Have you ever come across content that leaves you wondering how it was ever approved in the first place? Well, this ebook is all about making sure that doesn't happen. Looking at bias, stereotyping, prejudice, and discrimination through the lenses of social learning theory and social identity theory, I explore the theories then look at what can be done to avoid these types of behaviour. Then, I look at some practical explamples of problematic campaigns and most importantly, steps you can take to make sure that your international SEO campaigns are inclusive.

1. INCLUSIVE INTERNATIONAL
SEO STRATEGIES
THE PSYCHOLOGY BEHIND

2. Foreword
I’d like to start this eBook off with a disclaimer.
While marketing mishaps are often laughed
at, we often forget to sit back and think of the
harm that they can cause.
The aim of my talk at BrightonSEO in 2023 was to
show that these kinds of fails cause hurt. It’s hard to
notice if they’re aimed at a group you don’t identify
with, but those words and campaigns do cause harm.
As marketers, we have the power to bring people
together. This is why we need inclusive international
SEO campaigns that build bridges rather than break
them. And to do that, you need to understand where
biases and discrimination come from in the first place.
All of the examples in this e-book come from content
that companies have put time into creating, and that
can be found online, or in a tool. This is why, as an
industry, we need to do better.
My hope is that this eBook will help you to take
your own company to the next level of inclusive
international SEO strategies.
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3. 3
Let’s start off right at the very beginning and look at what DEI
actually is. Standing for diversity, equity, and inclusion, DEI is all
about giving people, regardless of age, sex, sexual orientation,
religion, skin color, etc., access to equal opportunities, and
ensure everyone has a seat at the table.
As DEI consultant Jamie Shields demonstrated wonderfully
through a graphic he created, here you can see how DEI works
in practice:
What is DEI?
And as the quote goes – “diversity is about counting heads;
inclusion is about making those heads count”.

4. 4
Why does DEI matter in SEO?
It’s pretty obvious why DEI is so important in the workplace,
but you might be wondering why DEI matters in SEO. As I
mentioned right at the beginning of this eBook, there are so
many marketing campaigns and pieces of content out there
that leave you wondering who ever approved them, because
they’re often so insensitive, and sometimes plain racist or
ableist.
However, this can all be avoided by making sure that the
group you’re writing about is included in discussions from the
beginning. I, for example, can always tell when content about
neurodiversity is written by a neurotypical person.

5. 5
Before we look at more examples of how we can implement
DEI best practices into our SEO campaigns, it’s important that
we look at how stereotyping, prejudice, and discrimination
comes into play in the first place.
In order for people to make sense of the world they live in and
to help them process information faster, people use what are
called schemas to help speed up cognitive processes. These
schemas allow you easily access information, e.g. tomatoes are
red, grass is green, the sky is blue etc. We also use schemas to
categorize information to make it easier to process, e.g. they’re
travelling by plane wearing a suit, they must be a businessman.
However, there is a downside to categorization. We
often categorize people into groups, and that can lead to
stereotyping, e.g. they are wearing a dress so they must be a
woman, the Irish like drinking. And I bet you can guess where
this is going.
Stereotyping, Prejudice, & Discrimination
Here you can see how stereotyping can lead to prejudice and
in-group favoritism*, as it’s the affect of stereotyping. Then,
prejudice then leads to the behavior of discrimination.
*In-groups are groups of people you’ve categorized who are like you. Out-groups are
groups that you’ve categorized who are different to you.

6. 6
One way of showing what this looks like in real life is through
the lens of social identity theory and The Troubles in Northern
Ireland. A psychologist called Cairns researched the issue of
categorization and came up with 5 methods that people in
Northern Ireland used to categorize someone as either Catholic
or Protestant. This included area of residence, school attended,
name (first & surname), appearance, and speech. It might
sound like a simple act of categorization but it can be clearly
linked to a number of undesirable side effects.
A group of psychologists decided to explore this in more detail
by looking at the impact categorization had on children growing
up during the conflict. What they did was set up an experiment
where they’d ask pre-school age children to simply play with
building blocks.
Building blocks were chosen based on color, and included
orange, white, and green bricks to represent the Irish tricolor,
and blue, white, and red to represent the Union Jack. In control
groups in Edinburgh, the children played with the building
blocks as expected, building shapes and towers by mixing the
colors randomly.
However, when they did the experiment in Belfast, they realized
that the children were segregating the different color bricks
based on which flags they represented. When the psychologists
asked why the children weren’t using all the bricks, as they’re
just colors, they were shocked to hear the young children reply
saying that “you can’t mix Catholics and Protestants”.

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What does this mean for iSEO?
To bring this back to iSEO, these examples really go to show
why it’s so important that you are aware of any biases you
have.
A question I was asked when doing a presentation on China
and New Retail was “China’s home to cheap goods. Are you
sure that the Chinese actually like luxury brands?”, which shows
how stereotyping works in the SEO world.
Instead, it’s important to rethink these kinds of thoughts, so
that you are thinking more about opportunities, such as “New
Retail marketing techniques are so much more advanced in
China than in my home country”, for example, which will help
you innovate your current SEO processes.
It’s also vital that you use in-country research for each of your
markets, so that you avoid basing everything from strategic
business decisions to content on stereotypes like “Eastern
Europeans can’t afford my products (when in reality CEE
markets would give you a great customer base)”.

8. 8
Let’s take a deeper look into some of the psychological theories
that can help us understand where our biases come from, by
taking a look at social learning theory.
Social learning theory was created by a psychologist called
Bandura, who stated that people learn from one another
through observational learning from a very young age. How
children learn is that they:
• Observe behavior – watching adults and other children
behave in a certain way
• Encode behavior – they encode this behavior so that it
becomes a frame of reference
• Imitate behavior – finally, they will imitate the behavior
they saw
You might have already heard of the famous Bobo Doll
experiment, where children watched adults behave in a certain
way to the doll, and psychologists then observed how the
children then interacted with the doll themselves.
It’s no surprise that the children that saw adults beating and
kicking the Bobo Doll imitated this behavior themselves, which
is how nowadays you have situations where preschoolers
might be racist to their teachers because they’re imitating the
behavior they see at home.
Social Learning
Theory

9. 9
However, it’s not quite as simple as just seeing and then doing.
There are also mediational processes that take place before
certain behaviors are imitated. These are:
• Attention – the behavior taking place must grab the
viewers attention
• Retention – this behavior has to be remembered
• Reproduction – it is then reproduced
• Motivation – and to be continued over and over again,
there must be some kind of motivation to encourage it to
happen. This could be a parent laughing at a child repeating
a racist joke, for example.
Bringing this back to iSEO
How can social learning theory be linked back to iSEO? Well, as
a business owner, you must make sure that you have a culture
of psychological safety to ensure that inappropriate behavior
isn’t thriving in your workplace. As individuals, you need to
make sure that you’re not rewarding any sort of inappropriate
behavior that can be imitated.

10. 10
Another theory that’s worth exploring is Social Identity Theory.
Coined by psychologist Henri Tajfel, he stated that we all belong
in groups and we compare our group status in relation to other
groups.
These groups can include pretty much anything, including:
• Social class
• Nationality
• Language
• Religion
• Favourite sports team, etc.
How it works in practice is that:
1. People categorize themselves into groups
2. They identify within that group
3. Their sense of self-worth comes from group membership
4. They start to compare themselves to people outside of the
group
So you can see that sometimes, group membership can be
harmless, like you have with being either a dog or a cat person.
Social Identity Theory

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However, the more it escalates, the worse it gets, until you are
left with examples of severe discrimination, like you can see at
some anti-immigration protests.
Bringing this back to iSEO
As marketing is all about targeting a specific crowd and making
sure your content resonates with them, you’re basically
marketing to different in-groups. This is why it’s so important
that when you’re creating campaigns, you’re bringing people
together rather than marketing your products or services at the
expense of out-groups.

12. 12
Now that we’ve taken a brief look at some of the psychological
theories behind things like bias, let’s take a look at some real-
life examples of marketing copy that has missed the mark.
Living by the phrase “nothing about us without us”, I’m focusing
on examples relating to neurodiversity and discrimination as
both relate directly to me.
Bias and discrimination – Neurodiversity
Here is a graphic that’s on a company’s blog, that talks about
why neurodivergent individuals are at risk. The problem is, that
the risks they’re talking about are a list of stereotypes:
• Impulsivity
• Hyperactivity
• Difficulty sustaining attention
• Difficulty multitasking
• Emotionality…
Real-life
Examples

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The issue with this is that these are offensive stereotypes
which don’t apply to everyone. That would be like saying
that all neurotypical people are grumpy. As there are a
number of different conditions that come under the umbrella
of neurodiversity, it’s impossible to come up with a list of
symptoms that encompass everything.
Plus, using autism as an example, it’s what is known as a
spectrum which means that people need support in different
areas. While one person might struggle with social events,
someone else might not and instead struggle with sensory
overwhelm.
And what happens when you make decisions based on a
list of stereotypes? You find suggestions like the one below,
suggesting a phone policy for neurodivergent people. This
is not only extremely patronizing, it’s also discrimination.
Neurotypicals also struggle with spending too much time on
their phones, and both neurotypical and neurodivergent adults
are perfectly able to make decisions like putting their phones
on silent or leaving it in a drawer.
Why “nothing about us without us” is so
important
Nothing about us without us is a well-known phrase in the DEI
world, and refers to the need to include someone from the
community you’re creating policies or writing about etc., so that
they can make sure that what you’re working on is suitable for
people with lived experience and doesn’t cause offense.
Here you can see how this works in practice. Here’s an online
article that talks about ABA (applied behaviour analysis) and
how ABA tutors (practitioners who practice ABA) are there for
the well-being and safety of the children they’re working with.

14. 14
The problem with this is that ABA is mainly used within the
autistic community, and is designed to help autistic children
appear neurotypical. It is a much debated topic, because
autistic adults who went through ABA as a child have come
forward to say that ABA has caused them significant mental
trauma. Plus, in Ireland, ABA has been recently condemned
by the Oireachtas (Irish Parliament) as being against autistic
people’s human rights.
By speaking to a member of the autistic community, the
company who wrote the content on ABA would know that ABA
isn’t a subject that should be described as “ensuring the safety
and well-being of children”.
AI and anti-Semitism
With the rise of ChatGPT, there’s been a lot of talk about how
marketers can use AI to make their lives that bit easier. And
while AI can be a really useful tool to help you make the most
of your time, it does come with a number of risks – one of
which is the fact that AI can be very biased.
Our first example is from KFC, who last year sent out a
notification to all of their app users in Germany to say “today
is Kristallnacht Remembrance Day. Celebrate by getting more
cheese on your crispy chicken”. This of course caused outrange,
and was put down to an error in not checking their calendar of
dedicated days properly.

15. 15
It’s not just AI words that can be biased, the use of AI images
can be too. Many companies are using AI to cut down on their
graphic design bills, but leaving AI to choose your pictures for
you can be dangerous.
Here is an example one of our team found online, advertising
railway services in the Netherlands. The issue here is that the
image of the railroad used in the first picture is the railway to
Auschwitz.

16. Inclusive iSEO
Checklist
So that I’m not leaving things on a negative note, I’d like to
finish off with a checklist you can use to make sure that your
iSEO campaigns are bias-free. And by following these easy
steps, you can be sure that your campaigns will not only
resonate more across cultures, they’ll be meaningful and
inclusive, too.
Change the way you listen
Make sure that you are open minded when you listen, and that
you’re willing to accept different points of view.
Ask appropriate questions
It’s always better to ask rather than assume, so make sure you
ask meaningful questions when you’re working on campaigns
that cover areas where you don’t have lived experience.
Shift your frame of reference
We’re all a little bit guilty of thinking the way we do things is
the best, however, we need to be open minded about the
way things are done elsewhere. By looking at things as an
opportunity to learn and broaden your horizons, you’ll have a
more open outlook in no time.
Manage conflict constructively
There are going to be times when people are going to disagree.
However, this can be used as an opportunity to learn. By
listening to different points of view, including criticism, you’ll be
able to gain insights into ways you can do things better.
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17. Recognise unconscious bias and stereotyping
Using the information we looked at earlier in this e-book,
make sure that you do your best to identify not only your own
unconscious biases, but that of your team too. And also make
sure that you’re not basing any of your iSEO decisions on
stereotypes.
Show respect for other ways of doing things
This one’s pretty self-explanatory, but you have to make sure
that you’re open to different ways of doing things and you’re
not afraid to think outside the box and innovate.
Interact meaningfully with people you see as
“different”
In psychology, one way of reducing stereotyping and prejudice
is through what’s known as contact theory – where people from
different in-groups/out-groups spend time together so that
everyone sees that they have a lot more in common than they
probably first thought, and it reduces fear of the unknown.
When you’re creating iSEO campaigns, make sure that you
meet people from different communities, and do your best to
be an ally.
Don’t be judgmental
Again, another pretty obvious one, but make sure that
when you’re dealing with iSEO campaigns, you’re not being
judgmental.
Make decisions using a cultural lens
Cultural differences are a major part of iSEO, and
understanding these differences are vital to ensuring your
campaigns’ success. So when you’re making decisions, make
sure you’re being sensitive to other cultures and respect the
way things are done in different countries/communities.
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Final thoughts...
As you can see, a lot of thought does have to go
into inclusive iSEO strategies, but it’s defiantly not
impossible. Using these easy to implement tips, your
iSEO efforts will improve in no time.
About Argos Multilingual
Argos Multilingual is a creative content
agency providing multilingual copywriting,
transcreation, and inclusive content for some of
the world’s biggest brands. If you’re inspired by
what you’ve read today, feel free to reach out
and see what we can do for you.
For more information about Argos, please visit our
website at: www.content.argosmultilingual.com
About the writer
Sarah Presch is Argos Multilingual’s
Digital Marketing Director and an
international SEO fanatic.