Local Character Adwords explode in Japan

[Rubber Duck]

Please find below a list of hot keywords and the number of Adwords impressions that are displayed for each. To see these you will need to be resident in Japan or at least use a Japan based Anonymous Proxy Server.



格安航空券 Cheap air ticket 124
派遣 Temp Worker 109
物件 object things 100
贈り物 Gift 67
格安チケット Cheap ticket 59
クレジット・カード credit card 48
バイト Temp/Agency Work 37
英語教師 English Teacher 30
格安ホテル Cheap hotel 30
ショッピング Shopping 30
日本語 教師 Japanese Teacher 26
ノート Notebook 25
英会話教師 English Conversation Teacher 24
ギター Guitar 23
カレンダー calendar 17
東京 Tokyo 15
ボックス Box 14
コピー Copy 12
机器 / machine / machine 11
光 / light / ray / bright / light 10
格安宿 Cheap inn 10


Best Regards
Dave Wrixon

[Edwin]

Yes, adwords has been strong here for quite a while. But there's not yet the depth that there is in say the US. What I mean is that the obvious keywords have plenty of ads, but minor stuff has none at all whereas in the US and Europe people have delved more widely in search of cheaper ads. This will probably change soon enough, but right now there seem to be very few "expert" players running Adwords campaigns here.

BTW, here are a few more strong ones...

ローン loan 70
キャッシング "cashing" (another way of saying loan, but specifically loans taken out on a special bank card) 69
生命保険 life insurance 38

[Rubber Duck]

Originally Posted by Edwin

Yes, adwords has been strong here for quite a while. But there's not yet the depth that there is in say the US. What I mean is that the obvious keywords have plenty of ads, but minor stuff has none at all whereas in the US and Europe people have delved more widely in search of cheaper ads. This will probably change soon enough, but right now there seem to be very few "expert" players running Adwords campaigns here.

BTW, here are a few more strong ones...

ローン loan 70
キャッシング "cashing" (another way of saying loan, but specifically loans taken out on a special bank card) 69
生命保険 life insurance 38

Fully accept what you are saying.

The list provided only relates to domains that we own.

The thing about Adwords in Japan is not so much where it has arrived, but how quickly it has come from nearly nowhere. The depth has increased by about 4 fold in about a month. One presume there is additionally breathed as well. OK, it is not like US and Europe but at this rate it will not be long! Also, from an IDNers perspective the almost instant acceptance of Japanese Keywords in this context is very gratifing.

Best Regards
Dave Wrixon

[Edwin]

I don't really see it that way - Japanese searchers have ALWAYS searched in Japanese, IDN or no IDN, since the very early days of being online. So it's 100% logical that Adwords ads should be keyed to Japanese keywords!

What I'm saying is that IDN may or may not become popular, but it's independent of Adwords and indeed of the larger Japanese market - no behaviour is being changed because of IDN.

[Rubber Duck]

Originally Posted by Edwin

I don't really see it that way - Japanese searchers have ALWAYS searched in Japanese, IDN or no IDN, since the very early days of being online. So it's 100% logical that Adwords ads should be keyed to Japanese keywords!

What I'm saying is that IDN may or may not become popular, but it's independent of Adwords and indeed of the larger Japanese market - no behaviour is being changed because of IDN.

Yes, this is obviously where we part company.

Domainers all over the globe use the Overture Keyword tool to assess the liklihood of type-in. Overture clearly shows that the vast majority of people in Asia type in local characters. It, however, remains inconceivable that Chinese and Japanese will follow the same instincts when it comes to IDN. Why could that be? Well, one obvious explaination is because it simply doesn't work! No browser support!

Suppose they did try it one day, just like millions in the West and suddenly it did work, do really suppose that because they are breaking some western imposed Taboo that they desist from such deviant behaviour. And then even if they did start typing in then Japanese companies would hold the dot commer line, and sacrifice their own competitive advantage to maintain cultural purity on the internet. Or is just possible that like so many times in the last decade, there could be a sea change in the way people assess and use the internet?

Sorry, for me its a non-brainer.

Incidentally, it is being whisphered on the bloggs that Vista is going Beta 2 on December 17th with a final release on 23rd July 2006. IE 7.0 stand alone will almost certainly match or perhaps even significant beat those dates. It would seem that Judgement Day is upon us.

Best Regards
Dave Wrixon

[Edwin]

I wasn't talking about IDN.

I was saying that Japanese overture figures and Adwords don't say anything specific about the future likelihood of IDN becoming popular or not, since people here have been searching IN JAPANESE since the very earliest days of the Web. I am not saying that IDN won't become popular. Perhaps it's worth re-reading my post.

Do bear in mind that I am in the right locale to see all this stuff first-hand, and have been for over a decade.

[Olney]

Yeah actually Edwin is right.
Since we both have been part of the internet market in japan we have both seen Adwords based on Japan figures for years.
Google hasn't really done any fabulous new promotions in Tokyo recently.

A lot of the info I gave lets people know that a lot of the info out there can be limited to local data. I think about & do business in both worlds so a lot of the research I did was obvious to me but not everyone.

Most people in Japan actually already limit Adword campaign to just Japan & have been doing it for a long time. They already know they may basically want to target the Kanto area (Tokyo, Kanagawa, Saitama, Chiba) for example.

Truthfully I wrote this on another forum but I think the Yahoo version of text ads in not to dominate the English market. It's for Asia... Yahoo auction was the reason Ebay didn't fly well & closed down.

Many people know & trust Yahoo in Japan. I expect them to own the text ad market for Japan in a year after they release the Japan version.

[Rubber Duck]

Originally Posted by Olney

Yeah actually Edwin is right.
Since we both have been part of the internet market in japan we have both seen Adwords based on Japan figures for years.
Google hasn't really done any fabulous new promotions in Tokyo recently.

A lot of the info I gave lets people know that a lot of the info out there can be limited to local data. I think about & do business in both worlds so a lot of the research I did was obvious to me but not everyone.

Most people in Japan actually already limit Adword campaign to just Japan & have been doing it for a long time. They already know they may basically want to target the Kanto area (Tokyo, Kanagawa, Saitama, Chiba) for example.

Truthfully I wrote this on another forum but I think the Yahoo version of text ads in not to dominate the English market. It's for Asia... Yahoo auction was the reason Ebay didn't fly well & closed down.

Many people know & trust Yahoo in Japan. I expect them to own the text ad market for Japan in a year after they release the Japan version.

Olney, something has happened over the last month or so. I have been monitoring the number of Adwords on each of my domains, which are of course all Japanese keywords and there has been a huge leap compared with last month.

Edwin, apologises if I have misinterpreted your post. I accept that you guys are on the ground out there and I have never been to the Far East and don't speak any of the languages. However, with this kind of stuff, even in your own backyard, it can be going on all around without being very obvious. A couple of months ago Olney was a huge skeptic, based on what he felt he knew from his own experiences in Japan. A little digging in the right places and his attitude changed very quickly.

The other thing I think needs to be taken into account is that already, a lot of people will be deferring computer renewals for the launch of Vista. With Japan being in deep economic problems for most of the last decade, a huge number of computer replacements will have been deferred. The economic outlook there is now finally looking much brighter. Expectt massive shipments of new boxes when Vista is launched in Japan.

Best Regards
Dave Wrixon

[Edwin]

Originally Posted by dwrixon

The other thing I think needs to be taken into account is that already, a lot of people will be deferring computer renewals for the launch of Vista. With Japan being in deep economic problems for most of the last decade, a huge number of computer replacements will have been deferred. The economic outlook there is now finally looking much brighter. Expectt massive shipments of new boxes when Vista is launched in Japan.

Sorry to contradict you again, but I don't see anything locally that would back that expectation. Companies aren't hanging around waiting for Vista, and computers are dirt cheap already and getting cheaper by the day (like anywhere else I guess) and sales haven't exactly been slow over the last few years.

Note that the big growth is past on the proliferation front at least, with 82.8% of all households having Internet access (that includes web-enabled mobile phones) and there was a growth in the broadband market of over 10 million subscribers in 12 months. http://www.impressholdings.com/release/2005/025/

Where you're likely to still see growth is in online advertising rather than specifically internet use i.e. many many more yen chasing the same number of people...

[Rubber Duck]

Originally Posted by Edwin

Sorry to contradict you again, but I don't see anything locally that would back that expectation. Companies aren't hanging around waiting for Vista, and computers are dirt cheap already and getting cheaper by the day (like anywhere else I guess) and sales haven't exactly been slow over the last few years.

Note that the big growth is past on the proliferation front at least, with 82.8% of all households having Internet access (that includes web-enabled mobile phones) and there was a growth in the broadband market of over 10 million subscribers in 12 months. http://www.impressholdings.com/release/2005/025/

Where you're likely to still see growth is in online advertising rather than specifically internet use i.e. many many more yen chasing the same number of people...

Yes, it would seem that internet access figures both broadband and mobile from Far East are very impressive indeed. I think this will be particulary interesting in China, where the retail infrasture is being built from almost scratch. It seems likely that there will be a much bigger emphasis on online shopping than was the case in the early development of the internet in the west.

Well things are obviously not as gloomy as we have been led to believe. It would, however, seem from what you are saying that the numbers stuck on Windows 98 and therefore not able to benefit from the arrival IE 7.0 will be much smaller than previously indicated.

Best Regards
Dave Wrixon