Studies indicate SEO leads have a close rate of almost 15%, which is significantly higher than many other marketing strategies. This can have a huge impact on your bottom line, increasing your overall revenue and expanding profits.
However, SEO isn’t a one-size-fits-all approach. If you have a multilingual website, there are some common SEO mistakes that you need to watch out for to get the most out of your efforts. Here are thirteen common mistakes when looking at SEO for multilingual websites:
Not Localizing Content Properly
One of the most common mistakes on multilingual websites is not ensuring that all content is localized appropriately. Every language has its language conventions and nuances, so you’ll need to ensure that any content published in a different language caters to those differences. The best approach is to hire a professional translation and localization agency like LatinoBridge. A company experienced with on-page translation can help you create the ideal content approved by users and search engines alike.
Avoiding Keyword Research
Another mistake often seen on a multilingual website SEO is failing to harness the power of keyword research effectively. When targeting multiple languages and countries, it’s important to understand the best keywords for each region. Therefore, businesses must assess which terms result in more traffic or leads from individual markets and plan their SEO approach accordingly.
Ignoring Cultural Differences
Cultural differences between countries can significantly affect SEO tactics in various geographical regions. For example, certain phrases or terms may have different meanings in one country than they do in another. As a result, it is best to get the content approved by a professional linguist before publishing it online.
Not Optimizing For Multiple Search Engines
Different countries and regions also use different search engines as their primary online resources. While Google is the most popular worldwide, other regional search engines-like Baidu in China- should be considered to get the best results from SEO efforts.
Not Creating Content With Local Accents
Localizing content isn’t just about translating it into a specific language – it’s also important to create content that speaks to local audiences with a tone that resonates with them. This helps ensure that your message reaches the right audience.
Not Optimizing Content For Different Devices
Mobile usage is rising worldwide, and it’s crucial to ensure that your website is optimized for mobile devices, desktops, and laptops. This means ensuring that all of your pages are easily accessible for people using smartphones or tablets and that any media content you include works properly across multiple platforms.
Failing To Provide Localized Customer Support
Providing support in a customer’s native language can be crucial to increase conversions, so ensure that your website includes options for multilingual customer service. This will certify that customers get the information they need quickly and accurately – which could be the difference between making a purchase or moving on to another site.
Not Setting Up 301 Redirects Correctly
When you create new pages in multiple languages, it’s essential to ensure that any existing URLs are properly redirected using 301 redirects. This helps search engine crawlers and customers quickly find the most relevant page. It also consolidates link equity from other versions of your website in different languages.
Not Optimizing Internal Linking Structure
Internal linking is a key component of SEO, so it’s vital to ensure that all of your multilingual websites have an appropriate structure in place for internal links. This includes everything from setting up proper categories and taxonomies to creating localized anchor texts for the website’s every language version.
Not Monitoring Performance
Once you’ve launched your multilingual website, it’s essential to keep track of its performance over time. This will help you ensure that any tweaks or changes you make are positively impacting your rankings and conversions in different markets. Regularly monitoring performance metrics like search traffic and leads will help ensure your website performs at its best in every language.
Not Using Data To Inform Decisions
SEO is all about understanding what works and what doesn’t, so it’s crucial to use data-driven analysis when making decisions for multilingual websites. This means gathering and analyzing data from various sources like web analytics tools to make informed decisions about optimization. By leveraging the power of data, you can ensure that your multilingual website performs well in each market you target.
Not Keeping Link Equity In Mind
When creating multilingual versions of your website, it’s necessary to keep link equity in mind. Since search engines use links as one of their primary ranking factors, it’s important to make sure that any existing links to the original version of your website are redirected properly using 301 redirects so that the rankings and link equity will carry over to each language version. This will ensure that all language versions rank as high as possible for relevant searches and get the maximum benefit from SEO efforts.
Not Translating Metadata Correctly
Translating your website’s metadata is just as important as translating its content, so make sure you pay attention to this aspect when optimizing for different languages. Make sure that all meta titles and descriptions are properly written with local keywords and phrases, as this will help ensure that search engines can accurately rank and display each page in SERPs.
Wrapping Up
If you want to ensure you don’t make common SEO mistakes on your multilingual website, consider using website translation services. Many businesses wonder what to look for with website translation services, the answer is simple.
When hiring a website translation service, it is important to consider the quality of their work, as well as their turnaround time and cost. Quality should be at the top of your list when looking for a company to translate your website into multiple languages. Make sure you check reviews from previous customers and ask for references to get an idea of service quality.
LatinoBridge’s website translation services can help you ensure that your content is optimized for the target market in each language. Our team of experienced translators is well-versed in SEO requirements and can ensure that your website looks professional in multiple languages.
So, if you want to ensure your multilingual website is up to the mark, look no further. Our team is ready to help. Contact us today to get a quote!
