MexGrocer.com Case Study for SES San Jose

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Search Marketing to the U.S. Hispanic Market by
Nacho Hernandez
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MexGrocer.com Case Study

• Website Architecture Focus on SEO when building
  our website
• Search Engine Optimization en Español
• Search Engine Theme Pyramids
• Identifying your Spanish Keywords
• Pay Per Click en Español Paid Inclusion
• Alliances Partnerships
• Shopping Search Engines
• Building Link Popularity with Hispanic
  Authorities
• Local Search
• Conclusions

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The Company

• MexGrocer.com is the largest online grocery store
  for hard-to-find, non-perishable authentic
  Mexican food, cooking utensils and cookbooks.
• Sell over 1,000 items of imported and national
  leading brands through bilingual website.
• Partnered with a leading distributor of Mexican
  specialty foods for fulfillment and UPS ensures
  reliable delivery of all orders nationwide.
• MexGrocer.com fills a unique niche to both the 43
  million Hispanics (30 million Mexican Americans)
  and the ever-increasing number of Anglo Americans
  in the U.S. that crave and enjoy Mexican foods.
• According to Datamonitor, the total Mexican food
  market in the U.S. was valued at 18.3 billion in
  2002.
• "Two shopping categories which U.S. Hispanics are
  more likely to tap than the general U.S. online
  population are consumer electronic items and
  home-delivered groceries. - source comScore
  Media Metrix, January 2003

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July 2000
July 2001
February 2003
Soft Launch SPLASH Page format
Removed Frames (2 Stores)
Yahoo! Store (1 Store)
Dynamic Website Same Title Meta Tag across
all pages Huge URLs with Session IDs Large file
sizes (80-100K) Slow load time (35 sec.) No use
of ALT tags No robots.txt file
Website in 4 FRAMES
SEO Architecture Focus Static HTML Unique Title
Meta Tags Small file sizes (25-50K) Faster
load time (10 15 sec.) Good use of Alt Tags
Anchor Text Theme Pyramids Bilingual at the
Site Structure Product Level
Many many flaws !
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Search Engine Optimization en Español
HIGH Traffic Low Conversion












Low Traffic High Conversion
Image Source SearchEngineWorld Search Engine
Theme Pyramids

• Separated content in theme pyramid structures for
  English and Spanish
• Added MUCHO content for both languages (one page
  is not enough) with high keyword density
  frequency
• Bilingual at the product Level (Money Words )
• Careful when doing keyword research! Keywords en
  Español are backwards to the same keywords in
  English.
• Example Anglo User Herdez Salsa Verde
• Example Spanish User Salsa Verde Herdez
• Marks used in words such as the ñ need to be
  dropped in high scoring factors (title, anchor
  text, meta tags) since they are not part of
  regular U.S. keyboards. Use correct grammar on
  visible areas of the page.
• Misspelling is very important because 2nd and 3rd
  generation Hispanics start to forget the language
  (ie. Pozole vs. Posole)
• BIG Surprise Anglos will Search en Español very
  frequently to get the more authentic products
  (ie. salsa verde vs. green salsa). Therefore
  some keywords needed English landing pages with
  option to go to Spanish translations.

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Here is an example
Identify your Spanish Keywords for Spanish
Users ONLY
Make it bilingual at the product level (avoid
page duplication)
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Pay per Click Paid Inclusion
Hispanics
PPC
PFI
ROI
?
?
ROI ?
ROI ?
ROI ?
ROI ?
Cost / Conversions
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Alliances Partnerships
Check the SERPs! They may be getting better
rankings on YOUR keywords
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Shopping Search Engines
These engines have high traffic of U.S. Hispanics
and may be bidding on your keywords through PPC
or getting higher rankings on the SERPs.
Users will Search en Español here as well and
buy in English.
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Building Link Popularity

• Our INBOUND links mainly come from the
  manufacturers / cookbook authors
• which are seen as Hispanic authorities under
  their Spanish keyword themes. . . .
• Same Rules Apply! Buy links ONLY from websites
  that have high quality traffic of U.S. Hispanic
  users and bring any ROI to your business.
• Link OUT to websites that you want Hispanic
  users to really find as useful.
• Get listed in most directories on the web.
  Here is a tip for Spanish Directories
• Build Press Releases Ghostwritten articles
  then submit to

 World Español
Referencia Buscadores y
directorios
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New Project Local Search will be BIG!
71 of all U.S. Hispanic households
are concentrated in 20 markets. source
Synovate 2004
MexGrocer will expand its possibilities with this
great NEW opportunity targeting the U.S.
Hispanic Market. New for 2004 ?
Source U.S. Census, 2000 for U.S. Hispanic
Geographic Distribution of Population
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Conclusions

• Focus on SEO when building your website or
  rebuilding it to include the U.S. Hispanic
  Market.
• Search Engine Optimization en Español
• Use theme pyramids instead of multiple language
  versions of the same site.
• Avoid duplicate content that might rank the wrong
  landing pages higher on the SERPs.
• Search en Español is backwards and drop the
  letters with marks such as the ñ.
• Ecommerce sites might want to make product pages
  bilingual (money words).
• Pay Per Click en Español Paid Inclusion
• Careful research for identifying Spanish keywords
  for Spanish users with Spanish landing pages.
• Test for ROI with the PPC engines and its
  partner sites too.
• Keep checking for Paid Inclusion for the U.S.
  Hispanic market.
• Build Alliances Partnerships if you
  cant beat them, join them.
• Hispanic consumers find their way around shopping
  search engines with Spanish keywords and buy in
  English as well.
• Build Link Popularity with Hispanic Authorities
  today and get a piece of the whole enchilada
  tomorrow.

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