How Multilingual SEO Benefits Your Multilingual Localization Efforts

Entering and thriving in new markets is a comprehensive effort only possible by considering your website. Multilingual localization will play an essential role. After all, your website is still the most common way for audiences to learn more about your brand, and the way you present yourself here can make all the difference in building your brand. 

But simultaneously, you cannot assume that audiences in new markets will automatically find your website. Instead, they will likely use a search engine to browse for local information. So, considering Google's dominant market share in nearly every primary market worldwide, you have to optimize your website accordingly.

Multilingual search engine optimization (SEO) is an important area. This guide will cover the following:

• The basics of the concept

• How multilingual localization optimization on your website is a benefit to your online presence

• The core components that make up the foundation of multilingual SEO

What Is Multilingual SEO?

Multilingual SEO describes optimizing your website to appear prominently in search engine results in multiple languages. In other words, it transfers all core concepts traditionally connected with search engine optimization into the languages of new markets you are trying to reach.

For example, you might have an English-first website but want to expand into Mexico. Multilingual SEO means taking a strategic look at your website to ensure that the content not only translates directly from English into Spanish but also takes into account the following:

• Different search terms a Mexican audience might use

• Links to Spanish-language websites Google considers to be authoritative

• Whether the Mexican domain of Google recognizes it as relevant to local searches

As such, multilingual SEO is directly connected to broader localization efforts. Like localization, multilingual localization goes beyond translation to consider the context and culture behind that translation. As such, it becomes crucial for website building and content creation when entering new digital markets.

How Multilingual SEO Benefits Your Localization Efforts

Taking your SEO into a multilingual world matters for a few critical reasons. First, and perhaps most centrally, only about 33% of Google searches occur in English. Even in predominantly English-language markets like India, as many as 20% of searches still come in local languages and dialects. 

That aligns neatly with consumer preferences. Research has found that 75% of potential online buyers prefer content in their native language. Moreover, for nearly 60% of consumers, content in their language is even more important than product prices.

This research consistently makes the case for translated content. However, the search method will change when users search in a language different from English. German has adopted a growing vocabulary of English words, ranging from evergreen to manager. It is crucial to know when those words become relevant and how they impact search behavior.

How audiences in different cultures search and browse the internet also changes. Users in Japan inherently trust what they read online. But users in Canada and the United States are skeptical. They tend to verify what they find through other sources.

The Importance of Authority and Authenticity in Localized Search Results

One of the core ways search engines like Google determine how to rank both websites and individual pages revolves around authority. Put simply, a website or page with many other credible links from other pages will rank higher due to a “wisdom of the masses” approach.

Importantly, though, this credibility builder resets in new markets with localized search results. Some links to your page, especially from credible and popular sources in the new market, will still matter. But more local sources will not, making the localized link-building component of multilingual SEO vital to gaining authority and credibility in new markets.

Put differently, a link to your website from a publication like the New York Times likely still adds site authority for European search results. However, a link from a more local publication like the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, no matter how credible it might be in your home market, will not. 

Finally, multilingual search engine optimization significantly creates a more authentic web presence in the market you want to enter or expand into. A localized website featuring prominently in native-language searches can go a long way toward making your audience feel more comfortable building a relationship with you.

Always remember that, in the new market, you are competing against local results. The goal is to approach and ideally surpass the quality of those local results for a local audience. Multilingual SEO, when approached in a strategic and multi-faceted way, can accomplish just that.

5 Core Components of Multilingual SEO

Building a multilingual SEO strategy is complex. Five unique components all matter in creating and optimizing a website designed for the market you are about to enter:

1. Localized Domain Structure

Your domain structure helps Google separate content in different languages and for other markets. Instead of creating different pages in different languages, use subdirectories or subdomains to let search engines know more clearly where they can (and need to) draw the line for search results.

Google also recommends using the hreflang tag for pages in a different language to let the platform know exactly what country-specific searches your pages should appear on.

2. Localized Keyword Research

Avoid simply translating your English focus keywords into a different language. Instead, perform language-specific keyword research to capture all necessary local and cultural contexts. As the German-English example shows, depending on regional preferences, you may retain some English keywords.

3. Localized Title and Meta Descriptions

Your website's page titles and meta descriptions are core markers for search engines looking to rank and display your content. Treat each of them accordingly. Use best practices similar to English-language SEO but keep localized keywords and audience preferences front and center.

4. Localized Backlinks

As mentioned above, a backlink localization strategy is vital to successful multilingual localization and SEO. Look for credible, popular websites in your target language and niche. Then implement tactics like guest blogging, resource sharing, and more to create backlinks Google will recognize as valuable in a language beyond your own.

5. Localized Website Content

Finally, and perhaps most centrally, the website content must be localized to your audience. Simply translating an existing landing page or blog post is unlikely enough as you look to embrace and communicate local nuances and points of preference. Focusing on the localized keywords you've found, adjust and create original web content explicitly speaking to your new audience's pain points and preferences in the ways they prefer.

And, of course, all of the general SEO best practices you might already be familiar with apply to multilingual SEO. A faster-loading page, effective (and translated) image alt tags, etc., matter. They can all play a role in improving your website's rankings on relevant search engines over time.

Building Better SEO Through Effective Multilingual Localization

Put it all together, and one thing becomes clear. When it comes to your digital efforts, separating localization from multilingual SEO is almost impossible. Both inform and build on each other to create a nuanced, relevant, credible presence for your audience and the search engines your audience will use. In that sense, multilingual SEO is a core tool in the more extensive localization toolbox.