What do I need to know?

[JimKungFu]

I have a client in Hong Kong that needs help. I'm an American SEO who has never done work for China. Help!

[ihelpyou]

Welcome to the forums Jim! :hi:

Why did you take this client on if you can't help him? :)

[Jim_Hedger]

ummm. it might help if you learned Cantonese and Mandarin as well eh?

Do you have any partners in Hong Kong to ask questions of?

good luck

[Kal]

Hi Jim

You need to give us more specifics about what you need help with. Does this client want you to optimize a Chinese language site or an English site? What are the geographic markets the site is trying to target? Will you be required to do translation?

I know a couple of companies that specialize in multiple language SEO so I can recommend them if you need help.

[JimKungFu]

Let me clarify. I've been contacted by a Hong Kong Agency that wants me to help them with SEO for a client. I know something about SEO in the US, and have proved my acumen with my own websites and consistent practice and experimentation. They will have someone that can translate that over to the Chines website they want help with, but I haven't come across anything that would lead me to believe that it works the exact same way in other countries. Since the major SE companies ARE products of the U.S., I guess I'm assuming they will work the same way somewhere else. Are my assumptions wrong?

And are there some Chinese based SEs that I should include in my advice to them?

[JimKungFu]

I should also say that the client they want help with is a "travel" oriented site which is in both chinese and english. I'm assuming that it is practically a duplicate from one to the other.

Tough keywords and competitive search terms for good placement in any country's market.

[Connie]

Hi Jim and welcome. :hi:

[Kal]

If they have an English version of their site in place, that will make your job a lot easier. Start by applying what you know to their English site and SEO it. Take your optimized English Title and META tags and have them translated (by Chinese speakers!) into the appropriate language, making sure they use the equivalent jargon and regionalization rather than straight translation. Apply these to the Chinese version of the site.

You could take this even further by having their staff conduct keyword research in Chinese using Google's keyword sandbox to ensure the Chinese keywords targeted are as appropriate as the English ones you identified.

The most important thing is to ensure that the Chinese site is submitted to the most popular Chinese language search engines and the English site is submitted to the most popular English language search engines based in China and Hong Kong. There is a list of the latter here (http://www.high-search-engine-ranking.com/List_of_Regional_Search_Engines.htm) on my site. Hope this helps!

[Dave Hawley]

Hi Jim

Perhaps you would best serve your client by telling them your dilema and suggesting they use someone else....localized? I'm sure they will appreciate the honesty......I would!