When publishing new content on the Internet, the objective is obviously that a maximum number of Internet users would read it. To do so, you need to take into account the search engine robots since they choose to list this new content at the top of the search results page, or not. Indeed, Google’s algorithm –or any other search engine– inspects millions of websites and selects the ones that match best the user’s request. SEO –Search Engine Optimization– is merely the optimization of your natural ranking in the results of a search engine. In other words, the higher your ranking, the more visible is your website, and therefore the more visited it is.
In this article, Cultures Connection addresses the topic of SEO translation and answers two fundamental questions:
– What are the basic principles for increasing your SEO?
– Why is SEO translation important?
More and more companies are interested in SEO translation because they are aware how crucial it is for their popularity. This is why companies choose to include it in their marketing strategy.
What are the basic principles for increasing your SEO?
There are several SEO techniques to optimize a web page so that it’s positioned at the top of searches. Note that these techniques evolve over time. So we recommend that:
- You use images and graphics, and also provide a SEO description –a meta description, i.e. a short SEO-oriented presentation– so that the search engine takes them into account when it sorts and indexes websites.
- You identify the keywords and synonyms that users are likely to enter in the search bar, then repeat them several times in the text even if it seems boring and redundant. This is the first step of a website SEO copywriting, yet be careful not to overdo it as a search engine can penalize over-optimized content. This is why over-optimization produces the opposite effect, with your page not achieving the success you expected.
- You proceed to add invisible content, i.e. titles in color or in bold, codes, links, etc. Referencing robots are also very sensitive to such content. Sometimes, it is useful to know the basics of web language (html tags, url links…) to apply these features.
- You avoid copy and paste, since it squanders your chances of optimization: it is better not to reuse exactly the same content from one page to another.
- You focus on the links integrated in your content because they too are very important. Indeed, links are used by the referencing robots to get an idea of the websites that can be associated with yours.
- You use questions in your content. When they search online, customers mostly ask questions. In order for your page to stand out and raise greater visibility, you need to start thinking about the questions that are likely asked by Internet users.
Why is SEO translation important?
It’s important to understand that an SEO-optimized translation can make a huge difference. Here’s a list of the merits of SEO translation:
- Your website shows up in the first results of the search engine. Of course, it is preferable to be visible on the first page –or even the second page– of the search engine you are using because all the pages beyond that are rarely consulted. It also depends on the geographic location of the users who are searching, as well as the location of your search engine.
- Benefit from faster internationalization. Combined with localization, SEO translation allows you to benefit from a good ranking in the market of the targeted language. In addition, you will address your foreign customers with cultural references they can understand.
- Make your products known in foreign markets, attract new customers and thus diversify your services. SEO translators are specialists who are used to finding out about relevant expressions and keywords to optimize your content. For example, to translate an article on audiovisual production, we recommend using the most important terms in the sector –such as video, filming, editing, director, formats and so on– and words that Internet users prefer to use in their language. This will increase your referencing, hence your visibility.
In summary, you need to take into account the search habits of the countries you are targeting, in order to translate the essential terms accordingly. In addition, it is best to search for the most used search engines in those countries. For example, in France, the United States and Spain, Google remains the ultimate search engine. However, this is not the case in China where the most used search engine is Baidu, nor in Japan where Yahoo is very popular.
Contact Cultures Connection and find out about our SEO translation services! Read our brochure!
