Icrossing: Parlez Vous SEM?

New York-based search engine marketing (SEM) agency icrossing has teamed with Translations.com to develop multilingual SEM solutions.

“As we look at our client base, so many of them have an international presence, and potential for growth in those markets,” said Jonathan Cottrell, icrossing’s strategic alliances representative. A quarter of icrossing’s customers are on the Fortune 1000 list, most of which have a multi-national presence.

Scenarios the two firms expect to address include U.S. companies seeking to target Hispanics or other ethnic groups within the country; a multinational company wanting to reach customers in several countries; or a company based overseas aiming to reach U.S. customers.

The linguistic and localization services of Translations.com involve more than just translating keywords. For example, while English-speaking searchers interested in vacations may be looking for “resorts,” searchers in another language may be more likely to use the word for “hotel” instead.

“There’s a lot that goes into it. With search marketing, we want to see what people are actually searching for,” Cottrell said. “They provide the insight into what people are searching for in other languages, while we’re doing the optimization and code work behind all that.”

Icrossing will begin by offering Translations.com’s services to its own existing clients, and several Translations.com clients interested in search marketing. The company plans to roll out packaged solutions for multi-lingual SEM solutions down the road.