Is SEO for a Website in Sydney Australia Different?
Please accept my apologies for the long delay between posts to all those who are loyal subscribers to the Agilis Marketing Blog. I wanted to explore if SEO for a website in Sydney, Australia is much different than that in the United States. As an individual residing here, it seems reasonable that I can offer more meaningful insights than anyone whom has never actually encountered the differences. Thus I wanted to touch on a few key differences that I noticed right off the bat between the two geographies and that also are include insights to consider with any type of international SEO initiatives. These are possibly quite obvious to some people, but are much more apparent after living and working in both geographies. After dealing with multiple businesses, web design companies, and others involved in the process there are definitely noticeable differences.
1.) SEO for a website in Sydney, Australia is much less competitive.
The volume of searches in the Sydney region and for that matter all of all Australia is much smaller compared to major regions and the United States as a whole. Of course this fact does not mean that SEO for a website in Sydney is less competitive than the U.S. Actually, certain areas are more competitive since there are more firms competing for a smaller segment. A perfect example of this is the website design industry. There are numerous web businesses located in the CBD and a finite number of companies with offices in this location. Thus the phrase ‘website design Sydney’ is fiercely competitive as numerous outfits all vie for top rankings in the SERPs for this query. This illustrates a situation that is an outlier, generally the search phrases are much less competitive in Australia.
However, since the search volume is lower it does impact marketers’ perceptions on the perceived benefits of investing in SEO rather than other mediums. Hence, companies may elect other forms of marketing than search engine optimisation as a means to grow revenues as the benefit gained from these efforts is falsely viewed as minor. As a result, these companies never enter the arena and it creates less completion for the ones that use this form of online marketing. This results in enormous opportunities for companies whom understand this concept, and diminishes them for ones that do not.
2.) Cost structures for performing SEO and all website design work are much different.
Australian labor is generally much more costly than that in the United States. The differences in minimum wage laws combined with compulsory time off for full time employees makes operating any business, including an SEO firm, much more costly in absolute dollars. This can create a more difficult environment for companies to pay for a search marketing company, the associate website design modifications, and also for an online marketing company to provide its services at price points that make sense to businesses.
3.) Search engine optimisation is a growing industry in Sydney.
Despite the hurdles imposed by the different cost structures mentioned, the fact that Sydney is a much less competitive arena to obtain top rankings utilising SEO techniques tends to far outweigh the former, especially when dealing with well run organizations that grasp this concept. Once can attribute this to the fact that even thought the costs are generally higher compared to the United States, all business operating in Sydney successfully need to deal with the higher expenses and it thus creates a level playing field in this regard.
4.) Google has clear website guidelines for optimising multilingual sites.
This point is arguable depending upon the definition of ‘clear’ and the constant changes Google makes. That caveat aside, Google does provide best practices that include implementation examples. One reason for such is to avoid potential duplicate content penalties. Another purpose is to ensure that the most relevant results for geography appear in the search results. A brief example of the later is the specifically suggested html encoding to different Australian English sites from ones that use United States English. Notice the usage of ‘optimisation’ rather than ‘optimization’ in this post as an example of the distinction between the two variations of the English languages. Commonly, ‘z’ is replaced by ‘s’ in Australian English.
The key takeaway is that SEO in Sydney, Australia is different from that in the United States of America. Understanding these differences is what is important in order to successfully implement and manage a SEM campaign. This holds true for search engine optimisation across all international regions even though these two locales are used as examples. Large and small companies can benefit from a keen grasp of these differentials. An established company or one that intends to create a multinational presence inherently needs more assistance in navigating the distinctions. However, business operating solely in Sydney also benefit drastically by understanding the best SEO techniques to implement in their geography.
