Building a multilingual website can often be challenging yet equally rewarding for your business. A well-built multilingual website can expand your reach and increase brand awareness.
However, to ensure that your multilingual website is reaching your target audience, it’s important to invest in SEO translation and localisation strategies. These strategies allow your business to resonate with regional and local audiences, especially in a linguistically diverse country like India.
Did you know, over 820 million people use the Internet in India and more than 50% of them – 442 million – are from rural areas? |
The increased number of internet users in India has given businesses the unique opportunity to reach out to a larger audience through localised content. With effective website translation SEO strategies, your business can enhance its online presence and increase its visibility on local search engines.
With more than 90% of Indians preferring their native language to browse the Internet, website translation SEO and localisation SEO can help your business tap into new markets through localised content. In this guide, we’ll learn more about SEO translation and localisation, its key elements and best practices.
What is SEO Translation and Localisation?
SEO translation and SEO localisation are often used interchangeably, but there’s more than meets the eye to it. In order to expand your website’s reach, it’s essential to distinguish between the two.
SEO translation refers to accurately translating the website content from one language to another while maintaining the intended meaning when optimising it for search engine performance. This process involves translating meta tags, keywords, and descriptions to keep them relevant to the target audience and search engines.
On the other hand, localisation goes a step further. Localisation adapts your content to reflect cultural nuances, native preferences, and linguistic variations. Localisation may also include:
- Converting idiomatic expressions
- Adjusting visual elements
- Modifying product offerings
Translating the content might convey the literal meaning of the content, but it may not resonate emotionally with your target audience. Localisation ensures that your content is culturally appropriate and improves the user experience while helping your business connect with the local audience at a deeper level.
A direct translation of the content can often lead to unclear phrasing. Now, picture this: the literal translation of the phrase “time is money” in the Hindi language would be “समय पैसा है.” While it might be technically accurate, it feels unnatural and doesn’t resonate culturally. In this case, a more appropriate translation would be “समय ही धन है.” This captures the essence of the saying while maintaining cultural relevance.
Both SEO translation and localisation are vital for your multilingual website, as they boost your search engine rankings and enhance user experience. As a result, you can improve the website’s visibility and effectiveness. Keep reading to understand better why it matters to your business.
Why SEO Translation and Localisation Matter for Indian Businesses?
India is home to 22 official languages and hundreds of dialects, which makes it a linguistically rich country. With the rise of internet usage in regional languages, the demand for websites catering to non-English speakers is also increasing. If you’re aiming to expand your business in India, SEO translation and localisation can become your crucial tools for success. Here’s how:
- SEO Impact: From an SEO perspective, Google and other search engines favour websites that offer well-localised, relevant content. By translating and localising your website for specific regions, you can boost your search engine rankings and drive more traffic.
- Access to New Markets: With website localisation, you can tap into markets that were previously inaccessible due to language barriers. A notable example of successful localisation is Flipkart. The brand expanded its market reach by offering its platform in multiple Indian languages. This resulted in improved user engagement, leading to increased traffic.
In another example, Reverie’s language solutions helped a leading insurance firm increase its website’s multilingual capabilities. Reverie localised the website in six Indian languages, resulting in one lakh new Indian language visitors on the website.
Localising your website’s content can offer you a competitive advantage, and help you expand your digital presence in regional areas. Now, let’s get into some juicy details about the key elements you need to keep in mind when translating and localising your website for SEO.
Key Elements of SEO Translation and Localisation
When implementing SEO translation and localisation, you must consider a few essential elements for success. Let’s take a look at them:
- Keyword Research for Multilingual SEO: Conducting keyword research in multiple languages is fundamental for optimising your multilingual website. Keywords in one language may have a different search volume or intent in another. That’s why it’s not enough to directly translate your keywords, instead, your research should take local dialects, slang, and cultural preferences into account.
- Meta Tags and Alt Text: Meta tags, including titles, descriptions, and alt text for images play a crucial role in SEO optimisation. With optimised meta tags in local languages, you can improve your site’s visibility in regional search results.
- Content Localisation: Simply translating the content of your site is not enough. You need to adapt your messaging to suit cultural preferences, which includes adjusting idioms, examples, and even humour. This makes the content more relatable and engaging for your target audience
- URL Structure and Multilingual Sitemaps: Well-organised URL structure and multilingual sitemaps reflect the different languages your website supports. They help search engines index localised pages effectively, hence, improving their visibility.
- User Experience and Navigation: Localisation is not limited to content only. You should optimise the entire user experience by localising menus, call-to-action (CTA), and navigation tools. This ensures that your audience can seamlessly navigate through your website and find information in their preferred language.
Integrating these components enables you to significantly improve your search engine ranking and user engagement in local markets. But, what’s the secret sauce to maximise the benefits of SEO translation and localisation?
Best Practices for SEO Translation and Localisation?
To maximise the benefits of your multilingual website translation SEO and localisation, you can follow several best practices:
- Identifying Target Languages: Before localising your website, you must analyse market demand to identify which languages will give you the highest ROI.
- Regular Content Updates: SEO is an ongoing process, so continuously updating localised content based on user feedback, SEO performance, and evolving market trends will help you keep your content relevant and engaging for your audience.
- Professional SEO Translation Services: Leveraging professional SEO localisation and SEO translation services can ensure high-quality translations and localisation. Tools like Reverie’s Anuvadak and Prabandhak streamline the entire process, allowing you to deliver culturally relevant and SEO-optimised content efficiently.
By following these best practices, you can ensure that your localised websites are accessible and optimised for search engines.
Reverie: Your Partner for Translation and Localisation
Incorporating SEO translation and localisation into your business strategies can lead to the success of your business in multilingual markets like India. It enables you to optimise your content for different languages and cultural contexts, which improves search engine rankings and engagement.
Reverie’s suite of language tools helps you with translations that reflect the true intent of the original content. With Reverie, you can confidently navigate the complexities of website translation and localisation. This ensures that your website connects with diverse audiences while ranking high in search results.
Talk to us to learn about Reverie’s language tools and how they can help your business reach local audiences in India.
FAQs
What is the difference between SEO Translation and localisation?
SEO translation involves converting the content accurately into another language. Localisation, on the other hand, adapts the content culturally to resonate with the target audience.
Why is localisation important for SEO?
Localisation improves user experience by making content more relatable and relevant, which helps search engines rank your website higher in local search results.
How can SEO translation services help my business grow?
SEO translation services ensure that your content is optimised for search engines in multiple languages, helping you reach a broader audience and improve your rankings
How can Indian businesses benefit from SEO localisation?
How can Indian businesses benefit from SEO localisation?
What challenges should I expect when localising my website for SEO?
Some of the key challenges may include:
- Finding the right keywords in multiple languages
- Ensuring cultural relevance
- Managing technical aspects of multilingual SEO
