The top 25 global websites from the 2022 Web Globalization Report Card

I’m pleased to announce the publication of the 2022 Web Globalization Report Card.  This is the 18th annual edition of the Report Card, and it reflects another difficult year. And yet there is much to be optimistic about as we look …

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Five reasons to avoid using maps on your website

Robert Frost wrote that good fences make good neighbors. Yet when it comes to virtual fences, visualized as maps, I’m not sure there is any way to create “good fences.” So many regions around the world are under dispute. And …

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COVID flattened the language curve, and that’s actually good news

I began the Web Globalization Report Card back in 2003. It became the first report of it kind to benchmark global websites and I’ve been publishing this report annually ever since then. For the first time in all those years, …

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The top 25 best global websites from the 2021 Web Globalization Report Card

I’m pleased to announce the publication of the 2021 Web Globalization Report Card.  This is the 17th annual edition of the Report Card, and it reflects a challenging year. Yet there is much to be optimistic about as we look ahead. …

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The best 25 global websites of 2020

In keeping with past years, I’m pleased to announce the top 25 websites from the 2020 Web Globalization Report Card. When compared with last year’s top 25 list, there are a number of new entrants to the list: Airbnb: As …

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The top 10 global websites from the 2020 Web Globalization Report Card

I began the Report Card back in 2003 because, at the time, there was nothing out there that focused specifically on the globalization and localization of websites. And, to be honest, most websites were not all that “global” yet; 10 …

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Google’s global trends 2019

For anyone interested in a truly global (and local) view of the world’s Internet users, I recommend spending a few minutes here. At a global level, it’s revealing to see that the leading search phrase was “India vs. South Africa,” …

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Airbnb doubles (yes, doubles) its linguistic reach

As I’ve documented in many editions of the Web Globalization Report Card, companies tend to add languages in fits and starts. The overall average is about one additional language per year. But some companies expand their global reach in sprints. …

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1,000 languages: The world’s most multilingual website

The Jehovah’s Witnesses announced today that its website reached 1,000 languages, an impressive achievement. The release notes: On November 4, 2019, jw.org, the official website of Jehovah’s Witnesses, reached an unprecedented translation milestone—it now includes articles, videos, and audio content available …

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The tragic irony of Amazon vs. Amazon

Imagine if a Brazilian technology company created an online store called Appalachia. And, over the years, Appalachia.com grew to become a global giant, so much so that the company pursued exclusive ownership of the top-level domain Appalachia. So not only …

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The best global websites from the 2019 Web Globalization Report Card

A little more than 15 years ago, I began benchmarking websites for a new report I had in mind, tentatively titled the Web Globalization Report Card. The number one website in the first Report Card was a startup company by the …

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To create a world-ready mobile app, think small, as in “lite”

If you don’t know what your mobile app weighs (in kilobytes), then it’s safe to say your emerging market strategy could use some tweaking. That’s not to be harsh, but to face the simple fact that mobile users in emerging …

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Think Outside the Country (now available in Japanese)

I received my copies of the Japanese edition of Think Outside the Country and am very impressed. The book, like the English edition, is in full color and uses high quality paper. The book is published by Born Digital (in collaboration with Mitsue-Links) You can …

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The top 25 websites from the 2018 Web Globalization Report Card

I’m excited to announce the publication of The 2018 Web Globalization Report Card. This 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 …

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