Unlike the previous year, it is the Google which claimed the top position all over the world. It simply pushed back Facebook, the previous global leader. It was the survey and study of Byte Level which conducted the 212 Web Globalization Report Card in which it reviewed 105 websites on a global level. In the entire survey, 17 industries participated that included most of the three quarters of Interbrain’s Best Global Brands.
Changes in the study
A new and refreshing occurred this time while conducting the popular study which was about the inclusion of different class or segment. Yes, in this global study, the company thought of including the mobile applications and mobile users for much better understanding. It was done in order to know the fact how these companies balance the needs of global websites and mobile strategies.
Although Apple is more popular when it comes to thorough analysis and critical evaluation of the standards of different websites the recent survey did not included this company even in the list of top 10 websites. It is truly a fact which raises concern over the decreasing web traffic and popularity of the company against its rival, Google.
Criteria for evaluation of web globalization
- Reaching approach to the consumer world – As the websites reach the global consumers via different set of languages, it was kept at the top position while analyzing the index. In the current report, almost 32 languages were kept in the list.
- Ease in navigation – The consumers should find it easier to locate their personalized search items irrespective of the languages they know and speak. It was also about the quickness or time taken to find the most favorite content on the internet.
- Architecture of mobile or website support – Different web companies offer a wide variety of architecture support to the visitors. Mobile devices are also accessing the websites while maintaining the language parity. The responsiveness of the websites, compatibility of the mobile applications and easy customization were also kept in mind.
- Socialization and localization – The local sites should certainly promote the number of searches on weekly basis. The user should always find the website and its contents quite suitable and excellent in context of the local dialects and culture.
Where is Apple?
Although Apple is quite dominant in the digital space and portable global market yet it has failed to regain its top position in this survey of 2012. One of the reliable and well posted employee from the survey agency suggested that he was asked the same question in the previous year, too. How could a company with bank balance of $100 billion not score in the top 10? It is quite surprising but it should be taken the other way around. It is supposed that the company did not capitalize on the translation spending. No one knows how the iPad or iPhone behaved with Hebrew or Arabic languages. This was in fact, treated as the most favored cause for its failure.
It is needless to say that Apple has support for fewer languages on the web as compared to the mobile devices.
Summary: – This is simply the concept of language parity between the system and mobile phones that have kept Apple on the back foot. Google has scored the top position in the latest survey for web globalization and its support of more mobile applications and wider variety of languages.
[box]
Thank you, Susan. That was an interesting article.
It sounds like Google does a fantastic job of having a multitude of languages represented on its site which obviously contributes to its popularity. They are number one for a reason.
Nathan Gurley
People are more attracted to Google, it was faster and way easier to use with many different languages. Google will keep rising in popularity.