Odds are your global strategy is lacking or nonexistent. But if you keep it simple and try, you have nothing to lose and everything to gain.

I still get a good chuckle when people ask me, "What about global?" or, "Is this a global plan?" The reason for my amusement is that I'm usually in a room somewhere in the U.S. that is filled with English-speaking people. Occasionally there is someone in the room who has an accent who nods in agreement -- most likely due to jet lag -- that makes us all feel as if we've checked the global box.

Just as recently as six months ago, a potential client asked me, "How can you service our global needs?" While the client was able to somewhat explain the global structure, which is usually done on some sort of whiteboard, there was nobody global in the room, nor were they able to answer questions about those markets' needs and objectives outside of increasing awareness.

It got me thinking of something my father, a Cuban-born immigrant, told me long ago (in a thick Senor Wences): "Keep it simple stupid." Ah, the bonds of fatherhood. My dad's comments to me, in time, would make Alec Baldwin blush, but he's right; keep it simple. 

Are you sure you need to be global?
Despite the service that you offer, treat country managers as true partners and ask what has value to be global and what doesn't. Just because your Latin American counterparts only account for five percent of sales doesn't mean they're not doing tremendously innovative work or deserve a seat. 

There should be some standards in terms of taglines, logos, official site verbiage, et cetera, if that recognition means something globally. Coke, J&J, Disney, Ford, no matter where you are, these companies elicit a response and therefore should be leveraged. If you're not a "tattoo brand," or you make a great product in only a few countries, don't try to boil the ocean in an attempt to globalize everything. It will simply slow you down and ultimately make you more enemies.

Try to identify the top-line goals of global (described below) and let country managers work toward that with their own UX, IA and design. Does a searcher in the U.K. care that a site has top navigation but the U.S. version doesn't? What are the odds they're even on both sites? Yes, there are efficiencies with a uniform template CMS, et cetera, which if you can do seamlessly, by all means do. But don't treat it like an all-or-none proposition.

What does global mean?
Why do people think "global" means that everything is the same, and that it is managed through one resource on one platform with one look and feel? Is the world a uniform place? My wife and I were on vacation with the kids in Cancun and were convinced the city's milk source was spoiled until we learned they use goat's milk. Just because the Westin in the U.S. has two percent milk doesn't mean the one in Cancun does, or has to. The only uniformity I see globally is that the Starbucks in New Hope looks just like the one in Frankfurt.

Can't globalizing search mean that we all agree on a top-line set of KPIs (we all know what they are) to be integrated into the search engines, with a presence that makes sense for our regions? I swear, if we thought less, this would be the easiest meeting in the world. 

Guy on speaker phone: "OK. It looks like search is getting bigger and bigger, and our numbers tell us it is driving insert KPIs. Can we all agree to have campaigns active on the major engines (which may not mean Google, Yahoo! and MSN) in both the paid and organic listings?"

Others: "Si," "Dah," "Yes" -- in an Australian and British Accent -- "Oui," et cetera.

Guy on speaker phone: "Great. Let's keep these meetings monthly, set up a distribution list, ask questions and help each other share successes, blah, blah, blah."

Playing nice
Despite the utopian company I just created, there are a few things that have to be done in order to make it this simple. You have to share access to data. This is probably a bigger issue if there is not one analytics package at play, but what if you all just downloaded your results to an Excel file and tracked the same top-line metrics that you know are important globally?

You have to share resources, not people resources, but what's at your disposal. If the U.S. has all the images and content you need, take it from them and work with a local resource to make it your own. Far too often marketing communications people get hung up on the fact that they paid for something the rest of the world is getting for free. So what? Aren't you all part of the same company that rolls into the same financial number and stock price?  

You have to share success. As a global company, I can tell you that I like hearing what our London office is doing even though it may be on a smaller scale. Small scale doesn't mean it's not important. This also goes a long way in bridging relationships overseas, where the sentiment may be "us vs. them." Think Stallone's speech at the end of "Rocky IV."

The technical language of search
I don't want you to think I am oversimplifying this section. There are clearly technical issues at play here that will require more focus. Search engine spiders examine various technical aspects of a site that are language agnostic. A multi-variable URL, JavaScript menu, et cetera, present the same challenges for the Googlebot in Japan as they do for the one in Germany. A good best practices document -- level setting the IP configuration and other technical aspects -- can take care of a major part of the problem. This also allows you to share and translate content without tripping a duplicate content issue.

The most important technical issue is whether your country sites reside on the appropriate country domains. Don't host all of a country's sites on a .com and expect them to be found overseas. Google, for example, selects the results you see by using your IP address. If you are searching in Germany, you are taken to Google.de, with .de sites results.

In paid search, the filters are not as tight on the results due to the lack of overseas competition. An English.com site has the ability to get a high listing on a .de search. However, think about the increased legitimacy of your site among users if the ad is translated into that local language and hosted on a country-specific domain?

The engines also allow you to not only geo-target, but also to offer users the ability to decide if they want to see the answers or the interface in their language. Plan for both. Since many companies don't take advantage of this, there is the ability to rank organically rather quickly, even if your site or campaigns are poorly optimized.

Mots-clés, Palabras Claves, Parole chiavi, Trefwoorden, and friggin keywords
You can't simply translate your AdWords copy, site content, tags, et cetera. Countries need to be able to take what others have developed and alter it for their country. If you have existing performance data try using that first and tweaking the language to make it more appropriate before you decide to reinvent the campaign. While "gas efficient cars" is different from "petrol efficient autos," the intent is the same. The two people searching above are looking for the same thing.

As you can tell, I can be a little bitter about the time spent thinking about how to do something rather than just trying. Sometimes it works. See YouTube. Sometimes it doesn't. See New Coke. But if you keep it simple and try, you have nothing to lose and everything to gain. Odds are your global strategy is lacking or nonexistent. If you went with the plan, could you possibly make it worse? Of course not; and you could also be able to answer the global question that may be stumping your organization.

Joshua Palau is group director for search engine marketing at Avenue A|Razorfish. Read full bio.