One of the best things I find about international SES conferences is just how much you can learn about the cultural and political differences in attitude to marketing. As a formal marketing student you learn very quickly about performing an environmental scan. This is not specifically about whether your viewed as a “green” marketer but more about variables within the marketing environment you can control and those you can’t.

In the micro environment you have full control over your marketing efforts. But the macro environment has the variables that you need to monitor in order to be able to adapt your marketing campaign to specifics. These include cultural, political, economical, legal and, of course, environmental in the green sense, to name a few.

If you’re monitoring these variables and flexible enough to adapt your campaign to incorporate these differences you’re much more likely to succeed in your international marketing campaigns and product launches.

At Search Engine Watch today, guest contributor Bas van den Beld shares his notes from SES, Berlin in November of last year.

It’s interesting to note his references to Germany’s “love hate” relationship with Google. As well as his notes on the difference between SEO tactics at times and also Germany’s approach to social media.

I was at the show and gained a huge insight into the German search marketing space. Incidentally, leading German search marketer, Thomas Bindl of Refined Labs, who fronted the Berlin conference, has recently published a mini case study in conjunction with Google.

Amongst other things, “Using Long Tail Keywords For Efficient Conversions” shows that:

• 31% of all conversions require more than one click-through

• The conversion rate is closely linked to the chosen match type

• The longer and more specific the search terms (keywords)
the higher the click-through and conversion rates

The SES international community is huge. And certainly the networking opportunities at all SES conferences provide fabulous opportunities to become totally aware of the unique marketing environments in specific geographic territories.

For those in the US who want to know more about the UK marketplace, SES, London is just around the corner. And if you’ve already registered, as so many have, be sure to sign up for the networking meet and greet on 15 Feb.

For those outside of the US wanting to break into it, it’s not too long to wait for SES, New York – meet up details coming soon.

And for those of you who prefer a little California sunshine with your digital marketing learning, there’s OMS, San Diego complete with a full day two track SES forum. This special forum brings some of the industry’s leading practitioners together for a unique day of search engine marketing wisdom.

Yesterday at SES Chicago, Google announced the following updates to Analytics:

Annotations

If you share Google Analytics information with multiple people, then this will be particularly useful. Just make a note about a spike or dip – and others can respond when they check the analytics on their end.

Custom Variables in Advanced Segments

Multiple custom variables were made available in October, but only as a report in the Visitors section. Beginning this week, you can create advanced segmentation based on custom variables.

Custom Variables in Custom Reports

The custom variables expansion continues with the ability to create custom reports with them. Compare custom variables against any Google Analytics metric with a custom report.

New Analytics Tracking Code Setup Wizard

You can’t get the data unless the tracking code is installed properly. This hasn’t been the easiest of tasks for the coding-challenged. Google’s making it easier for you to get the code working on your site.

New Version of The Analytics API

For this new feature, Google is being a tease. A bigger announcement would come later this week, but they offered up a hint: support for advanced segmentation.

When you search for a particular keyword or a phrase, most of the search engines return a list of page in order of the number of times the keyword or phrase appears on the website. Google web search technology involves the use of its indigenously designed Page Rank Technology and hypertext-matching analysis which makes several instantaneous calculations undertaken without any human intervention. Google’s structural design also expands simultaneously as the internet expands.

Page Rank technology involves the use of an equation which comprises of millions of variables and terms and determines a factual measurement of the significance of web pages and is calculated by solving an equation of 500 million variables and more than 3 billion terms. Unlike some other search engines, Google does not calculate links, but utilizes the extensive link structure of the web as an organizational tool. When the link to a Page, let’s say Page B is clicked from a Page A, then that click is attributed as a vote towards Page B on behalf of Page A.