When expanding your business to reach a global market, multilingual SEO is vital. A watertight multilingual SEO strategy ensures that search engines can find your site quickly and enable your business to succeed in other countries.
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What is Multilingual SEO?
Multilingual SEO is different from regular SEO in that it optimizes your content in multiple languages. Localized keyword research needs to be performed to help users find your website in their native language.
The Benefits of Multilingual SEO
Multilingual SEO allows you to target consumers around the globe, allowing you to successfully access foreign markets. There are many benefits of multilingual SEO as it allows you to:
· Connect with a wider audience
· Grow your business internationally and build a global brand
· Gives you an edge over competitors
· Enhance and increase sales
Keyword Localisation
Keyword localization refers to the process of adapting a set of keywords for a different target market, in this case, one with a different language. Keyword research should be conducted by multilingual SEO specialists whose native language is your target market.
They can use their life experience of understanding your new target audience’s language, culture, nuances, and search behavior to tailor your keyword strategy. This doesn’t just help you rank better in the search engines but can help you discover hidden opportunities that you were previously unaware of.
They understand how people search in their languages and can find alternative keywords and phrases that might not be understood in your current market and the best search volume to attract new customers.
Here are a couple of examples:
· Donkey in Spanish is “burro,” whereas, in Italian, it means “butter.”
· The English word “gift” means “poison” in German and “married” in Swedish
· “Beer” in English means “bear” in Dutch
· In the UK, the word “chips” refers to “French fries,” whilst in France, “chips” is in reference to “crisps.”
There are also differences in popular search engines; Google is the dominant search engine in the UK and USA, whereas, in China, it’s Baidu. Therefore, research on search volumes should be focussed on the search engines predominantly used by customers in the country you are targeting.
Specialized tools allow experts to discover commercial opportunities in other markets and the different keyword volumes between international marketing.
Content Localisation
One of the goals of SEO is to show the right content to the right people at the right time, but it’s important that it’s done in the right way. Keyword localization isn’t the only factor, as you might rank high for a relevant keyword.
Still, native speakers will know immediately if the content hasn’t been translated correctly, impacting their experience. This could cause your website to have a high bounce rate and for search engines to consider your content irrelevant to users.
SEO translation is the process of translating your website content into a different language. This is to ensure that you can successfully convey your content and messages to a new audience and help the search engines understand your content.
Whilst translating the main content on your website, you’ll also want to update titles and meta descriptions, helping increase your website’s exposure and organic traffic.
Why Can’t I Use Google Translate?
It’s important to remember that the literal translation of keywords using tools such as Google Translate doesn’t consider local expressions and cultural differences.
Although it’s a sophisticated machine translation tool that can be useful when translating words or sentences in everyday life, these translations can make no sense in another language and can be difficult to read.
Conclusion
You’ll need to ensure that translations are correct and use effective and captivating language for your target audience. To achieve the best results, you need to consider the following:
· Define your target market and audience
· Keyword localization
· Content localization
Now you understand the importance of using native multilingual specialists for your multilingual SEO, why not use an international SEO agency such as GA Agency to ensure your global expansion is successful?
GA Agency is an international digital marketing agency specializing in global expansion; they cover 14+ languages and have a team of in-house multilingual SEO specialists and copywriters.
Localized keyword research and translations are integral to the success of a project and must be carried out correctly in order to succeed in target markets across the globe.
