Hello again. This lesson is on localization workflow.
Localization is a key part of
the global web marketing process.
Without having a localization team or agencies in place,
there is no way to scale and be relevant.
Certainly you could use tools like Google Translate,
but for most users those will not be
an effective way to receive their content.
In order to do localization well,
you need to have a strategy and process in place,
and vendors that you work with
who make things much easier.
It also requires ongoing training,
and an understanding of how to do
the operational work well.
You'll learn knowledge about
how to do translation effectively,
the steps required in the localization process,
and how to work effectively with
localization agencies who can
help you make these implementations.
In essence, localization is
about understanding your audience.
It's not merely translation where you take
a word and translate it into another language.
Localization takes into account culture,
context, and relevance.
You must become culturally aware.
This extends beyond words to include images and videos.
Various cultures respond
differently to different messages.
Some images will resonate more depending on
country of origin and cultural relevance.
If a culture is new to you,
consider testing to see whether a message or
visual on the website will truly resonate,
or if it might offend this audience.
Let's walk through a simple example.
Suppose you have three popular English keywords
that you know deliver results,
and have sufficient search demand.
You're thinking about how to translate
English content into other languages.
Suppose you've taken that English content,
those three keywords and translated
them into German, French, and Spanish.
You're looking at the demand, or relevance,
or some of the other keyword measures
we discussed earlier.
Often, that keyword you thought was
ideal for English shows either very little demand,
is culturally irrelevant, or
just doesn't resonate in another language.
If your SEO lens reveals a lack of demand,
not enough people are looking for that content,
then you must get creative determining other keywords
that will prompt strong responses in those languages,
or agree that this choice of
keywords is the best you can
do all other things being equal.
This is an inherent challenge. It's common.
It comes up anytime you talk to those with
a translation or localization background.
For example, say you're looking at
digital marketing but you want to
translate that into French.
In English it has 1,600 monthly searches.
But when you translate that exact phrase into French,
it gets only 70.
It can go the other direction as well where a keyword
that has great resonance in another language,
is not the term your team
wants to use for your primary English content.
The point here is that you
won't automatically get keywords
exactly right when it comes to having the highest demand,
just do the right thing for your audience.
Right in such a way that the content makes sense
culturally for each language you translate into.
This is why it's important to consider
native speakers to help with your translation efforts.
It can be challenging to justify
localization because there is an expense required.
You need to pay for services,
either at a localization agency,
or through a competent internal team you train or hire.
It's important to let your current traffic,
while marketing focus guide
how you prioritize localization.
Clearly, one major purpose of hosting different sites or
sections in other languages is to
provide information in those various countries,
but nothing irritates customers
more than poorly translated copy.
If it were as simple as using
something like Google Translate,
they do it themselves.
Therefore, you need to have copywriters who
speak the target language intimately,
to capture the nuances of what you're trying to say.
There are ways to scale localization
by thinking through levels of engagement.
This is not a boil the ocean exercise.
Start with the simplest deliverable,
keyword research by a native speaker.
After that, maybe you'd use
a documented localization process.
Once that's in place,
if business continues to justify moving forward,
maybe consider localization agencies,
training and reviews.
I'm going to walk through each of these in more detail.
Here's Level one; suppose
you're starting with content in English or
your native language and you want it translated into
a few other languages
because there's a business case for it.
You could hire a native speaking person
who has a basic understanding of keyword research.
You can find translators on UpWork or Fiverr.
You may need to train them in
SEO basics related to the desired language.
But you can start simply by
using the Google Keyword Planner,
or another keyword research tool,
then demonstrate how you want
keyword research done for another language.
You might consider other options for translation.
You can take the path of lower quality and
lower commitment which is crowdsourcing,
or machine learning,
translation, utilizing Google Translate,
or another automated translation tool,
but I recommend that you consider
localized keyword research where
quality increases in proportion to the training,
and skill of your translation team.
The highest quality comes by
working with a local translator.
This incurs a higher cost,
and requires greater commitment.
Some situations call for
a localization process that's documented.
For example, in a multinational enterprise.
You may want to put in place a
step-by-step documented repeatable process,
or ask for it,
if you're working with team
with something already established.
This might include number one,
in-country keyword research,
two, map keywords to
a preferred landing page for
the languages you're translating into.
Three, localizing those keywords and content while
being culturally sensitive regarding video and images.
Number four, you could establish a review process where
the editorial SEO and web teams
collaborate regarding the kind
of localization you're doing,
involving many perspectives in
content review increases accuracy.
Number five, finally,
that localized content then goes live in the launch.
This is a mature way of thinking about localization
because it emphasizes quality control,
requires communication among teams
to ensure that nothing is missed and it
ensures the process is as efficient as possible.
Most multinational companies eventually hire a vendor,
or vendors to handle localization.
If you go this route
a vendor strategy becomes a partnership
where you're choosing translators
well by picking freelancers,
or agencies, with experience in your countries.
Ultimately, you should give these teams some freedom,
encourage them to capture
central idea of your message and adapt that into
native written content to
best capture your audience's attention.
Here are a few things to keep in
mind if you go this route.
Make assignments by language,
not by product so that you capture
the linguistic expertise of your workers.
This creates consistency across a single language.
Ultimately, your search needs
can complement other websites,
or collateral, or copy
needs that you have for localization.
So that you have the same vendors working on
multiple deliverables for a launch,
or a product release.
You might consider a translation guide for
a more sophisticated organization.
This brief document covers
the tone of voice in writing style.
You could even do this in
video or some other visual way to
help your workers better understand expectations.
In this way you're sharing with
your translation provider or
partner the best practices
so that expectations are clear.
You might also build a glossary or dictionary of
common terms and phrases
that require particular translation.
Here's where you'd include
brand terms that you don't want translated,
or specific criteria for how
phrases that are pertinent
to your industry are translated,
and make assessments at
a per language level of how
you think through your industry terms,
what that means for content on your site.
One final step I recommend,
is to develop a review process.
Building a review process provides needed
quality control to ensure the effectiveness
of your localized marketing copy.
Typically, you'll have linguistic reviewers
for targeted regions.
They may sit in country or
have native language speaking ability.
They won't have the same level of buy-in as employees,
or clients you work with directly.
Having your regional or geographically based teams
sign off on the content,
engenders further buy-in and
ownership of the content that's going live.
You also increase ownership by setting up
a long-term engagement with
your chosen vendor or partner increasing accountability,
and quality through a coordinated review process.
