launching in a new market: seo challenges and checklist (cuponation) - smx munich 2015...
TRANSCRIPT
What’s this session about?
Launching in a new Market: SEO
Challenges and Checklist
Head of SEO
Rahul Gupta
@rpgupta87
Highlights from CupoNation
CupoNation facts:
● Active in 15 markets with 30+ platforms● 20,000 vouchers and deals published on CupoNation
websites● Approx. 200 employees● 40+ SEO employees
2012
Poland
Brazil
India
2013
Germany
Austria
Norway
Sweden
Finland
France
Italy
Spain
Russia
2014
Australia
Singapore
Switzerland
Capable of launching a platform in a new market within 2 weeks!
How do we do it?
Target Audience
Target Channels
Content for Users
Smaller onsite elements
Technical SEO
Teams & Processes
Segmentation & Processes
Before we proceed, remember this...
What & Why
How do we do it?
Target Audience
Target Channels
Content for Users
Smaller onsite elements
Technical SEO
Teams & Processes
Know your audience before they arrive
Consumer behaviour in your new market
First impression matters
How do we do it?
Target Audience
Target Channels
Content for Users
Smaller onsite elements
Technical SEO
Teams & Processes
Select the right traffic channels
Be focused rather than Omnipresent
Platform optimized
Find your local Influencers
Reach out to the experts in your niche
Hire a local PR/SEO agency
Competitor’s Backlink Profile
Look into competitors’ backlinks
Low hanging fruits
Influencers, publishers & communities
How do we do it?
Target Audience
Target Channels
Content for Users
Smaller onsite elements
Technical SEO
Teams & Processes
Content creation: In-house Vs Outsource
What?1. Determine resource requirement for your content creation
process2. Complete the keyword research inhouse3. Assess several content agencies in the local market
Avoid1. Working with freelancers or agencies that use article
spinning tools2. Writers who are not located in your market3. Content creators that are not affiliated with your niche4. Allocating the content creation task to in-house employees
who have no expertise in storytelling5. Be aware of spelling versions for different countries (English
in UK Vs USA) + use of transliterations
How do we do it?
Target Audience
Target Channels
Content for Users
Smaller onsite elements
Technical SEO
Teams & Processes
Prioritize & bundle your products
Use external sources to prioritize
Site Structure & Indexation logic
What sets you apart from the rest?
Use onsite space efficiently
Work on your USPs
Display legal elements & local trust badges
Why?1. Gain trust of your local audience2. Provide better UX, by not displaying unnecessary legal elements3. Avoid penalties from local authorities
What?1. Research about the must required legal elements on website2. Read the local online marketing laws & take necessary actions. eg: register
your contests with authorities3. Also, research about the dos & don'ts in the new market to avoid being
misinterpreted or hurt local sentiments
Stock photos are stock photos!
Give your company a local face (no stock photos!)
How do we do it?
Target Audience
Target Channels
Content for Users
Smaller onsite elements
Technical SEO
Teams & Processes
Do you need to automate anything?
Evaluate & identify repetitive tasks
Automate heavy tasks before launch
Technical SEO checks & monitoring tools
Technical SEO checks• Site crawl errors & Broken links• Internal duplicate content• Meta title & meta desc errors• Duplicate content (with competitors and also with
your other country sites) & href lang• Buy domains with variations of your brand name
locally, geotargeting, hrefs• Social media pages created & contact details
updated• robots.txt, sitemaps, check outgoing links• Indexation, Internal linking, canonicals• Image alt text, Image rights, Image size• No content or link cloaking• Emulate different browsers (research which
devices are used widely in your new market)• Block bad/scraper bots• Page speed
Monitoring tools
• Google Analytics/ Additional traffic data
tools
• WMT (for all search engines & for all
variations of your site)
• Pingdom / Webpagespeed accounts
• Third party conversion optimization
scripts
• Keyword rankings
• Monitor your competitor’s website
design changes (wayback machine),
subscribe to all competitor social media
pages & newsletters
• Google alerts for your & competitor’s
brand name
How do we do it?
Target Audience
Target Channels
Content for Users
Smaller onsite elements
Technical SEO
Teams & Processes
Teams & Processes
IT Team
Design
Team
SEO & Content Team
Project
Manager
Business
Manager
Teams & Processes
IT
Team
Design
Team
SEO & Content
Team
Project
Manager
Business
Manager
1. Templates
2. Guidelines
3. Roadmap
4. Alignment Method
5. Quality Checks
6. Sign Offs
7. Launch (Yeahh!)
Teams & Processes
SEO & Content
Team
Content Writer Technical SEOOutreach
responsible
Define your 6 monthly goals Basic KPIs for target setting
• Brand search volume
• Organic traffic
• Leads
• Community members
• PR mentions/links
• Onsite Content
• Bounce rates
Lastly, don’t forget to set goals!
In next 6 months, I want
to be mentioned in the
top 10 consumer
magazines of Asia!
Find the detailed Checklist here (with helpful resources)
http://bit.ly/1BGOITI
Final checklist
Target Audience
Target Channels
Content for Users
Smaller onsite elements
Technical SEO
Teams & Processes
And thats how we launch websites in CupoNation ;)
Thank you for being an amazing audience!Questions?
CupoNation Selfie, Munich Office (HQ) The “Wall of Flags” at CupoNation
Additional Slides
Additional Slides
Google Consumer Survey
Consumer Barometer tool
Collect keyword ideas from1. Brainstorming2. Google adwords/ Google suggest3. Competitor’s keywords (Traffic data - Similarweb; Ranking data - Searchmetrics;
Anchor text data - Majestic)
What to consider1. Calibrate your perception about intention of user by checking the websites already
ranking for your selected keywords2. Anticipate CTRs for top 5 positions of a keyword type to draw a realistic traffic
estimation (do not be blinded by search volumes alone)3. Singular/Plural/Synonyms/Stop words/Long tails - All possible variations!4. Most recent search volumes instead of standard last 12 months average
Keyword research
Google Trend data
Right keyword selection
Select right language versionsWhy?
1. Different spelling versions of the same word can show
different results in google
2. Displaying wrong spelling versions of common words on your
site can impact user trust
Be aware of the spelling versions
CupoNation: USPs displayed to consumers
Use trust signs familiar to users
Reflect local sentiments within your design
GoalAvoid confusion or misinterpretation of your brand in the new
culture
What?1. Research about the dos and don'ts within the culture of
your new market2. Conduct survey with test subjects to evaluate your design,
fonts, colours
Go for local SEO/PR/Digital agencies
Why?
1. Local firms can give you consultation regarding stories you can tell in the market and also help you
understand the user behaviour in the market
2. Introduce your brand to local opinion leaders, evaluate your content plan, give you insights about
local events (calendar)
Give your company a local face
Why?1. Goes a long way in terms of relevancy & trust factor for your content
What?1. Use local country relevant images on website2. Show that you are global with subtle hints - International team
section, flags of other countries where you are present3. Avoid using generic stock photos, rather invest in good photoshoots
which tell the story of your brand
Launch with good PR/Social Media effort
List of Journalists/Influencers
Prepare pre-launch teaser content
Create buzz around your launch!