Byte Level Research, a company dedicated to best practices in web and content globalization, has just released its 2018 Web Globalization Report Card. Below is a description of the report from its author, John Yunker.
“The 2018 Web Globalization Report Card is the most ambitious report I’ve written so far and it sheds light on a number of new and established best practices in website globalization. First, here are the top-scoring websites from the report:
Google was unseated this year by Wikipedia. Wikipedia, with support for an amazing 298 languages, made a positive improvement to global navigation over the past year that pushed it into the top spot. And Wikipedia, due to the fact that it is completely user-supported, indicates that there is great demand for languages on the Internet — and very few companies have yet responded in kind.
Google could still stand to improve in global navigation, as could Facebook.
Other highlights from the top 25 list include:
- Consumer goods companies such as Pampers and Nestlé are a positive sign that non-tech companies are making positive strides in improving their website globalization skills.
- As a group, the top 25 websites support an average of more than 80 languages (up from 54 last year); but note that we added a few websites that made a big impact on that average.
- Luxury brands such as Gucci and Ralph Lauren continue to lag in web globalization — from poor support for languages to inadequate localization.
- The average number of languages supported by all 150 global brands is now 32.
The data underlying the Report Card is based on studying the leading global brands and world’s largest companies — 150 companies across more than 20 industry sectors
The Top 25 Global Websites
Wikipedia unseated Google this year. While Google regressed slightly in its global navigation, Wikipedia made a subtle but important step forward. And Wikipedia supports the most lightweight mobile website of any of the 150 websites studied.
NIVEA provides a good case study of a company that localizes its models for a number of its local websites (though there is still plenty of room for improvement).
Hotels.com and Booking.com remain closely matched in both languages and global gateway strategies — and continue to lead over airline, hotel and cruise line websites in global best practices.
Consumer goods companies such as IKEA and Nestlé are a positive sign of non-tech companies continuing to improve their website globalization skills.
This year, we added a small number of religion websites to the mix based on their support for languages. The JW.org website leads all websites with support for more than 600 languages, and the LDS.org website supports 115 languages. But they made the top 25 list not just because of languages but because they exhibit of a number of web globalization best practices.
China missteps plagued a number of companies over the past few months, including Zara and Delta Airlines. We include information on how companies can avoid these issues — as well as a new report: Web Globalization Bloopers & Blunders.
The average number of languages supported by all 150 global websites is now 32. It was a relatively slow year for many companies, though websites such as Google, Facebook, Zara, Pfizer, Netflix, IKEA and Xiaomi continued to add languages at a good pace.”
The report also focuses specifically on certain industries. One example is the Automobile industry. This is what the report reveals:
“This year, BMW unseated Nissan, reclaiming the top spot. Both BMW and Nissan made the 25 list of best global websites.
BMW deserves credit for an increased focus on local-language social content — as well as the promotion of this content on its local websites. It also made slight improvements to its global template over the past year.
Here are a few highlights from the report:
- “The automotive sector has long been a leader in languages. The average number of languages supported by these 16 websites is an impressive 41 languages.
- Mercedes most recently added two new local websites (and languages) raising its language total to 44. The company has been slowly (perhaps too slowly) rolling out a responsive design.
- When it comes to global navigation, no automotive website stands apart. Too many automotive websites either bury the global gateway in the footer or overlook it entirely. Technologies like geolocation and content negotiation are not utilized to the degree that they could be to improve the user experience.
- What’s the best global website among American-based automotive companies? That would be Chevrolet. Among other best practices, Chevy does a good job of supporting Spanish for the US market.
- Subaru was a new addition to the Report Card this year. With support for 39 languages, it holds its own with the other global auto brands.
- Ford made a notable improvement to its global navigation over the past year.
Automotive companies still have a long ways to go in improving global consistency and navigation. They decentralized structures have historically prevented them from working globally in this regard. And it’s easy to see how fragmented a site from Toyota or
Chevrolet appears when compared with Tesla. Granted, Tesla supports a fraction of the number of models, but the architecture of the Tesla website ensures that it can scale better than the legacy sites of other automotive companies.
Learn from the best global websites
Web globalization often leaves marketing and web teams with more questions than answers, such as:
- What languages should we support?
- How do we build a user-friendly global gateway?
- How valuable are country codes to people around the world?
- How is our global website doing compared with our competitors—and why?
- What common mistakes are companies making with their websites?
- What emerging trends should we be aware of?
- How do we design a website to best manage diverse brands and diverse locales?
The report, now in its 14th edition, answers these questions and many more. You’ll learn which companies have improved their global and mobile websites — and why. Through website profiles, loaded with screen shots, you’ll learn which practices to emulate and which to avoid. More than a dozen industries are profiled, with key globalization developments and best practices highlighted with screen shots.
150 global websites benchmarked
This year, like years before, we benchmarked 150 websites across more than a dozen industry categories. These websites comprise 80% of the companies on the Interbrand Best Global Brands 2017 list and more than 30% of the Fortune 100, ensuring a broad reach of global brands and businesses.
How to use the Web Globalization Report Card
This report serves two purposes. First, it calls attention to those websites that have excelled in the practice of web globalization. The companies that have made the top 25 did not get there by chance. The people who have helped raise their websites onto the top 25 list deserve recognition for helping their companies communicate effectively with the world, regardless of language, culture, or geography. Second, this report identifies emerging trends (both positive and negative) to help you avoid the painful missteps that others have already taken. This report is designed to help you guide your web, marketing, and mobile teams to positive, efficient action.
Never before have companies been expected to support so much content across so many languages and across so many devices. And while this continues to be a very exciting time to be involved in web globalization, it’s also quite challenging.
Two decades of web globalization experience
We have consulted with hundreds of multinationals and have learned what works and what doesn’t work and, just as important, where their websites are headed. This expertise is carried over into the methodology of the Report Card, the first report dedicated to best practices in web globalization.
We conduct a hands-on analysis of the world’s leading websites, analyzing how web designs are shared across countries and mobile platforms, noting languages used on every website, studying local content, social media, and navigation. This information, along with nearly a decade of historical data, will help you benchmark your company against competitive and “best of breed” sites such as Google, Facebook, Amazon, and Hotels.com. A combination of quantitative data and practical, hands-on advice make this report an invaluable resource for any company doing business across borders.
Who this report is for:
- Marketing executives use this report to improve the effectiveness and usability of their global websites. The numerous screen shots included in the report clearly illustrate trends and best practices. The report points out flaws in many of the world’s most popular websites — and, more important, makes clear suggestions for improvement.
- Web and IT executives use this report to learn best practices and drive changes within their companies based on concrete data. For example, knowing exactly which companies are now using geolocation can help raise awareness and get management buy-in. No other report will tell you exactly which companies are using geolocation right now and which companies are using language detection.
- Web design firms and advertising agencies rely on this report to upgrade their web globalization skills. This report’s accessibility and its wide range of real-world examples makes complex concepts more easily understood.
The report is broken down in several sections
Part I: Notable Trends & Best Practices
- China and your website
- Browsing across borders
- Why you should support Arabic
- What to know about India
- Notable website redesigns
- The only global gateway icon you should be using
- The global gateway location: Header or footer?
- How many websites support Spanish for the US?
- Cookies are a global problem
- Social networks and your website
- Surveys speaking in tongues
- For more than a billion people, data is a very limited resource
- Geolocation update
- The new top-level domain names update
- How much flexibility is too much flexibility?
- Country codes update
- Image localization
- Web globalization everywhere
- Machine translation everywhere
Part II: Language Leaders and Trends
- The average number of languages your website should support
- Language leaders
- Website globalization is a journey without end
- Websites gaining languages
- Language totals for all websites
- The 100-language club
- Most popular languages
- What are the global languages?
Part III: The Websites and How They Were Scored
- How websites were selected
- The websites
- Scoring methodology
- Global Reach (Languages)
- Global Navigation
- Global/Mobile Architecture
- Localization & Social
- Methodology FAQ
- What do the scores mean?
Part IV: Website Scores
- All website scores
- Global navigation leaders
- Most global companies use country codes
- Why you should use the globe icon
- It’s time to stop using flags
- Geolocation is a proven web localization solution
- Geolocation
- Leaders in global consistency
Part V: Website Highlights by Industry
- Industry leaders
- Automotive
- Consumer Goods
- Consumer Technology
- Delivery Services
- Diversified
- Enterprise Technology
- Financial Services
- Luxury
- Media
- Professional Services
- Religion
- Retail
- Travel & Hospitality
- Web Services
The Web Globalization Report Card is a copyright of Byte Level Research LLC. Trademark pending.
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