After your business has reached success in local operations, you may be ready to take over the world. When considering going global, translation might be the first thing you think of. That is why many businesses rush into translating their website into the target language without doing any proper research. Going global is much more than just translating. It involves a lot of planning and preparation from the ground up. During the planning and preparation process, it is crucial to keep in mind the international SEO translation. Because of cultural differences for each language, there is a need for special keyword research, cultural touch, and other elements. As we know how important SEO is for businesses to go global, we have decided to prepare do’s and don’ts for a successful SEO localization of global brands.
What is International SEO?
You might be unsure of what exactly international SEO is. So first things first, let’s talk about international SEO and its importance.
Basically, international SEO is the process of optimizing your website for an international audience, helping your business be seen internationally and grow in your target markets. Whether your business targets only one language or more, SEO is the backbone of your international operations. For those who are looking to expand into new markets, SEO is the essential secret weapon. It ensures that your efforts bring visibility to your brand in your target markets as they resonate with each local audience. This method of optimizing your content to your target markets has proven to really help boost sales.
What should you Pay Attention to When Translating your Website into Multiple Languages?
Here are the factors to pay attention to during multilingual website translation:
1. Multilingual SEO done by Humans
When translating your website into multiple languages it is important to know that although machines are getting more and more precise, they are still lacking inaccuracy. Machine translation is not able to understand the cultural nuances and to ensure correct localization. That is why it is not always a good idea to trust machine translation for a high-quality translation and localization. Instead, it makes more sense to trust this delicate process to professionals.
2. Do Multilingual Keyword Research
If you are localizing an already existing website, then you already have keywords. But for translation and localization, you cannot always simply translate those keywords into the target language, use them and call it a day. Instead, you need to do new research for each target language keyword. Here are some questions that will help you with your research:
- Are people in the target country actually searching for these keywords?
- How often do they search for those keywords?
- How much competition is there?
- Are there any other suggestions and better keywords?
3. Do Market and Competition Research
Always, always, always do your market research. For finding the right keywords and essentially doing correct multilingual SEO translation it is important to identify your target audience and your competitors. It is also essential to evaluate both your and your competitor’s product strengths and weaknesses. By understanding your market you will be able to understand what SEO keywords will do the best and what strategy you need to implement.
4. Build a Clear Local Strategy
Before going global it is vital to have a clear local strategy. By clearly positioning yourself in the local market as an expert and a lead it will be easier to build a global strategy. In the hindsight, you can reuse your local strategy as a basis for your multilingual one if it works.
5. Use Dedicated URLs
Another factor to keep in mind when translating your website into multiple languages is to use dedicated URLs. Duplicate content is one of the main fears with multilingual sites. It is because content that appears within multiple URLs may lead to penalties such as lowered rankings or even deindexing. To avoid this situation, it is best recommended to use ‘dedicated URLs’ that include a language indicator. These ‘dedicated URLs’ with the indicator enable search engines and users to identify the language from the URL alone.
Hreflang attributes are another method Google uses. It helps to determine both the language of the page as well as the region it is intended for. These tags can be inserted in the header section of the original page or submitted via a sitemap. For a page intended for multiple regions, multiple Hreflang attributes can be added. But keep in mind that this process is complicated and time-consuming, especially for beginners.
6. Translate SEO Metadata
When working on international SEO for a multilingual website, it is not only the content on your site that needs to be translated. Another crucial piece of text that requires translation is the metadata. It will help you rank better for the new countries you are targeting. But as with content localization and translation, when it comes to metadata it is not just a simple word-for-word translation. What might be a keyword within the original language of your site, won’t necessarily be the same for your translated site. This means you’ll need to conduct new keyword research into your new target markets.
7. Cooperate with Translation and Localization Agency
Global localization is far from being an easy and breezy task. It requires a lot of time, professional knowledge as well as experience. If the SEO translation for global brands is not done correctly the time and efforts spent will all be in vain. That is why it is more reasonable to cooperate with translation and localization agencies. With a professional approach from the agency, you will save yourself precious time and in the long perceptive you will save money. In return, you will receive a perfectly functional and correctly targeted multilingual website.
So there you have it: these are our tips for doing successful international SEO translation. Multilingual SEO is undoubtedly beneficial as it helps to increase traffic and conversions as well as improve the company’s brand.
If you are looking for an experienced partner to help you with your international SEO translation and localization, just contact us!
