The best global websites of 2012
The best global
websites of 2012
I’m happy to announce the publication
Card. This year, we reviewed
105 websites across 17 industries; the websites
comprise 70% of the Interbrand Best Global
Brands of 2011. This year, we also reviewed
mobile websites and mobile apps, to better
understand how companies were balancing
global and mobile strategies.
Out of the websites reviewed,
here are the top 25 overall:
Last year, Facebook emerged (barely) as
number one. This year, Google reclaims
the top spot. Although Google continues to
struggle to harmonize its global navigation
across its many applications, the company
also continues to invest in globalization.
Google now supports more than 140 languages
on its search engine and its new Google+
app supports an impressive 40 languages.
Facebook’s mobile app, by comparison,
supports just 13 languages. Though Facebook
continues to improve its global navigation,
its language growth stalled in 2011.
As a group, the top 10 websites support
an average of more than 50 languages.
They also demonstrate a high degree of global
design consistency across most, if not all,
localized websites. This degree of consistency
allows them to focus their energies on content
and mobile localization. Two new companies
on this list – Hotels.com andBooking.com –
exhibit an impressive commitment to mobile
devices. Any company that is developing a
global mobile strategy should study these
two companies.
Why didn’t Apple make the top 10?
I’m anticipating I will get asked this as I was
asked the same thing last year. After all,
how can a company with nearly $100 billion
in the bank not be in the top 10? It seems
that Apple has been rather tightfisted with
its translation spending; the company
supports far fewer languages on its website
than on its mobile operating system iOS.
Does it make sense for an iPad and iPhone
to support Arabic and Hebrew and for
Apple’s website not to support these languages?
Language parity between mobile and
PC is a key component of the 2012
Report Card and Apple did not fare
well in this regard.
It’s worth noting that of the websites
reviewed, roughly half now support
Arabic and/or Hebrew.
In the Report Card, languages account for 25% of
a web site’s score. We also evaluate a web site’s
depth and breadth of local content, support for
local-language social networks, the effectiveness
of the global gateway, and global consistency
across PC and mobile platforms. Beginning
in 2010, we began tracking how companies
promote local social platforms such as
Facebook and Twitter around the world.
In 2010, only a handful of companies supported
a Twitter or Facebook page outside of English.
Today, more than half of all companies reviewed
support a social network outside of English.
Cisco Systems is worth studying for its Social@Cisco pages. This social aggregation page was first launched in 2010. It is now available in more than 30 markets, with local feeds incorporated.
Hard for me to believe, but this is the eighth edition of the Report Card. It’s the largest report ever, with 40 website profiles and a special section on “taking mobile global.” I’ll have lots more to say in the weeks ahead.
To learn more, check out the 2012 Web Globalization Report Card.
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ONE THOUGHT ON “THE BEST GLOBAL WEBSITES OF 2012”