When you are running a business and you are targeting local customers in your country, one of the ways to target them is through “Search Engine Optimization (SEO)”. SEO is the process of increasing website traffic through non-paid or organic search engine results. It allows your website to get more traffic, as internet surfers are willing to visit websites that are related to their search terms. And in order to improve your ranking at search engines like Bing, Google, and Yahoo, you need to create quality content that satisfies and appeals to your target audience.
But what if you decided to go beyond your local target audience and endeavor to reach more international clients in other countries?
In this case, it’s imperative for you to optimize your websites for these countries. If your website content is published in your local language, so you need to have a strategy for the new country you are targeting.
However, let’s admit that translating content, meta titles, meta tags, and descriptions is not enough. You should consider other cultural facts that impact your content, such as colors, pictures..etc. For example, If your website is based in the US and you would like to get traffic from Japan, then you should optimize your website and your content for the Japanese market if you really wish to penetrate this new market.
Moreover, Localizing content is not event enough, as a localized SEO strategy should be considered for each and every targeted country.
According to Internet World Stats, 58.8% of the world’s population are surfing the internet, while according to the latest Digital 2019 report, internet users are spending at least 6 hours and 42 minutes online and half of this time is spent on mobile devices. So, with this competitive market, you need to understand why SEO is really an important tool for your business.
What is local SEO?
Local SEO, or local search engine optimization, refers to the process of optimizing a website or online presence to increase its visibility in local search results. It focuses on improving a business’s online visibility for location-specific searches, where users are looking for products, services, or information in their immediate geographical area.
Local SEO is crucial for businesses that have a physical location and serve customers in specific regions or cities. It helps them target potential customers in their vicinity and increase their chances of appearing in local search results, such as Google Maps or the local pack (the list of businesses displayed in response to a local search query).
The main goal of local SEO is to ensure that a business’s online presence is optimized for local searches, making it easier for local customers to find and engage with them. Some key elements of local SEO include:
- Google My Business (GMB) listing: Creating and optimizing a GMB profile, which includes accurate business information, such as name, address, phone number (NAP), business hours, and customer reviews.
- Local citations: Ensuring consistent and accurate NAP information across various online directories, review sites, and other platforms.
- On-page optimization: Optimizing website content, meta tags, and headings to include location-specific keywords and information.
- Local content: Creating and promoting relevant and informative content that targets local customers and addresses their needs and interests.
- Online reviews: Encouraging customers to leave reviews on platforms like Google, Yelp, or industry-specific review sites. Positive reviews can improve visibility and reputation.
- Local link building: Obtaining high-quality backlinks from local websites or organizations to boost local search rankings.
- Local schema markup: Adding structured data markup to the website’s code to provide search engines with more specific information about the business, such as its location, business type, and operating hours.
- Mobile optimization: Ensuring that the website is mobile-friendly and optimized for local searches conducted on mobile devices.
By implementing these strategies, businesses can improve their local visibility, attract more local customers, and gain a competitive edge in their target market.
Why is SEO Important?
- More engagement, traffic & conversions.
- It allows you to target more customers.
- Better user experience.
- Building credibility, reputation, and growing internationally.
- Cheaper than other paid strategies.
So now it’s time to understand what’s the difference between SEO Translation and SEO Localization
ٍSEO Translation Vs. SEO Localization
SEO translation is the process of translating your website content and keywords into another language. The main purpose of this process is to convey your content and messages to your new website browsers, with the purpose of improving your rank in search engines. So while you are translating your website content, you should take care of the targeted keywords, tags, meta descriptions in order to get better exposure and higher traffic from your potential customers.
On the other hand, SEO localization is the process of translating your website content into a specific locality; so you have to pay great attention to the cultural references and social attitudes of this new location. Therefore, when you are targeting a foreign country, you need to understand how customers are searching for a product or a service and what are the search terms they are using. By using these words and phrases within your content, you will be able to reach out to more customers.
Let me give you an example of how SEO localization can make a dramatic impact on your search results. Let’s take the example of you when working in the automotive industry and suppose you are planning to go international and target countries like Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, the US, and the UK. Both Egypt and UAE are Arabic speaking countries but when Egyptian search for cars they use the word “عربية”, while UAEians use the word “سيارة”. In the American market, they use the word “auto” for cars, while in the UK the most commonly used word is “cars”.
With this, you’ve started to understand the importance of both SEO translation and SEO localization for your business. So now the question is how to apply this to your website? How can you combine both SEO translation and SEO localization?
We agreed that if you are going to enter a new market, website translation will not be enough and localization will be a necessity. If you ignore this advice, your website visitors will leave it quickly -mainly because they don’t feel that the website fits them or their culture. Consequently, your website will have a high bounce rate and search engines will not consider it irrelevant to users. So to achieve the best results for your website, you need to consider the following:
- Define your target market and audience.
- Keyword research to this locale.
- Content localization
- Keyword and content testing to make sure they fit the search engines for your target market.
Therefore, you should consider to work not only with a translation company but, rather, with a company that masters the SEO translation and localization in the native language of your new target audience.
Thanks to Future Trans’ experience, we are capable of boosting your website to rank higher in the search engines by providing the perfect match keywords of your target customers. At Future Trans, we are distinguished in providing a wide range of language solutions besides translation and localization. We offer a variety of SEO translation services, including:
- Multilingual Copywriting and Editing
- Multilingual Keyword and Translation
- Meta Descriptions and Titles
- Product Descriptions
- Websites and Landing pages
Should you like to get a quotation for your website translation and localization, kindly feel free to contact us today and we will get back to you shortly.
