Moving your web site into another language involves many
steps and many choices. Getting this process right is
critical, and this article deals with each aspect of the
process from translation of the site to marketing the site
on the search engines used by your target customers.
Translating Your Web Site
Much time, effort and money goes into web site
localization. A professional web site localization project
can involve:
* Finding good translators (or a good agency)
* Choosing the correct target language 'flavors' for your
target markets (e.g. European Spanish, Latin American
Spanish etc.)
* Protection of HTML and other code
* Localization of graphics
* Text extraction from program-driven areas of the site
* Change detection for frequently changing web sites
* On going localization of changed pages (without
retranslation of the whole page)
Simply translating the site, regardless of how
professionally this is done, does not guarantee that your
site will be seen by the global audience you expect.
In the same way that search engines should be at the
forefront of everything you do on the English site, this
same ethos must be used on the translated versions of your
site.
Ideally, the planning for global search marketing should
start before the site is first localized, but if not it is
important to know what steps can be taken to rectify the
situation.
This article describes the process of bringing visitors to
your multilingual web site. Typical Multilingual Search
Engine Optimization
Most Global organizations have a search-engine-optimized
web site that they then localize, ignoring the optimization
of the localized sites.
Most webmasters are not employed for their linguistic skill
and therefore the localization of the site is a painful and
intimidating process. Following this process, entering the
further unknown area of search engine optimization or
multilingual pay per click management is ignored or
actively avoided.
There are two common misconceptions around web site
marketing for multilingual web sites:
1. Optimize the English site then translate it well and it
will be optimized in-language.
Multilingual search engine optimization is often ignored
because of the belief that if the English site is optimized
for search engines, the language sites will be too. This is
not the case.
2. For PPC, simply translate the ad copy and keywords.
Imagine a set of English keywords for a site selling a
glass replacement service for cars. The marketing
specialist or PPC executive would use their knowledge of
the industry and the language to expand out a set of
keywords that a user might type in to a search engine. They
might come up with terms such as 'vehicle glass
replacement', 'car windscreen fixing', 'windshield repair'
etc. For this simple service there are a multitude of ways
of describing the window, the vehicle and the replacement
service that spawn a large number of keyword combinations.
A good translator would take each one and translate to the
most common, most sensible alternative in their language.
Unfortunately, this will lead to a reduction in keywords.
Windscreen and windshield may translate to the same common
term in French. Replacement and repair may translate to the
common term used in French for glass replacement. This is
not what is required.
If a site is simply translated with no regard for in
country search engines, it will support an English language
searcher arriving at the site and then switching to their
desired language. However, it will not readily support a
user finding your site in their language.
It is these new customers finding your site on foreign
search engines that will bring the most incremental
business from the localized site. How to Localize a Site
and Remain Search Engine Friendly
Fortunately, there are some simple steps that can be taken
to ensure the site remains searchable in language. However,
similar to your English site, in order to maximize the
return on investment from the localized sites, outside help
may be required. Simple steps
1. Find a quality localization company.
Ensure you ask for examples of web sites that they have
localized before and have your in country people (if you
have them) validate the translations on the reference sites.
2. Get your page-by-page keyword glossary translated and
approved FIRST.
Much effort went into the generation of keywords for each
page of the English site. Your English pages are rich with
these keywords. Put the same effort into the translation of
these keywords. This should be done first, before any
localization of the pages begins. These translations should
be approved by your in-country marketing representatives if
you have them, or be double-checked by your translation
company (using specialist marketing translators) if not.
3. Ensure the site is professionally localized.
The site must be well formed (no broken HTML or other
code), be translated well, and must not contain broken
links (links to pages that have not been migrated to the
language site and therefore throw an error). Quality
localization requires a quality localization company using
specialist tools to protect page code, and to check it once
the localization is complete.
4. When translating the web site, use the keyword glossary
ELECTRONICALLY.
Do not leave it to chance. Your translation company should
be using the translated keyword lists in electronic
glossaries so the translators are automatically prompted
with the approved language version of the keyword whenever
they are translating an English equivalent.
Following these steps will ensure that the site gets the
basics right and can be effectively indexed on the correct
keywords by the engines. However, to ensure you are getting
the correct prominence on the search engines, you need to
read on. Advanced Multilingual Search Marketing
If you want to perform in your foreign markets, and fully
capitalize on you localization investment, you need to
consider the following:
1. Domain
Geolocating your site in Google's eyes involves more than
changing the language. Changing the language does not
guarantee that your site will appear in local searches. You
should consider the domain. Some companies build a .com
website, with folders or sub domains for several languages
(IBM) whereas others build local versions of the site using
the top level domain of each country (Nokia). The first
option can be cheaper and easier to implement because it
means that you can use one content management system for
all content on one server. However the top level domain
gives Google additional information that will provide
weight in the search results.
2. IP Address
Google maps the IP address to the country and when looking
for relevance in search results, will score locally hosted
domains higher than non-locally hosted. In other words, it
is better to host the French version of your site in
France. This can be awkward and expensive, so you need to
consider whether you are able to beat your competition
without this. It is not the only factor that Google
considers so do not think that this is essential.
3. Webmaster Tools
It is now also possible to select the geographic location
using Google's Webmaster Tools. But for now only full sites
can be geolocated, not individual folders, although that is
promised for the near future.
4. Links
In the same way as you have build vast numbers of links to
your English site, the language version is a rich and often
untapped source of links. Local links from local domains in
the local language are important. You may need outside help
for this, and again, the question is what you need to do to
beat your competition. As with English SEO, links are a
major part of success.
5. Engine-Specific Optimization
This involves the identification of important engines by
country for your target market. Google is not necessarily
the dominant player in all countries. In China, for
example, at the time of writing, you won't find Google in
the top ten sites. An engine called Baidu is by far the
most used site. In order to identify, and then optimize and
monitor for these engines you will require support from
external specialists.
6. Pay Per Click (PPC) in each locale
PPC is the fastest method to achieving search engine
prominence in any country. Professional multilingual PPC
allows you to quickly succeed in a foreign market, but is
also a fantastic keyword targeting method so you can
discover the most powerful keywords in your target
language. Running a PPC campaign may also not require the
full localization of the web site which can be an expensive
exercise. It is often effective to localize only a landing
page. However, ensure your landing pages are culturally
optimized because they are critical to gather conversions.
Conclusion
We hope this article has shown that there are some basic
steps that can be taken during the localization process
that will start the search engine optimization process on
the right track. These basic steps will fall easily into
place if your localization company know the details of
search engine optimization. Make sure you test them out.
----------------------------------------------------
Dave McEvoy writes for Search Laboratory who are Adword
experts with years of experience in Multilingual ppc
management. For more information please come and visit our
site http://www.searchlaboratory.com
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