If you plan to internationalize your business, you have probably already met the term multilingual referencing. Translation of your content is A key step in the internationalization processbecause it allows customers around the world to find your website more easily. A well thought out referencing also tends to Improve the user experience of your site. Respect best practices in terms of referencing is therefore a win-win situation for you and your customers. This article will be a global overview to help you understand what multilingual referencing is, why you need it and some of the key aspects to take into account.
What is multilingual referencing?
Multilingual referencing is the Optimization process a website in several languages ​​for search engines. Multilingual referencing makes it possible to acquire visibility in different languages ​​and to increase organic traffic in different countries. Search engines like Google, Bing, or Yandex use different classification and indexing algorithms to understand the content in different languages. Since a multilingual website Can respond to requests in several languages ​​for the same concepts and research objectives, it can naturally have more authority on certain subjects.
Multilingual referencing is also linked to Web pages loading performancebecause it is important to have a local server to reduce the treatment time for user requests. The referencing of a multilingual website includes:
- Changes in layout of the site,
- There language used,,
- THE descriptions products,
- Location and personalization content,
- There reading from right to left and from left to right,
- THE User experiences such as differences in symbols and numbers etc.
Multilingual SEO VS International SEO
There is often confusion between multilingual referencing and international referencing.
Multilingual SEO may apply to websites having an international presence, as well as to countries in countries with several official languages. For example, the website of a German brand may include pages intended for audiences from North America, Asia and Europe, while a Canadian website may include pages in English and French intended for a national audience.
It is important to note that 55 countries have more than one official language. Multilingual SEO aims at explicitly target consumers and users for which the content in the native language is really important.
International SEO, on the other hand, is not always multilingual: Your SEO strategy can succeed In several countries, if they share the same language. For example, an e-commerce site may need to serve several English-speaking countries such as the United States, the United Kingdom, New Zealand and Australia. In this case, the main concern is to adapt to different currencies, not to different languages. At the company level, websites are often multilingual and international.
The best practices to set up for the multilingual SEO.
Here are some practices not to be overlooked ::
The HREFLANG tag
The greatest overlap between multilingual and international referencing is the use of The Hreflang tag. From the point of view of technical referencing, it is the most important and elegant way of targeting audiences in specific languages ​​and/or countries. Hreflang indicates to these search engines exactly which version of a page is intended for which language and which country.
Canonical urls
Only the Canonical URLs are valid in Hreflang. The inclusion of non -canonical URL sends contradictory signals to search engines which can therefore completely ignore the hreflang.
Inter-domain alternatives
The pages listed as alternatives should not necessarily be on the same area. But, ideally, a multilingual website should be organized in a file structure. Whenever a country or a language is added, the new pages can then Take advantage of the strength of the established domain. The implementation of Hreflang can also be less complicated.
X-Default
The value of this attribute indicates to the search engines which page must appear in the search results if none of the specified HREFLANG URL applies to the location and the language parameter of a user. Including it is optional and the URL can be the same as one of the languages ​​and locations already specified for this page.
Multilingual search for keywords by native speakers
A question that site owners must always ask is to know What is the objective of each content element. Each element must include an expression of the primary keyword. Determine these keywords in a foreign language must be entrusted to referencing professionals whose mother tongue or almost maternal is the language in question. The simple translation of the keyword and the content of the page does not always work and you could miss important organic traffic opportunities. It is never useless to see which keyword your competitors target on a specific market.
Keep an eye on the performance of keywords
The performance of your keywords Can help you determine whether or not you should look for new keywords. It is therefore crucial to keep an eye on these performance. Most SEO tracking tools allow you to configure monitoring by country.
The key stages of the multilingual referencing process
1. Define your target markets
When Planning your multilingual websiteone of the first things to do is Determine the regions/country that you want to target. Here are some of the questions you could ask yourself during this process:
- Where are your customers current?
- Where are the visitors of your website?
- What markets are strategically important For your business?
This will help you get an idea of ​​the languages ​​in which you must translate your site. Of course, you can always add other languages ​​later, if necessary.
2. Take into account the structure of the domain
An essential step in the multilingual referencing process is to Choose a domain structure. Among the possible options, let us quote sub-directories (example.com/fr) or sub-domains (fr.exemple.com). Depending on the content management system you use, there are popular plugins which can be used to facilitate this process.
3. Identify the relevant keywords for SEO
Once you have defined your target markets, you must determine the keywords for which you want to be classified. Keywords are rarely literal translations, the analysis of several keywords is therefore essential. There are a few steps to follow to make sure you have chosen the best keywords for your website:
- Translate several variants of your main keywords.
- Look for the keywords that other companies in your sector use.
- Consider the popularity of the keywords you have listed (using a tool like Google Trends) and make a final selection.
The main thing is to take the time to do research and select a solid list of keywords that correspond to your activity and your customers.
4. Translate and locate your content
Now that you have identified the relevant keywords for your content, it's time to incorporate them into the heart of your site. Creative of substantive articlerewriting all the pages of your sitebut that's not all. Be careful not to forget that you will also have to translate “invisible” content, such as metadata and alt text, to improve Your SEO results.
