Updated September 2022. When you prepare to take your brand global and maintain the international outreach you’ve already established, you’ll want to give a great deal of care and attention to your website. There’s no question that your web presence is how you’ll make the most significant inroads into your target markets abroad. And multilingual SEO should be central to those efforts. But what is it exactly? Let’s explore!

We’ve written before about how you can best make effective use of social media in multiple languages. We’ve also touched on how you can give a dramatic boost to your performance if you simply approach customers in their own language. We’ve even given a workshop on the subject every now and then!

One thing we haven’t touched on as much, however, is how you can optimize your website for search engines in multiple languages. You shouldn’t neglect multilingual SEO or handle it as an afterthought. It won’t matter how many languages you translate your website into if your customers in those markets can’t find it!

Some thoughts to keep in mind…

Consult the experts:

Unless you’re very confident in your own search engine sense, it’s well worth it to consult with an SEO professional. It’s their job to bring the clicks to your website, so make room for one in your budget.

Keep your SEO and your LSP (language service provider) in contact:

You will likely have your language services and your SEO services furnished by different providers. When optimizing for foreign markets, make sure these two providers are in contact with each other. Quite simply, great SEO service plus a quality LSP equals effective multilingual SEO. That is, provided that both parties properly coordinate their efforts. If you’re providing your own SEO, keep the lines of communication open with your LSP. Keep them up to date with your desires and requirements, and be open to their suggestions. This leads to the next point…

Research your keywords:

These are the breadcrumbs that will lead potential clients to your site, so take them seriously. Don’t assume that translating your set of keywords in English into your target languages will be sufficient. It’s not just about presenting your services to international customers. Rather, you have to package them in a way that will draw the most positive notice. A business can draw effective keywords from its official terminology. So don’t forget to use your translation glossaries as keyword sources, too. Imagine you’re planning a vacation, and you want five of your friends to come along, but each of them likes doing very different things. You’ll pick a vacation spot with something to entice as many of them as possible, won’t you? This sounds like glocalization again, doesn’t it? Don’t expect that new clients in Russia will be searching for the same terms as current clients in North America.

Be realistic about your goals:

It can be exhilarating to get your translated website up and running in multiple markets, and to think of all those lists of search results you’ll be climbing. Don’t get ahead of yourself. Be frank about your own global capabilities. It’s great to translate your site into 15 languages, but once the speakers of those languages find you, are you prepared to provide your best customer service to them, in those languages? A website that’s been beautifully translated into Thai won’t be much of an asset to you if the rest of your enterprise is English-only, will it?

When you start translating and optimizing, focus on one foreign market where you can provide solid customer service and support, where you can communicate most effectively, and where research has revealed a growth environment for you. Better to start smaller and grow from a strong foundation, than to spread yourself thin across too many languages at the outset. And pay close attention to your analytics. If your carefully chosen keywords still aren’t bringing them in, you might be surprised at how much difference a change of terms can make!

Consider a Partnership with TrueLanguage

Are you looking for a partnership with a language service provider? If so, you may wish to consider TrueLanguage. We offer ISO-certified state-of-the-art business translation services that are on budget, on time, and to the exact specification. Every time. Or perhaps you’re just looking for a cost-free, no-obligation estimate for your next translation project. Either way, we’d love to hear from you!