What is SEO translation and why do you need it?

Website positioning is one of the basic activities in today’s internet marketing. Its purpose is to improve the visibility of a website in Google search results, which makes it possible to generate valuable user traffic and attract new customers. When thinking about acquiring such users not only from your home country, but also globally, you should keep multilingual positioning in mind. SEO translation is an integral part of it. What is it and what do you have to remember about when ordering such a service?

SEO translations? Yes, we do!

What is SEO translation?

Let’s start with the definition. Everyone knows what classic translations involve – it is an activity aimed at translating a message (word or text) from one language to another. This is done, for example, so that your foreign interlocutor is able to understand you, even if he or she cannot speak your language. Therefore, the primary role of translation services is to enable multilingual communication between people who do not know foreign languages.

So what is SEO translation? Following the above statement, this concept should be defined as an activity thanks to which foreign versions of the Google search engine will be able to understand your website and interpret it accordingly. The position in the search results is determined by such things as how the search engine algorithm sees and evaluates a given website content. Therefore, SEO translation should cover translation of the content itself and also other website components that are essential from the point of view of the Google algorithm.

What affects your site’s position in Google?

What elements have an impact on the position of your website in Google? There are quite a few of them, but for the purposes of this article, we will only focus on those aspects that can be translated. Keywords that should saturate your website are essential, regardless of whether it is a blog entry or a company offer page. Keywords must also be included in the meta description and meta header. This is what you will see in Google after typing your search term. There are many more important issues when it comes to positioning, but from the point of view of translation, SEO is basically everything you should keep in mind when ordering such a service.

How to translate keywords?

Taking into account the elements mentioned above, which affect the search result position, there may be a simple conclusion: SEO translation should start with the keywords. At the same time, it is not enough to simply translate these words. First of all, make sure you check that the literally translated keywords are actually typed in by foreign users. This is related to the need of keyword localization, i.e. adapting them to the culture and language used in the target country.

Keyword Localization – what does it involve?

Keyword localization is best illustrated with a specific example. Let’s assume you run a car repair shop for wheel rim regeneration. When running a website, the best phrases (translated from Polish to English for the purpose of this article) for positioning will be as follows:

·      regeneration of rims,

·      regeneration of aluminium rims,

·      regeneration of steel rims.

According to the free SEO tool, Ubersuggest, these keywords (in Polish) are searched in the Polish Google about 3870 times a month. This is quite a good result. Now let’s assume that you open a branch in Germany and want to position your website for similar phrases. Their literal translation is as follows:

·   randsaumregeneration,

·   regenerierung von Aluminiumfelgen,

·  regenerierung von Stahlfelgen.

Let’s put these keywords in Ubersuggest. The phrase ‘randsaumregeneration’ is not searched by the German users at all. The other two phrases have zero search volume as well. Does this mean that the Germans don’t repair their rims at all? No, but what you have to do is enter the appropriate phrases into Ubersuggest.

How to prepare a good keyword localization

Keyword localization is only possible if you know the right tools for it. A good command of a foreign language will also be essential. Preferably one that is in daily use. Let’s go back to our example for a moment. Users in Germany, wanting to repair his rims, will most likely enter the following phrases in Google:

·   alufelgen reparatur,

·   felgen reparatur,

·  felgen doktor.

According to Ubersuggest, these phrases are searched 19,100 times a month in Google, on average. In this example, you can clearly see how important keyword localization is when it comes to SEO translation. The use of wrong phrases is a guarantee that your website will not be visible to foreign users. This in turn means that your offer will not be noticed by them, and you will not have any sales from the organic search channel.

How to order SEO translation services?

Knowing how to implement keyword localization is crucial for you as a customer. When looking to order SEO translation, you should give the translator specific guidelines and inform them what you really care about. This is the only way in which you will define the detailed translation requirements, which will properly contribute to the desired effect. So how do you order SEO translation?

Submit your keywords for a localization service

First, the translator should receive keywords for localization. It is the absolute basis of SEO translation, regardless of whether you want to outsource the translation of an article, entire website or one subpage. The type of keywords that must be included in the text determine how it will be translated. Sometimes it may turn out that the translator will have to edit entire paragraphs in order to transfer the meaning from the source text.

Let your translator know that you care about translating meta tags

The next step is to prepare and send meta tags for translation. They are elements that are visible in the search results first. This content also needs to be adapted to the keywords, which may even require rewriting the entire meta tags at times. For this reason, the order for a translation service should contain clear guidelines as to what is the keyword for given content along with identification of auxiliary words.

SEO translation of a website, article or subpage

After the first two steps are completed, you can attach the entire content to your translation. A translator with the previous guidelines available will adjust the wording of the entire text so that it remains meaningful for the user and is useful for the company or a specialist dealing with positioning of your website. After receiving the finished translation, check that the translator actually included all the keywords that were previously localized.

Nevertheless, you have to keep in mind that due to the different potential of certain phrases, as well as cultural differences between your home country and the country of destination, these keywords may vary essentially. For this reason, ask to additionally determine the search volume for each phrase. This way you will know if the suggested alternative words actually reflect the potential you originally assumed.

What to focus on when ordering a SEO translation?

The most important thing is that SEO translation involves a slightly different approach than a standard written translation. First of all, due to the requirements that given content must meet in order for the Google algorithm to consider it valuable, regardless of whether the issue relates to an entire website, one article or a single subpage. The appropriate localization of keywords remains the most important link, which is positioning a website in foreign search engines. A literal translation of the list of phrases will not always bring the desired result, because it may turn out that foreign users search for completely different words in Google. Hence, it is worth ensuring that SEO translation is done by a person who can use tools to assess the potential of keywords. Otherwise, the translator will not be able to evaluate how to approach your order and how to achieve the effect you want in the best way possible. 

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SEO translations? Yes, we do!