In a globalized world business are increasingly trying to reach across borders in order to offer their products and services to new markets. Two key pillars come into play in this endeavor. First of all, it is necessary to adapt the web marketing material to the target language with proper translation localization. Secondly, it is paramount to adapt said material with SEO strategies for translation.
Key Principles in SEO Strategies for Translations
If you are going to effectively optimize for the target language, it becomes crucial to understand the unique search behavior of one’s target group. Just as we need to think about making the text as such sound appropriate in the target language of the localization, it is also essential to put work into the keyword research process. A certain keyword might have been used in the source language, but the literal translated keyword might not be what users are searching for in the target language.
After years of working with SEO strategies for translation, I have found WordPress to be the most appropriate CMS for such a purpose due to its versatility and large online knowledge base. The latter is of high importance in order to solve problems quickly and effectively. When it comes to enriching the posts and making them user-friendly, it is furthermore important to use SEO content writing tools. This can be image editors, compression software, website crawlers like Screaming Frog, as well as various keyword research services.
Common Mistakes in Website Translation
Many firms use automated translation tools in order to translate their websites. Although recent technological advances make this sound tempting, there are several aspects to consider.
Automated tools are not yet at the level at which they can properly localize languages in a way that covers all the nuances of the target language. Emotional understanding of the language connotation is necessary in order to truly create a work that draws attention and overcomes translation barriers. Translation is about more than just words. In an economy that is more and more called the ‘attention economy’, words alone will not cut it. It might sound cheesy, but words need to be able to reach peoples’ hearts.
Furthermore, there are tools which can detect if a text is written by an AI with great precision. This implies that there are underlying patterns in a text that can be detected by crawlers. It is a matter of some debate how much AI should be used in content writing and translation. However, I would personally like to argue that if there is an underlying pattern in an AI text that a crawler can pick up on, then that means the same patterns transcends texts used by other people. In other words, there is an underlying lack of uniqueness.
On-Page SEO for Web Translations
As previously mentioned, there are connotations and local aspects to take into account when translating one website to another when it comes to for example the keyword that is being used. That being said, the bulk of the technical on-page SEO strategies for translation follows roughly the same methodology:
On-Page SEO Best Practices
When choosing the keywords, it is generally a good idea to go for the ones that have a high search volume each month. There are naturally exceptions to this rule of thumb, if for example you are targeting a specific niche. You also need to be aware of if it is a keyword with a difficulty level that is realistic enough, i.e. if you will be able to rank for it high enough.
During the process of putting together the web translation, the keyword should be in the title of the post. However, the title should not consist of the chosen keyword alone. According to proper SEO strategies for translation, it should also be present in the body of the text to a sufficient degree. It is customary to aim for at least 0.5% and maximum 2%. Also remember to include the keyword in the meta description of the post.
Link Building in Foreign Markets
Geography does play a role in today’s world of SEO strategies for translation. If you are translating an article that is going to be used for a foreign market, then your link building strategies need to take geography in mind. It is a good idea to try to acquire backlinks from local sources, as the crawler will probably value them somewhat higher than backlinks coming from other countries. That being said, other relevant backlinks should not be discarded.
