AU/NZ/CN/HK. search engines help rqd.

Built my AsiaPac better mousetrap, now need mice!

[DamonHD]

Hi,

My AsiaPac mirror (in Australia) has been up and running for a couple of weeks and is running well, so now I need to get the punters in!

I've looked up and submitted to decent-looking AU and NZ search engines.

I've set up AW adverts for the AsiaPac region in English, and now with the help of a HK friend, some in simple and trad Chinese too (very exciting when I can't read my own ads!).

Now, I am trying to submit the mirror's URL to a few Chinese search engines. I have managed with the Chinese/English engines, but am truely stuck with (eg) Baidu, and don't even know which others to aim for. I read no Chinese except what I can guess from my tiny bit of Japanese and looking at the URLs (eg top.baidu.com!).

Can anyone offer me any pointers, eg direct submission URLs for AsiaPac in Chinese in particular?

(G and other big bots have already found the new mirror and are s-l-o-w-l-y spidering...)

Rgds

Damon

PS. No plugs for paid submission services please!

[bill]

I can't remember the last time I submitted my sites to any search engine. All you really need are some links from other Chinese sites. Submitting to search engines is a somewhat dated practice. If you have Baidu, Yahoo and Google looking at your site already then there's not much more a site submission will accomplish.

Since you've specified that your site is in Traditional Chinese you may be of limited interest to the Mainland engines. They use Simplified Chinese there. I'm not sure whether bots for Baidu, Yahoo or others may differentiate this content because of that.

If you wanted to do site submissions I would have you look at Chinese language directory listings. Most of them are paid listings, but you have a quicker time getting in. Start with Yahoo and Sohu listings, and throw one at DMOZ (but don't hold your breath waiting for them). You'll need someone who can read and write Chinese to handle those for you.

[DamonHD]

Hi Bill,

Thanks for your fast response...

I agree about submitting to SEs in general, but I don't know if Baidu (and other more Chinese-oriented) search engines have me at all, and this is a completely new server/mirror, and costing me an arm and a leg to leave idle!

BTW, I did find the Baidu submission link in one of your earlier WW postings/threads late last night, so thank you for that too!

The Chinese text on the site is mainly simplified, though there is some traditional, and I have the option of locale support for zh_TW/zh_HK later if need be, ie when I've analysed visitor stats.

Thanks again,

Damon

[redstorm]

Well, please use This link [jingzhengli.com] to submit it to Chinese SE and portals

[bill]

Just to summarize, that page lists links to submission pages for the major Chinese engines:

• Google [Google.com]
  
• Baidu [baidu.com]
  
• Yisou [yisou.com] (Yahoo)
  
• Zhongsou [service.chinasearch.com.cn]
  
• Sogou [db.sohu.com]
  
• and the Yahoo directory
  

[DamonHD]

Hi RedStorm, Bill,

Thanks: I'll get on the case. (Or rather, I'll get my patient HK friend on the case when he's feeling kind!)

Any non-Chinese ones (eg JP/SG) worth doing?

Rgds

Damon

[bill]

Do you have content in other languages? For example, if you don't have Japanese content submitting your site to Japanese SEs is not a really productive thing to be spending your time on.

[Mokita]

submitting your site to Japanese SEs is not a really productive thing to be spending your time on.

That is debatable. Lots of Japanese speak English.

I have noticed the ichiro bot spidering our Australian sites (all English lang). They wouldn't bother if Japanese content was essential. Their portal is here:

[goo.ne.jp...]

[bill]

Yes, Goo spiders all sorts of stuff. You're probably seeing the NTTx labs experiments out and about. They may spider you, but how much traffic do you get from goo searchers and how much of it converts?

[Mokita]

but how much traffic do you get

None at all afaik, because all our .au sites are highly Australian content specific, none of which would be of any interest to the Japanese. e.g private hospital, hire company, pharmacy, pizza shop, tax agent etc.

I have no way of knowing what traffic might come if it were. I guess I assume that ichiro would not bother spidering Eng lang sites repeatedly, unless they are serving up the results to somebody.

[bill]

Don't overestimate the Japanese language ability with English either. They continually rank at the very bottom for surveys of English language ability in Asia.

Old goo spiders were essentially Inktomi. They have been working to develop their own SE technology for years now. A lot of times they just use the results of other SEs Google/Yahoo/Inktomi on their portal but the spidering efforts have been maintained in the background. Right now goo is just another Google-powered portal.

I haven't really researched this ichiro spider. At a glance it looks like any number of Japanese research spiders out there.

[DamonHD]

Hi Y'all,

Thanks for the interesting thread: keep it up!

I got a dramatic increase in the number of visitors to my site (which is primarily English, though with some content in other languages, but which in any case is mainly visual) when I showed it to Japanese language visitors too, via English Google ads, and those visitors seem to convert.

Bill, in my little time in Tokyo I found lots of people had a little English, and more so for the sort of tech terms I advertise on and that turn up in my site.

Anyway, this whole adventure is very interesting. Goodness knows if it will pay for itself...

Rgds

Damon

[bill]

Tokyo is a special case. It's the biggest city in Japan and it attracts people from all over the country, many of whom may be better educated, and due to the larger number of foreigners/international businesses there you may find a higher concentration of English speakers. However, unless you can communicate in Japanese you're missing the vast majority of the population.

It all comes down to how serious you are about these markets. If you're just serving English content then you'll just be scraping the crumbs of these markets. If you're serious then you need to invest in some translation and proper localization.