korea’s two main search engines Naver and Daum have inspired a lot of recent western search engine innovation, such as Yahoo! Answers and Google Universal Search, though both engines serve search results that are predominantly paid links and their own sites.

- South Korean search users demonstrate a different attitude to those in the west; users in South Korea anticipate that their search engine knows what they are looking for, and will find it for them, where as western searchers are more ‘DIY’ and use search engines as tools to find something for themselves.

- Commercial or paid-for search coverage is prevalent in this market. Natural search plays little or no role in this market.

Reform also works with sites that are looking for a global SEO strategy in markets such as Korea. The England 2018 Bid website at www.england2018bid.com recently expanded content across various markets, including Korea.

Search result in Daum

As a result, we are now a featured result in natural search there (result in Daum search shown above) and the England 2018 site appears for Korean language variations of “world cup”, making it the second most common language for search traffic on the site in June 2010 so far (after English).

To get more details on this and everything else, download a copy of the full issue – and let us know any comments/feedback. Contact us, and we’ll get the next issue out to you before anyone else gets it.

Update – Latest news shows that Daum is closing the gap on Naver, with various sources cited at http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/tech/2010/07/133_69058.html

Also, at the end of June, Google launched Korean voice search – http://googleresearch.blogspot.com/2010/06/google-launches-korean-voice-search.html

While the reviews on how well Google voice search works on your mobile (don’t try using it anywhere loud for instance, such as outdoors) have been mixed, moves like this at least help to give Google some channel that they have a slight advantage on (Google Korea is pushing mobile co-branding as a way to get in this market), so it is something to keep an eye on.

Blog post by Niall Madden, Director at Reform

Looking Into China’s Search Market & Social Networking Usage

January 7th, 2010

To kick off the new year, Reform is releasing the first of several in a series of their “International Search Reviews”.  The first one concentrates on the search market in China, which is rapidly evolving as we speak – even in the past week or so, where we’ve seen Microsoft announce how its making the market a major priority for 2010 – and how they plan on trying to get a better understanding of what Chinese users need.  Download a copy of the full “China Search Review” issue here (updated 13/01/10 with recent info regarding Google’s threat to leave the Chinese market).

And lets not forget Baidu’s announcement earlier this week to team up with Providence Equity Partners, who are an investor in U.S. video-viewing site Hulu – as they look to make a move in the online video marketplace.

We felt that the International Search Review series would be a good way to consolidate research and our own insight into these markets – and also helps answer the many questions people have when trying to find out the market share in China, the user internet population, or the effect of mobile search and social networking in China, the latter of which has proven not only profitable, but to be a lot different than how we may perceive it in the west.   For example – we look at how Social Networks in China have found a way to become profitable, without relying on advertising, and how the reasons users go on to social networks are quite different than why people in the UK or US might do so.

The SEO and PPC insights about China takes a look at Baidu’s natural search algorithm, along with their recent change of handling paid search campaigns – via their “Phoenix Nest” platform, along with how search works in the Chinese market, and local perceptions about what SEO and PPC are in the first place.  For example, “paid placements” were considered part of SEO.

We also look at what might lie ahead for this market in 2010, as big brands and technologies from the west focus stronger on what is now the biggest internet market in the world.

Of course, if you just want the stats, we’ve got that too - here’s some recent stats about search usage in China.

Baidu 64% / Google 21% / Others 15% (China Daily)

Baidu 62% / Google 29% / Bing 1% (Analysys International)

Baidu 76% / Google 20% / Yahoo & Bing 1% (Comscore – July 2009)

360,000,000 Internet users as of Sept, 09 and only a 25% estimated broadband penetration.

To get more details on this and everything else, download a copy of the full issue here – and let us know any comments / feedback.   Contact us, and we’ll get the next issue out to you before anyone else gets it!

You can also leave a comment below.

Blog post by Niall Madden, SEO Director of Reform