How to change Ukraine’s image on Google

Lots of Ukrainians are furious at the fact that Ukrainian dating sites dominate Google search results about Ukraine. Google Autocomplete (or Google Instant) inserts “Ukrainian women” as one of the top options to search for. While Ukrainian women are beautiful, websites of the Ukrainian agencies that focus on arranged marriages are not the best sources of information to promote Ukraine’s image. Let’s work together to change this!

One can find tons of various Ukrainian dating sites that make money by connecting Ukrainian women with foreign men. These sites seem to be profitable, and while they dominate organic Google search results, they also invest in Google paid ads and occupy the top screen real estate spots located above the organic (non-paid) listings. All of this makes relevant promotional information about Ukraine go unnoticed.

In the wake of Euro 2012, The Netherlands created a sexy ad that infuriated Ukraine. The ad supposedly made use of erotic images of Ukrainian women and has triggered a diplomatic row between Amsterdam and Kyiv.

What can we do to change Ukraine’s image on Google?

Having worked on search engine optimization for quite some time, we know that Google Autocomplete suggestions depend on the number of purely objective factors (e.g. the popularity/volume of search terms). If we start searching on Google for specific terms, we can change the dominant autocomplete options and move the “Ukrainian women” term down the list. We need to be organized though and focus on 2-3 terms to get the most out of our efforts. Let’s promote the “Ukrainian culture” and “Ukrainian people” terms.

So here is what we ask you to do:

1. Search for “ukrainian culture” and “ukrainian people” phrases.
2. Spread the message about this campaign around.
3. Those who do not understand English can read a Google Translate version of this page.

Here is what the Ukrainian Government can do:

Invest in Google Ad Words to promote Ukraine by bidding higher than the dating agencies on the phrase “Ukraine” and “Ukrainian.” This will move down (or eliminate from the 1^st page) the dating sites’ ad positions. If you do not know how to run Google Ad Words campaigns, please get in touch with us, and we will help.

Please share your thoughts and comments below.