Patrick O’Neill Managing Partner of Sherlock Communications and named Latin America’s Best PR Professional 2020 by PR Week Global Awards
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Understanding how consumers search and what kind of content they search for is vital when it comes to developing effective strategies for search engine optimization in Latin America (Latam).
When we think about search engines, the first term that almost inevitably comes to mind is “Google,” but are there other avenues worth exploring when putting together an SEO strategy in Latam markets?
A Changing Landscape
According to our State of SEO in Latin America report, many across Latam bought products online for the first time during the pandemic. The Boston Consulting Group found that “more than half of consumers in Latin America say that their consumption habits have changed forever and that they will not return to pre-pandemic habits.” Regionally, Brazil and Mexico dominate when it comes to online sales, accounting for nearly 30% of the e-commerce market each.
Achieving a high ranking in Google search results is a key influencing factor for any e-commerce website looking to make an impact, which means that dynamic, organic SEO is essential.
For our State of SEO in Latin America study, we spoke to a number of leading SEO voices in the region, and one of the things we learned is that earning the trust of consumers is key to the success of any SEO strategy. We also found that Google search results rankings are viewed as highly significant by consumers. SEO helps a brand become more visible by helping it move up in the search rankings. This in itself helps engender trust, as we found that Latin Americans feel most comfortable clicking on the results that appear first, often viewing them as being associated with the best options available.
A senior SEO manager at a leading Latam-wide retail service told me that for her company, SEO is viewed as essential for generating organic traffic, enabling consumers to quickly find their website when they are searching for a particular product or service.
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In her experience, investing some time in improving the SEO of your site can deliver far greater rewards than advertising, with improved positioning helping drive consistently high conversation rates.
But while Google should play a central role in any SEO considerations, there are other channels to take into account.
App Store Optimization
AppTweak defines app store optimization as “the process of improving an app’s visibility in the app stores with the objective of increasing organic app downloads.” With greater visibility, apps will appear more prominently in searches, climb up download charts and gain prime position in app storefronts. Bear in mind that app store searches are substantially different from searches carried out using internet search engines. Rather than long phrases or sentences, app searches typically comprise a maximum of two or three words, so precision on the part of the marketer is important.
The logo will be the user’s first point of contact with your app, so clean design and branding are important for generating recognition even before the potential purchaser clicks for more information.
Thorough keyword research and having a list of top keywords are also hugely important if you want to make sure those two or three search terms will help guide users to your app. At the same time, pay attention to the description of your app and user ratings. The description not only details the app’s features, but it also makes it easier to find in the first place. Reviews, on the other hand, will lend credibility to your project and encourage algorithms to elevate it.
Voice Search Optimization
Voice search optimization (VSO) is another area of SEO that should not be ignored. A pre-pandemic study found that, on average, 51% of smartphone users in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia and Mexico use their device’s voice assistant. This number has likely increased since then, and it stands to reason that many of these people are using their voice assistants to search for products and services.
When developing a VSO strategy, it’s important to understand that there is a very clear generational gap in terms of usage. Millennials and Gen Z are much more likely to use voice assistants than older generations, according to research from Salesforce.
There are some notable differences between voice search and traditional search as well. Perhaps the most significant is that instead of searching for short keywords, users will typically ask longer questions. So make sure you are providing “answers” in your website text. To do this, Search Engine Journal recommends creating detailed answers to common questions, while at the same time keeping this information as clear and concise as possible.
Common VSO strategies include writing articles that feature typical questions as headlines, with the answer detailed underneath. By the same token, FAQ pages are also useful as you can answer common “who,” “what” and “why” questions in line with your specific expertise, products or services.
YouTube SEO
Another SEO channel is YouTube, the second-most visited website in the world. YouTube searches revolve around keywords found in a video’s description, title, tags and even captions. Therefore, for YouTube SEO to be effective, identify the main topics of your videos and highlight these in catchy titles, descriptions and other fields. In particular, choose one or two keywords that sum up the video’s content and feature these prominently in the title and description.
Lastly, remember that the first few lines of a video’s description are crucial to grabbing the user’s attention—much like the first minute of the video itself—so it’s worth taking time and investing in the development of both.
However your business works online, it is clear that having an effective strategy for SEO in Latin America is key if you want to make an impact.
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Author: Patrick O’Neill, Forbes Councils Member
