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 1600 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.
Write 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 or
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'd 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.
Dave LloydSenior Manager, Global Search Marketing
