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SEO translation
SEO translation for multilingual websites
Search engine optimized (SEO) translation is useful if you want to improve your overall ranking. Furthermore, if you have a small company, hotel or professional firm, a multilingual website is a tool to reach out to international customers and potentially expand your business.
The importance of SEO in digital marketing is an almost universally known fact. What many people don’t know, however, is that it’s not enough to optimize the content in your native language and then “simply” get it translated. What you need is an SEO translation. When I’m asked to translate web pages from English or German for SEO purposes, I know that the contents have to be faithful to the original, but I also explain that the structure can vary because every text has to be adapted to the target market and the buyer persona in question. And keyword research needs to be done for each target market. That is why I think it should really be called SEO localization or transcreation.
What types of text need an SEO translation?
As these translations are optimized for search engines, we’re basically talking about online content. For example:
- websites, web pages
- blog articles
- descriptions of items in online shops and app stores
- guides and white papers
What does an SEO translation look like?
Reading online is different from reading on paper. It tends to be quick; texts tend to be skimmed. Copywriters or translators of websites and online content therefore have to take these aspects into account and structure the text so that the key message can be made out even if just skimming.
This means the text has to be divided into paragraphs and the sentences short and to the point. Search engines prefer clear copy with bullet points, tables, boxes and images. They don’t like complex structures, repetitions and redundancies.
How do I work when I’m asked for an SEO translation?
When I’m asked to translate a text for SEO purposes, I always ask my client to give me a short briefing on the target market and public, tone of voice, company values and any competitors.
After that, I perform the keyword research (with Ubersuggest), which needs to be done for every target market and language. For example, if I translate into Swiss Italian, I can’t use the same keywords identified for standard Italian, I have to research them again.
When I translate, I don’t just transpose the sentences from one language to another, I insert the keywords in a natural manner and check the keyword density. Since the keywords need to be researched from scratch for each market, the keywords chosen in
Italian will not necessarily correspond to the keywords in the source language. In that case, some paragraphs may have to be rewritten, while keeping the content of the original text unchanged. Last but not least, I can also optimize the metadata.
But an SEO text is not just about the keywords. It has to be easy to use online, useful and offer added value.
To create what is known in the sector as unique content, you can’t just “recycle” texts that the same client used on other channels. Any copy therefore has to be reformulated according to function and the chosen means of communication.
How does Google’s AI Overview impact SEO? I’m following the developments.
I used machine translation to translate the text. If you can just take a quick look at it…
Doing things this way might seem cheaper on the surface, but it will fly back in your face. For various reasons:
