August 22, 2003

Many webmasters are so busy promoting their sites to the top United States search engines that they never stop to think about the country-specific versions. In fact, many are shocked to learn that European searchers may be using search sites most American webmasters have never even heard of - or submitted to!

Internet usage in Europe is growing quickly. By the year 2007, there will be more than 200 million European users. That's a 68% increase over the 2001 numbers. Other compelling statistics include:

1- Europe had the world's 2nd largest Internet user population in 2001, just behind North America.

2- 63% of Europe's Internet users live in Germany, the UK, Italy, and France.

3- Germany is likely to account for 1 in 5 Internet users in Europe by 2004.

4- 42% of all UK households have Internet access.

Obviously, you don't want to ignore this market! The major search engines are paying attention. Most offer country or region-specific versions of their databases. Although technically, the United Kingdom isn't on the European continent, we're discussing it with the European search engine versions. Here's a sample:

* Google Google.co.uk Google.fr Google.de
* AltaVista AltaVista.co.uk AltaVista.fr AltaVista.de
* Lycos Lycos.co.uk Lycos.fr Lycos.de

Each of these sites gives the searcher the opportunity to do either a country-specific or worldwide search. Other search engines also offer country-specific versions of their databases. There are three main differences between the US and other country-specific versions:

Spelling and phrasing: Country-specific sites are sensitive to spelling and syntax differences. For instance, AltaVista offers a "Reseller Program" at the US site, but the AltaVista.co.uk site advertises a "Reseller Programme" (note the spelling difference).

Language choices: Google's German and French versions are in those languages, but offer a link to the English version of the search engine.

Currency: The country-specific versions of all sites that have paid submission or paid inclusion programs discuss the costs in the local currency, not in US dollars. In spite of these differences, the search engine databases are basically the same. If your site is in Google.com, you'll also appear in search results from the UK and other country-specific versions. Even the shared listings from search engine and directory alliances are preserved, so searchers at Yahoo's international sites also see results from Google, the Open Directory Project, and other partner sites.

That's great news because it means that any steps you take using Page Primer or other Search Engine Power Pack tools will help boost your site to the top of engines all over the world! Consider European Engines Too. Even though the country or language-specific versions make large search sites like Google, MSN, and Yahoo popular with a worldwide audience, other search sites also cater specifically to that audience.

According to a search engine rating chart at the Search Engine Watch Web site, European audiences access a variety of search sites. Here are some of the most popular by country, along with the percentage of searchers who accessed the sites during 2002. Note that many people use multiple search engines, so the numbers don't equal 100%.

France, Germany and Italy:
A) Lycos.fr (38.4%) T-online.de (54%%) Virgilio.it (55%)
b) MSN.fr (28.4%) Google.de (36.2%) IOL.it (52.6%)
c) Viola.fr (23.2%) MSN.de (33.7%) MSN.it (41.2%)

If you've used the subscription version of NetMechanic's Search Engine Starter tool, your site may already be listed in some of these engines. Search Engine Starter lets you deep submit multiple pages of your site 100 of the most popular search engines in the world, including Viola, Search.uk, and the US versions of Google, AOL, Lycos, and many others. The secret to the success of any Web site is to know what your audience wants, provide it, and then promote your site so they can find it! It's more difficult to target a worldwide audience than to help a client promote a site for a local childcare center. But it can be done.

If you really want to understand your audience, research how they access the Internet and how they search. We relied on several very helpful resources to write this article. Learn more about European search engines at these resource sites:

This informative and comprehensive report discusses how Europeans access the Internet and discusses surfing habits. It's full of useful statistics. UK Internet access statistics (in PDF format) from the United Kingdom government.

European search engine ratings from the Search Engine Watch Web site. European search engine alliance chart from the excellent discussion forum at WebmasterWorld.com.

Article by Larisa Thomason
Source: Net Mechanic

        

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