Successful international keyword research goes well beyond just the language aspect. To take your business to a global level, you need to take a holistic approach to keyword research, encompassing language, culture and the various international search engines. This guide will go in depth into each of these three areas, arming you with the specialist knowledge you need to conduct high-quality international keyword research to supercharge your global digital marketing efforts.
Table of contents
- Introduction
- The 3D approach
- Culture: What people search for
- Language: How people search
- Search engine: Where people search
- Summary table
- Conclusion
Introduction
Let's imagine you have nailed down an exceptional set of keywords, your domestic market is thriving, and everything is running smoothly. Traffic is pouring in, your website is fully optimised, and your conversion rates are outperforming industry standards. Could this get any better? If you are in this position, it is probably time to move your product to new markets, building on this solid domestic success. It is time to go global!
Your keywords are working really well in your domestic market, and they form the cornerstones of your digital marketing campaigns, from search engine optimisation (SEO) and pay-per-click (PPC) advertising, to social media and content marketing. You can just use those same keywords in your new markets and Google Translate will work its magic, right?
Aha! A cyber snag. Even advanced machine translation cannot convert domestic success into international success (and yes, you can quote us on that!). Machine translation appeals to many for obvious reasons; much like a convenient kebab van on the way home from a night out, it is quick, cheap and easy. Sadly, similarly, the results can often be disappointing or even disastrous.
Keywords, much like the well-sourced and well-seasoned meat in a good-quality kebab, are the real secret ingredient to online marketing success. They must be researched from scratch, not simply translated from your domestic market. After all, merely copying the keywords you use in your domestic market is replicating a situation which may not exist internationally.
The 3D approach
Since we have established that translating keywords is unlikely to bring in the results you deserve, you are probably wondering how to go about researching keywords for international markets, and what the essential elements to consider are when undertaking this research.
Whilst there is no silver-bullet answer to such a question, we recommend adopting what we like to call the "3D approach". The 3D approach is a holistic, well-rounded and thorough way to go about the research phase which incorporates three equally important dimensions: the culture, the language, and the search engine.
This guide will address each of these dimensions in depth to explain why they are important for successful international keyword research.
Culture: What people search for
The social psychologist Geert Hofstede once famously said: "Culture is the collective programming of the mind distinguishing the members of one group or category of people from others." Most international marketers recognise the importance of culture in a business context, but does culture also impact the way people search? Yes, it does!
For example, Think with Google looked at the ways people search for products in different countries and found that:
- In the US, people tend to search for "best" and the product name.
- In China, people tend to search for the brand name and "official store".
- In Japan, people tend to search for brand names combined with descriptive keywords like "best price" or "discount".
- In Germany, people tend to search for product specifications.
- In India, people tend to search in a way that compares two different products.
Your culture:
- is the lens through which you see the world,
- defines the social structure of the environment in which you live,
- defines the etiquette,
- is something you have learnt from your environment, i.e. it is not innate...
...and people can only search for the things related to all of these factors.
It would be way too extensive to go into cultural differences and their impact on search patterns at the country level in this guide (Webcertain's online consumer behaviour report and The Culture Factor's country comparison tool are highly useful resources for getting an overview of how national cultures compare to one another). Instead, let's look at some examples that illustrate more broadly how culture can play a significant role in the way that people search.
Search differences between countries
Which bears the closest resemblance to the wooden cylinder in the middle of the below image: the cylinder made of blue composite to the left, or the rectangular piece made of wood to the right?
In this video (from 6:08 to 9:56), they asked Westerners and Easterners this very question, and it turns out the answer varies substantially depending on which group you ask.
Westerners usually focused more on the shape of an object rather than its substance and would overwhelmingly pick the cylinder made of blue composite, despite the fact the substance/material was different.
For Easterners, however, the substance overruled the shape. So, even though the shape differed, as was the case with the rectangular wooden block to the right, Easterners were much more likely to pick this over the cylinder made of blue composite.
Different countries can even have differences in the types of words they search for grammatically: nouns or verbs.
In the video, we see that a mother playing with her young child in the US typically tries to make the child describe what they are taking in their hands, such as a plastic spade or a bucket (nouns). On the other side of the world, however, a mother will try to make her child say what they want to do with the actual object: Cook? Sweep? Write? The action (verb) is privileged over the object (noun).
Now, you could be forgiven for thinking that we have completely lost the plot. After all, what on earth does this have to do with keyword research? Well, the following search volume comparison between Baidu (China/Simplified Chinese) and Google (United States/English) around the term "chair" should help validate its relevance to international keyword research.
In Google (United States/English settings), 60% of searches were about the shape/style of the chair.
However, the results in Baidu for the same term show a radically different pattern. In China, 40% of the top results were about generic keywords, followed by action keywords (i.e. what you want to do with the chair), a section which did not even feature in the US list.
If direct translation was a truly viable way to go about keywords, we would have equivalent search terms in Simplified Chinese, or, at the very least, identical keyword categories. However, as the results above show, the keywords that people search for are the work of culture, which serves as an evident illustration of the shortcomings of merely translating keywords.
Search differences within countries
Differences exist even within the same country. Let's assume for a second that you are a company selling pencils online and want to enter the French market. Pencils in French is "crayons"; however, this can refer to lead pencils and coloured pencils. Let's assume the company sells lead pencils only. In most parts of France, lead pencil is "crayon à papier". However, there is another term which also means lead pencil in French, "crayon de bois". This one is also widely used and is, in fact, the more popular version in some regions of France, as you can see in the map below. Thus, targeting only "crayons à papier" equals lost opportunities.
Now let's imagine you are a fizzy drinks brand that wants to target the US market. Which word would your American customers use to describe your product: pop, coke or soda? The answer might actually depend on where exactly in the US the customer is from, as this map of the US shows:
Language: How people search
Different languages obey different rules and these greatly impact the way people think, and therefore search. In this section, we will look at some of the most important linguistic aspects to take into account when conducting keyword research in foreign languages.
Transliteration
A question which is increasingly hitting our desks at Webcertain is: "Should we transliterate our brand and product names for greater success in China, South Korea and other countries using non-Latin characters?" However, before we look at some examples and answer that question, we first need to establish what is meant by transliteration.
It is, very simply, the mapping of characters in one language to those in another, to give the best representation of the word in the target language. Transliteration cases crop up when the alphabet is changing, like from Latin characters to Korean, Arabic, Japanese, Hindi, Greek, Thai, Hebrew, Traditional Chinese or Simplified Chinese.
As you will see below, considering the transliterated version of your brand name could help you significantly increase your search engine visibility, as well as make the right decisions in terms of product focus and budget allocation.
Let's look at an example. How do search volumes compare for the brand name "Adidas" compared to its transliterations in various non-Latin alphabet languages?
In the table above, you will spot two regions (Hong Kong and Greece) where the transliteration does not have an impressive search volume compared to the Latin version. As Hong Kong is a bilingual region where English is widely spoken, people tend to do their searches in Latin letters for international words. On the other hand, the situation in Greece is a bit different. In your Greek campaign, if you work with an experienced and skilled linguist, that person will tell you that the transliterated version of Adidas, "Αδιδασ", means "uneducated". In this case, as the transliterated version of the word might be misleading, people will deliberately use the Latin alphabet version of the brand name.
Bear in mind that transliteration can cause quite a few spelling mistakes. Including these misspellings in your PPC keyword list is required to reach the entire audience searching for your products.
Accent droppings and misspellings
You might expect the search engines to automatically pick up words with no accents/diacritic marks and map them to their grammatically correct versions, i.e. you would expect them to recognise and classify the two words as one, with or without the accents. However, sometimes the difference between accented and non-accented words is recognised by the search engines, and other times it is not.
In fact, Google increasingly combines keywords into "buckets" whether it makes sense or not. For example, we get only one search result for both "bouche" (meaning "mouth") and "bouché" (meaning "blocked") in French, even though they mean something totally different. Google's artificial intelligence is continuously evolving, and which keywords get semantically combined changes all the time. When doing keyword research, this poses an additional challenge, and will likely continue to do so, at least until the machine learning has become considerably smarter.
You may find it interesting and useful to compare the search volumes suggested by the search engines you are focusing on for your target keywords, both accented and non-accented. Do they seem to indicate that by not targeting the incorrect version in your PPC keyword lists, you could be losing out on a substantial amount of traffic, or spending more than you are willing to? Or does Google assume that keywords are the same that are in fact not, meaning you would have to use negative keywords to make sure not to waste budget on irrelevant search queries?
Just to be clear, we are not suggesting that you should use the misspelt words in your copy (that would only have an adverse effect on your performance), but these keywords will more often than not belong in your keyword lists for your search engine advertising campaigns.
Never forget to have skilled native linguists review any keywords where you get rid of the accents, as otherwise you might end up targeting completely different meanings. For example, in French, "salé" means "salt", whereas "sale" means "dirty"! When in doubt, a useful tip is to check the local version of Google Images to decipher the actual meaning of a word.
Gender-specific keywords
For example, in the Spanish language, nouns often have gender variations, impacting how terms are perceived and searched for online. For instance, the term "doctor" refers to a male physician, whilst "doctora" denotes a female physician. Data from Google Keyword Planner highlights intriguing differences in search behaviours across Spanish-speaking countries.
In Spain, the term "doctora" receives 35% fewer searches compared to "doctor", suggesting a disparity in the public's search interest towards male and female physicians. Contrastingly, in Mexico, the search volumes for "doctor" and "doctora" are equal, indicating a more balanced public interest in male and female physicians.
This variance underscores the cultural and regional differences in gender perception and its influence on search behaviour online. Tailoring the keywords you target in your SEO and PPC efforts to each country's local search preferences will ensure broader visibility and engagement across different demographics, enhancing the effectiveness of digital marketing campaigns in gendered languages.
Compound nouns
Compound nouns are words that consist of more than one stem or independent noun. They are prevalent in many languages, but are particularly noteworthy in Finnic and Germanic languages, due to their frequent use of lengthy formations. These languages often present challenges in keyword research because users might search for compound nouns in split forms.
Despite semantic differences, search engines like Google sometimes group these variants together or treat them as separate entities. For instance, in Swedish, "skåpbil" (van) and "skåp bil" show different search volumes, whereas "hyrbil" (rental car) and "hyr bil" (rent a car) might be treated as the same, even though they convey different meanings.
It is crucial to compare search volumes for both joined and separate forms of compound nouns during keyword research, and to examine how they are processed by search engines to optimise your organic rankings effectively.
However, intentionally splitting compound nouns in your website content could harm content quality and potentially mislead users, as such splits are often considered misspellings. Cultural perceptions of split compounds can vary, so consulting with native linguists before making changes is advisable.
Including both versions of compound nouns in paid search campaigns can be beneficial.
Scripts
Japanese uses three different scripts: kanji, hiragana and katakana, meaning there are sometimes three times as many keywords to find. For example, the keyword "computer" could be written in the following three ways:
Each script serves a different purpose and is used in different contexts to enhance clarity, meaning and aesthetic appeal in written Japanese. This multi-script system allows for a rich expression of ideas and is a fascinating aspect of the Japanese language. Use a native, experienced linguist to explore all the relevant variations and gauge their popularity in search queries.
Terminology
Terminology is a set of specialised words relating to a particular subject. It is like a different language of a specific industry; jargon that even a native-speaking layperson may not know. For instance, if your linguist is not familiar with the medical industry, knowing the language of the country may not be enough for them to understand the specific subject. Doing keyword research for specific industries with their jargon may therefore require a very skilled linguist within that field.
For example, if your keyword is "keyword research" (170) for the Turkish market, the translation of this keyword "anahtar kelime arama" (30) has a much lower search volume just because this is global digital marketing jargon. It is as simple as that.
Acronyms and abbreviations
Understanding regional preferences for acronyms and abbreviations can significantly impact the effectiveness of your SEO strategies across different markets. For example, the term "artificial intelligence" is widely searched globally but varies dramatically in its local abbreviated forms:
- In the US, "AI" is the predominant acronym used in searches, reflecting a straightforward abbreviation of the English term.
- In France, the equivalent term "intelligence artificielle" is abbreviated as "IA", aligning with the French language structure.
- In Germany, "künstliche Intelligenz" is commonly abbreviated to "KI".
By localising content to include regional acronyms, businesses can enhance their visibility and engagement in diverse markets.
Search engine: Where people search
All search engines were first designed for a particular market: Google for the US/English-speaking world, Baidu for China, and Naver for South Korea, etc. The result is that they behave differently, not least in terms of what they provide search marketers with in their respective keyword research tools. In this section, we will take a closer look at how Google, Baidu and Naver's keyword tools work.
Google Keyword Planner
Transliteration
Google Keyword Planner may link names in Latin characters and their transliterations and provide variations accordingly, but it is not a given.
Misspellings and dropped accents/diacritic marks
Any synonyms, missing accents and misspellings are supposed to be grouped together in one result. However, this can vary from language to language and from word to word. For example, in French "téléphone" is grouped with "telephone", without accents. However, "bouché" (meaning "blockage") is grouped with "bouche" (meaning "mouth"), which it obviously should not, since it has a completely different meaning! It is safe to conclude that the way Google Keyword Planner groups variants is erratic and unpredictable.
Compound nouns
Google Keyword Planner offers variations taking compound nouns into account. But it does not do it consistently, and due to machine learning, the "buckets" change all the time, so unfortunately, you will need to evaluate it case by case. This again underlines the importance of working with native speakers.
Local data
You can set Google Keyword Planner to measure search volumes at the scale of countries, regions, cities, or even metropolitan areas. Keyword suggestions from Google Keyword Planner are more or less encompassing from one country to another. If you do not have campaigns running on your account, you will be presented with averages, which makes the data less precise.
If you need help with international keyword research on Google, get in touch! Whether it is to support your SEO efforts or to use in your PPC campaigns, our native linguists are ready to help.
Baidu Keyword Planner
Transliteration
Baidu Keyword Planner understands transliteration well, and will often provide variations for branded keywords in both Latin and Chinese characters.
Word order
For many input keywords, you will be provided with variations implying a different word order.
Dialects
The tool may provide you with keyword variations in dialects other than the input keyword, but not always.
Spaces
Keywords including half or full spaces are considered different by Baidu Keyword Planner, meaning that their respective search volumes will be provided by the tool. For instance, "语音识别" will be treated as distinct from "语音 识别".
Slang
Baidu Keyword Planner may link slang and standard versions of keywords and offer suggestions accordingly. This can be particularly useful for social media.
Local data
Baidu Keyword Planner can measure search volumes at the scale of countries, regions or cities.
If you need help with keyword research on Baidu, get in touch! Whether it is to support your SEO efforts or to use in your PPC campaigns, our native Chinese linguists are ready to help.
Naver Keyword Tool
Transliteration
Naver Keyword Tool can give suggestions in Korean for branded keywords in Latin characters, but not the other way around. So, if you search for "Samsung", Naver may suggest "삼성", but if you input "삼성", Naver will not return "Samsung" in Latin characters.
Word order
Naver Keyword Tool can present keyword variations with a different word order.
Dialects
Naver Keyword Tool will not offer suggestions in dialects other than the input one.
Spaces
Full and half spaces are considered the same, meaning that the tool does not make any distinction between keywords such as "음 성 입력" and "음성입력".
Local data
Naver Keyword Tool can measure search volumes at the scale of regions, cities and districts.
If you need help with keyword research on Naver, get in touch! Whether it is to support your SEO efforts or to use in your PPC campaigns, our native South Korean linguists are ready to help.
Summary table
Conclusion
In a nutshell, keyword research for international markets is not simply a case of translating English keywords. You must conduct fresh keyword research from scratch, and you must take a three-dimensional approach, looking at the culture, language and dominant search engine of your target market. Make sure to work with professional native linguists who know the ins and outs of your target country, as only a native will know the linguistic and cultural quirks to look out for. Good luck!
To learn more about keywords and how they relate to international digital marketing, click here.
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