Forum Moderators: open
This is the 2nd quarterly summary on European search engines and directories. Previously called "European search engines you cannot do without, it has now been renamed:
A European SEO strategy primer
The Internet scene.
802 million live here and 121 million of them are online. That's one in seven. There are 53 countries and autonomous regions, more than 40 languages and over 1.200 search engines and directories. The European Forum at WebmasterWorld covers the 325 most important. There are 13 million hosts and 141 million pages in the national domains alone, not counting local dot-coms. The online population grows by 25-75% per year in most countries, but in places like Scandinavia, penetration is already so high that growth is beginning to level off. There is an updated overview country by country here [webmasterworld.com].
Can the European market be reached through the major engines?
No! And there is no such thing as a European Market. There are 53 different European markets and each has to be handled differently. Major engines such as Altavista, MSN, Google and Yahoo can show impressive reach on a European scale. But that obscures the fact that in each country it is usually a purely local engine that has the lion's share of that market, with the majors way down the list. An overview of the engines that you cannot do without is found below.
Are local domains needed to get into local search engines?
Yes, but not always. Generally, the leading of the local engines will accept dot-coms as long as they are in the local language. Most countries require legal presence for a national domain registration and setting that up can become expensive. There are some handy exceptions. Registering a domain in Austria or Switzerland and will give access to German search engines and directories. Swiss and Belgian domains will work in the same way for French search engines and Belgian domains also for Dutch search engines.
The local rules are listed in the 35 country discussions in the European forum and there is an overview here [webmasterworld.com].
Can English be used in Europe or are translations necessary?
You can use English only for UK and Ireland and for such market segments where the working language is English, i.e. some sciences and computer related industries. For all other areas and segments, you will have to translate. Only 28% of all Europeans understand English at all. Even within the 15 highly developed European Union member states only 41% understand English. Here are two useful discussions:
[webmasterworld.com...]
[webmasterworld.com...]
Is it possible to use automatic translations or must one hire a human translator?
Machine made translations can only give a rough understanding of what a page is about, nothing more. And the results are often laughable. For a serious website, you need human translators. The best and least expensive way is usually to hire somone who lives in the country. Some of the discussions in the European forum already have this information. If not, you can always ask people who have participated in the discussions if they provide translation services.
Will a multilingual site work?
That is the way the Europeans themselves do it, but it is not the best way to go. Some search engines give extra weight to keywords in url:s, so having a domain name with one or two keywords in the local language can be an advantage. Splitting multilingual domains up into separate according to language is also practical when submitting to search engines and directories, particularly when using automated submission tools such as. In addition, there is some concern that themeing might not work too well for multilingual sites.
Can keywords be translated into other languages?
Only if you are lucky. I have heard people claim that they have had good results with keyword translations. But a different language means a different culture and a different way of thinking. In many cases people in other countries will think in different terms and that makes translated keywords dubious at best. So, to do a good job, you will need access to a keyword database.
Where can I get hold of keyword databases in foreign languages?
Local SEO professionals is one source. If they are worth their salt, they have a keyword database. Local search engines is another. They don't shout it from the rooftops yet, but all of them need money and some sell keywords on request. You will have to ask around though. These two solutions will cost you a fair amount of money.
A cheaper way is to get hold of a mining script and start mining yourself from engines that show current searches. If the engines don't like to be mined, there is always a risk that your IP-address will be banned. You can find a list of some such engines here [webmasterworld.com].
Has "Pay for play" reached Europe yet?
European search engines need money, just like the American, so they review all kinds of pay schemes. Things haven't gone as far as in the US yet, but there are new announcments every month and we shall see a lot of pay for play in Europe during 2001. There is a summary in the European forum [webmasterworld.com], which is being kept updated by members from many countries.
Region by region in alphabetical order.
The Alpine nations - Austria, Switzerland and Lichtenstein.
15,4 million live in these three alpine countries and 5,4 million of them are online. None of them require local presence for domain registration and so provide a convenient backdoor to German search engines and directories. Austria and the German speaking parts of Switzerland appear to be using localized versions of major German engines. Switzerland is officially quattro-lingual (German, French, Italian and Rätoromansch) and there are several engines supporting the first three, including Search.ch and Altavista.ch. Basic data can be found in the discussions for Switzerland [webmasterworld.com] and Austria [webmasterworld.com]
The Baltic states
These countries are small - just 7,4 million inhabitants put together - but the online population of 0,84 million is growing rapidly and so are their economies. There are several directories in each of these countries and at least one major engine with a spidered index - KTU at the Kaunas Technical University in Lithuiania. Basic facts can be found in the discussions for Estonia [webmasterworld.com],Latvia [webmasterworld.com] and Lithuania [webmasterworld.com].
The Balkans - Slovenia, Bosnia, Croatia, Serbia, Greece, Turkey.
107 million live here but only 5,8 million are online so far. These countries have numerous directories and a few local search engines. There is huge number of directories in Greece, where "Robby" is the leading search engine with In.gr as the leading directory. Slovenia - a small country squeezed in between Austria, Hungary, Italy and Croatia is considered a front runner for membership in the European Union and does have a credible search engine (Slovista) and several directories. Basic facts can be found in the country discussions for Slovenia [webmasterworld.com], Turkey [webmasterworld.com], Greece [webmasterworld.com], Bosnia & Herzegovina [webmasterworld.com], Croatia [webmasterworld.com] and Serbia & Montenegro (Yugoslavia) [webmasterworld.com]
Benelux - Belgium, Netherlands and Luxemburg
The Benelux has 26,4 million inhabitants and 10,1 million of them are online - 38%. Ilse.nl is the leading Dutch engine. Belgium is tri-lingual with only 58% of the population speaking Dutch. The rest speak either French (32%) or German (10%). So Dutch language will cover 4.5 million Dutch online and 1.2 million of the Belgians. The two biggest local engines are Advalvas and Skynet. Belgium does not require local presence for domain registration and .be-sites seem to be accepted by Dutch engines, which also index dot-coms in Dutch. Facts on these countries are found here: Belgium [webmasterworld.com], Netherlands [webmasterworld.com], Luxembourg [webmasterworld.com]
Central Europe - Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary.
There is rapid growth of the Internet in all of the central European countries, which have major local search engines based on state of the art technology such as Google and Fast. The total online population is 4.6 million out of the 55 million who live here. Lots of data have been added in the ongoing WebmasterWorld discussions about these countries. Onet has 60% of the Polish market, Vizsla is the leading search engine in Hungary and Seznam is #1 in the Chech Republic. For more, see the discussions on Czech Republic [webmasterworld.com], Hungary [webmasterworld.com], Poland [webmasterworld.com] and Slovakia [webmasterworld.com]
Eastern Europe - Belarus, Bulgaria, Romania, Russia and Ukraine.
The Internet is growing by 100-300 percent per year here, but from a very low level. Of eastern Europe's 240 million inhabitants only 10.2 million are online so far - 9.2 million in Russia alone. The leading search engine is Russia's Yandex, which has 37% of the local market. In Romania, Edison is the leader, in Belarus All.by and in Bulgaria Eurosoft. Facts on the numerous search engines and directories can be found here:
Belarus [webmasterworld.com], Bulgaria [webmasterworld.com], Romania [webmasterworld.com], Russia [webmasterworld.com] and Ukraine [webmasterworld.com].
France
The picture in France is fragmented. A good strategy will have to involve not just the leading engine - Voilā, but also Free.fr, Multimania, MSN France and Yahoo France. Sites have to be in French, there is no way you can make it with English here. There are 9 million online, but that is only 15% of the 59,3 million population, so France is somewhat behind the rest of western Europe. France has rigid rules about local presence, but Switzerland and Belgium provide back-doors. I addition, 36% of all pages in French are in dot-coms and French engines usually offer "Web francophone" (the French speaking web) as the default search option, so dot-coms in French should work well. More here [webmasterworld.com].
Germany
Germany has 20,1 million of its 82,8 million population online. That is 24%. To make it in Germany, you need Infoseek.de (which hasn't indexed new sites in over six months), Fireball.de, Lycos.de and Altavista.de as an absolute minimum. A dot-com is OK as long as it is in German. There are also numerous directories, the most important of which is Alles Klar. You need a local domain in a German speaking country to get in, but neither Austria nor Switzerland require legal presence for their domains. More here on German search engines [webmasterworld.com] and directories [webmasterworld.com].
Italy
Arianna, MSN Italia and Lycos Italia are the most important search engines and Virgilio the leading directory. Local language is mandatory. Italy has 13,4 million people on line, which is 23% of the 58 million total population. One Italian page out of five is found in dot-com, so a .it domain registration is not necessary. More [webmasterworld.com].
The Nordic countries
The 24 million Scandinavians and other nordic people are the only ones that beat the US in surfing. 12,4 million, just over half of the total populations, are online. Iceland leads with 60%. These people all speak different languages and have different search engines. Altavista has a strong standing in Sweden with Fast-based Evreka.com and MSN.se as major competitors. In Norway Kvasir.no (Fast) is the unqustioned leader, in Finland its sister engine Evreka.fi but in Denmark it is a local directory - Jubii - that controls the market, with Kvasir.dk as the only serious competitor. English is widely understood here and dot-coms hugely popular even for local sites, so the only reason for translations would be to create a sense of local presence. More here: Sweden [webmasterworld.com], Norway [webmasterworld.com], Denmark [webmasterworld.com], Finland [webmasterworld.com], Iceland [webmasterworld.com].
The Iberian peninsula - Spain and Portugal
50 million live on the Iberian peninsula. There are 5,4 million online in Spain (13,7%) and 2,2 million i Portugal (22%). The users tend to use engines geared towards each language, which also cover Spanish and Portuguese speaking countries in Latin America. This means that one can get by with a dot-com in the language. More: Spain [webmasterworld.com], Portugal [webmasterworld.com].
British Isles - United Kingdom and Ireland
61 million live in the British Isles and the online population is 21 million - 34%. Neither country requires legal presence for a domain registration. The search engine scene is so lively here that UK & Ireland have their own forum [webmasterworld.com] here at WebmasterWorld..
(edited by: rencke at 1:07 pm (gmt) on Aug. 23, 2001
Good job: excellent information!
Angiolo
I'd add some information about the UK to this which may interest those with a general view.
The UK is particularly active and is often the test bed for USA-based services trying to operate outside of their traditional arena. GoTo is a recent example of this.
However, a great deal of material still comes through portals like Freeserve, relying upon Inktomi's global database delivering .co.uk filtered results.
Google.co.uk is another recent example.
AltaVista UK is an exception with it's own database.
There are a number of UK-based search engines, like Mirago, which have substantial UK data and this is delivered by themselves and via AskJeeves in the UK, called ask.co.uk.
Although this is not, by any means, an exhaustive list, full UK, country-specific information is available in the UK and Ireland Forums here http://www.webmasterworld.com/forum7/index.htm [webmasterworld.com]
Thanks to Rencke for all his excellent work in this, and many other threads.
In the UK, Freeserve (which uses the UK version of Goto) has one of the largest customer bases - what are the equivalents across Europe?
One, I know by heart: T-Online is Germany's - and indeed Europe's biggest ISP. They currently have Infoseek.de onboard, but are getting ready to ditch them as discussed here [webmasterworld.com].
And they have Fast onboard.
I only saw its "jana" searchengine, I really donīt know what it is!
Worldonline has recently merged into Tiscali, perhaps that has something to do with things?
Your question about Fireball indexing time is answered in another discussion [webmasterworld.com] where you have already posted. It is right there in oLeon's first post, along with my answer to your question.
As to the choice of German search engines, you will have to read the first post in the German search engines discussion [webmasterworld.com] and decide for yourself on the basis of your needs. Basic answers are found above under "Germany" above.
There is no German dmoz.org as far as I know, but numerous German directories, which you will find described here [webmasterworld.com]. For more on dmoz, see the ODP discussion here at WebmasterWorld.
There IS! Have a look at dmoz.de [dmoz.de]. Itīs a german startpage on another server -as mentioned on the informationpage- and it helps you as well as a registration in dmoz.org
rencke, may be it should be taken up in the german-directory-thread? Itīs very important for google!
I think I will invite a European ODP editor to start a discussion on ODP and Europe. That would be useful I believe.
Google's popularity is continuing to grow in Europe. Superior language support and great relevancy are the main reasons. As an example, in just 9 months Google has become Russia's second most popular search engine if you add google.yahoo.com.
Further illustrations of Google's importance for any European SEO strategy can be found on the Google Zeitgeist [google.com] statistics page, which has been published since February. Old issues are available in the archive [google.com].
Although no official figures have been published, an analysis of data published by Google indicate that the number of searches in Google made by Europeans may be as high as 20 million per day.
Continued: [webmasterworld.com...]
