The Role of Culture in International SEO

In this deck, I go through the notion of culture and its importance in international and multilingual SEO. Also, I explain the role of SEO in aligning with cultural values, helping avoid stereotypes and inequalities, and the considerations to put in place when going international.

Slides presented at International Search Summit Barcelona - November 2022

Transcript

1. Barcelona
   International Search Summit
   Veruska Anconitano
   Multilingual SEO and Localization Consultant
   Why cultural relevancy is key to
   success in international SEO
   

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2. Hello, This Is Me
   Sociology Sociolinguistics Semiotic Data Science NLP/SFL
   @lacuochina #IntSS
   

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3. What Is Culture?
   @lacuochina #IntSS
   

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4. Definition
   of culture
   Culture refers to the cumulative deposit
   of knowledge, experience, beliefs, values,
   attitudes, meanings, hierarchies, religion,
   notions of time, roles, spatial relations,
   concepts of the universe, and
   explicit/implicit patterns acquired by a
   group of people in the course of
   generations through individual and
   group striving.
   @lacuochina #IntSS
   

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5. Layers of Culture
   The national
   level
   The regional
   level
   The gender
   level
   The
   generation
   level
   The social
   class level
   @lacuochina #IntSS
   

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6. Hofstede’s Cultural Dimensions Theory
   @lacuochina #IntSS
   

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7. Erin Meyers’ Culture Map
   @lacuochina #IntSS
   

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8. Cultural Identities
   @lacuochina #IntSS
   

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9. Cultural Identities’ Levels
   Implicit Explicit Refused
   @lacuochina #IntSS
   

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10. Individual Cultural Identities
    @lacuochina #IntSS
    Individual
    Ethnicity
    Nationality
    Social Class
    Traditions
    Values
    Unique
    Identity
    

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11. Collective Cultural Identities
    @lacuochina #IntSS
    

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12. What Does This Mean In
    International SEO?
    @lacuochina #IntSS
    

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13. To win an international
    target, you need to
    understand their needs and
    motivations from a cultural
    perspective and address
    them in your approach!
    @lacuochina #IntSS
    

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14. Social
    Inequality
    Villa
    Villino
    Casa di
    campagna
    Casa vacanza
    @lacuochina #IntSS
    Villa
    

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15. Stereotypes
    Lawyer
    Un avocat
    Une
    avocate
    @lacuochina #IntSS
    

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16. Local Habits
    Snack
    @lacuochina #IntSS
    Merienda
    Bocado
    Tentempié
    Piscolabis
    Refrigerio
    

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17. Local
    Traditions
    Dance
    @lacuochina #IntSS
    Carinosa
    Itik-Itik
    Pandanggo sa
    Ilaw
    Sayaw sa
    Bangko
    Maglalatik
    

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18. Societal
    Rules
    You
    @lacuochina #IntSS
    貴殿
    あなた
    君
    お前
    Kiden – Very formal
    Anata – Formal
    Kimi – Informal
    Omae –Very informal
    

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19. Political
    Issues
    Hamsters
    @lacuochina #IntSS
    Хомячки (Khomyachki) is
    an insult typically directed
    at Russian oppositionist
    bloggers.
    

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20. Semantics
    & Society
    @lacuochina #IntSS
    효 (hyo) à Cultural
    concepts of children’s
    devotion towards their
    parents
    효자 (hyoja) à Devoted
    son
    효녀 (hyonyeo) à Devoted
    daughter
    

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21. Specific Local
    Cultural
    References
    "Nobody beats me, because
    I'm the Wiz! I'm the Wiz!"
    "That is the guy!"
    "Elaine's in love with the Wiz
    guy?" —Jerry and George,
    Seinfeld “The Junk Mail”
    Episode
    @lacuochina #IntSS
    

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22. 3 Actionable Tips
    @lacuochina #IntSS
    

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23. Ban Google Translate
    Translate with
    Gtranslate
    1
    Check volumes
    2
    Local Check
    3
    @lacuochina #IntSS
    

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24. Ban Google Translate
    Local
    Specialists
    1
    Implementation
    2
    Measurement
    3
    @lacuochina #IntSS
    

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25. Don’t Be a Copycat - Be Yourself
    @lacuochina #IntSS
    Do You Really Want
    to Outsell Your
    Competition Based
    on their USP?
    

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26. Measure F*cking Everything
    @lacuochina #IntSS
    Surveys
    Focus Groups
    Heatmaps
    Feedbacks
    Sentiment
    

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27. Cultural differences should not
    separate us from each other, but
    rather cultural diversity brings a
    strength that can benefit all of
    humanity - Robert Allen
    @lacuochina #IntSS
    

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28. www.anconitano.com
    in/veruska-anconitano/
    @lacuochina
    

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