Have you ever visited a website and jumped back when you realized it was in another language? Well, we have all done that several times. Did you know that it takes a website visitor just four seconds to decide whether to stay on one page or switch to another? In the modern world, where every business is in cut-throat competition, it is necessary to have more visitors and leads on a website. Today, every business or blogger has an online presence on a website or social media page. Regardless of which medium you use for your online presence, the question is: Are you getting enough visitors?
Where do you see yourself if you are a new business and try to find your name using a net browser? Who would not want to see their name on the first few pages or in the top ranks of a Google search? Have you ever wondered why it is necessary to be at the top of a Google search or on the top tier? The reason why any business or blogger strives to generate traffic to their website is to improve their SEO. Over 94% of people limit their Google searches to the results that appear on the first page, and most of them explore only the first three search results. 84% of people worldwide use Google as their search engine, but this fact is also true for other search engines.
As a new business owner, what will you do if your business website appears on the 12th page of a Google search? One of the best ways is to look for methods and tactics that can improve your ranking.
As a translation company, we have been hearing this question for more than 15 years: How can we use translation to drive traffic to a website?
In this article, you will find all the necessary information about SEO, website traffic, website translation and localization, and some best practices to smoothly build your multilingual presence online so that your product or service appeals to local customers and sells in Spain, France, UK, Germany, Canada, US or any other country in the world you can think of.
What if we told you that there are 180,000,000 registered websites today? The statistics illustrate how much people rely on search engine rankings to find or retrieve the information they want. If they do not find it on the first page, they adjust their search terms instead of exploring the 2nd or 3rd page. The word SEO or Search Engine Optimization means improving your website's position through backlinks or using meaningful keywords. If your website has a better ranking and appears on the first page, then the people who visit or explore your site are your ideal visitors and can be your potential customers.
SEO is about understanding what people are searching for on your website or business, what answers they are looking for, what local keywords they are using, and most importantly, what type of content they are aiming for. Once you know your visitors' preferences, you can connect with the relevant people in no time. Search engines are like answer engines, sifting through billions of pieces of content to figure out what best fits your query. The search engine performs this action by discovering and cataloging all available content through crawling and indexing. We often hear the terms "organic search" and "organic traffic" Do you know what these terms mean? Organic search refers to search results achieved through effective SEO that is not paid or does not include advertising. SEO is one of the best ways to increase the quantity and quality of your website traffic and brand awareness through non-paid organic search results.
SEO translation is an important part of your localization efforts aimed at making your web pages, landing pages, or even meta descriptions available not only source language but in the languages of your target audiences.
Related content: How SEO Localization Can Change Your Business
To understand website traffic, we should not forget that today there are two types of website traffic. One is direct traffic and the other is organic traffic. Direct traffic includes visits to your website without a referring website. For example, if your employee or a customer has to log into a website portal, this undermines the direct traffic source. Many companies have their employee portals where they have to enter the URL. Entering the URL counts for direct traffic because there is no referring website.
On the other hand, we come across blogs that contain a link that says, "For more information, visit the following link." This statement refers you to another website, and when you click on the link, you are taken directly to that website. Or if you search for a term online, the search results on the screen will have different website addresses. Everyone who clicks on those pages generates organic traffic. Organic traffic is one of the inbound marketing strategies that many marketers strive for to increase their website traffic. The more people click on your link, the more visitors you get and the more traffic is generated to your website. A website with high traffic and many visitors will eventually make it to the top level of search results. Simply put, it's all about how authentic your website appears. Google algorithms determine the number of visits a website receives in a day. If it fits into their E.A.T. (Expertise, Authority and Trust) algorithm, it qualifies for a better ranking.
There are over 7000 languages in the world. Almost 43% or 3.2 billion of the world's population speak one of the top ten languages as their native language. There are 1052 English internet users, 804 Chinese users, 337 Spanish users, and 950 users of all other languages. From these numbers, it is easy to see that most people use the Internet or prefer websites in English. If your website is in Russian, do you think anyone but a native Russian speaker will understand the content of your blog or website? The short answer is "NO" Once a visitor sees the Russian language on the website, it will not take them more than a second to switch to another website. If you are targeting the international market, it is not a good idea to set up your website in Russian. It will hardly bring you any visitors, let alone SEO ranking. More than a billion people, both native and non-native speakers, prefer English as a second language for reading or writing. One study says that 76% of shoppers prefer to store on an eCommerce website in their native language. You might ask why translation is so important for a website. From the statistics we have gathered, you will understand its importance.
E-commerce sales could exceed $4.5 trillion this year, i.e. in 2021. 90% of searchers search without a pre-determined idea to explore different websites. 61% of marketers say that generating leads and traffic to their website is their biggest challenge.
If we focus on translation, let us put it this way. Did you know that 50% of Google searches are directed to people outside the United States? Google alone offers searches in 130 languages. Internet users in the U.S. are not as close-knit as they seem. In countries like the U.S. and the U.K., where English is the primary language, online usage must be high. In contrast, countries like China and India have surpassed Internet usage. So if you expect to generate organic and strong traffic to your website, it's time that you consider localizing your website.
Related content: 10 Best Practices in Website Localization
Once you have decided that you need to launch your website in a specific region, the next thing you should do is research the language that people speak there. Remember, a website or content that does not appear local or native will not entice visitors to click on or explore your site. For example, you operate in Los Angeles and want to sell your products across the border. It will only boost your international sales if you incorporate the local touch into your international marketing strategy.
Even this article we are presenting to you is in English, ensuring that 1 billion people will try to read it because it is so easy to understand. If it were in Chinese, no one would bat an eye!
In English-speaking countries, Google reigns supreme, but if you are targeting foreign markets like Russia, China, or Japan, you need to optimize your search engine accordingly. Recent data suggests that Google's share in China is only 3.18%. Can you guess why that is? The answer is obvious: "lack of localization" When it comes to the local search engine in China, Baidu leads with 76.69%, Google with 3.18%, Shenma with 4.41%, and Bing with 2.24% of local search engines. In Russia, people use Google as their search engine, but the local search engine called Yandex has a 45.16% share of the local search engine market. This is important information before you start your keyword research and localization efforts with SEO in mind.
SEO localization is a process of increasing traffic to a website with organic search results in the right target language. SEO localization is gaining popularity among companies because localized SEO has shown better results than simple translation efforts. Properly executed, it helps marketers increase their traffic in different areas of the world and saves time, money, and resources. Of course, you have to invest some time and resources first, and carry out some preparatory action like thorough multilingual keyword research for your target markets.
Related content: A Quick Introduction to SEO Localization
No matter how advanced the world has become, language and cultural barriers do not seem to go away. It's not enough to create or translate a website content. You need to understand the cultural differences and the words that might be culturally offensive to your target audience. For example, visitors from the US or China may interpret your message or web content differently, even if you do your best not to offend them. A "thumbs up" may be offensive to a web visitor from Sardinia.
You will certainly not prefer your visitors to leave and not return. For culturally and linguistically appropriate content, it's best to work with native-speaking translators who understand cultural values and are in tune with the big picture of your web content.
Certain languages pull the text together or expand it during translation. If you let this go through without proofreading, it will affect the quality of your content and visitors will think you are naive. Make sure to take into account any items that your audience on the new market may be sensitive about, linguistically and, most of all, culturally. Pay attention to locale.
Sounds too mainstream, does not it? 70% of consumers actually consider buying products in their language. As much as these numbers urge you to translate your web content into multiple languages and according to the markets you are targeting, we advise you to start small. Start by translating your website into two or more languages and watch the number of visitors you receive within 60 days. As the number of visitors increases, you will realize that the translation is working.
A Chilean web agency called Tucango decided to translate their web content from Spanish (the local language) to English. After translating the content, the web agency noticed a 30% increase in visitors. This helped it achieve its main business goals. Translating content into the language of a country or region helps generate more visitors and potential leads, and improves your SEO ranking.
Many WordPress users make the common mistake of not understanding dynamic and static indexable translated content. One of the most effective ways is to add a Google translation widget that allows users to translate your site into any language. This seems to be effective, but search engines will not help you generate the desired traffic to your website.
How about we tell you that you can still generate traffic to your website? All you need to do is to add some changes to your static URL. You can set up a subfolder, subdomain, or separate domains that will make users search your website for the translated versions they want to read.
Related content: 5 Ways E-commerce Translation Boosts Your Sales
The cost of website localization may be high, but it is worth it to increase traffic to your website. Translating your content into the languages of different regions that fit your target audience will attract their attention and help you achieve your business goals. If you are not an SEO expert, you do not have to be if you want to increase traffic and rankings. Incorporating localization into your digital and international marketing strategy will increase your website's visibility on foreign and domestic business platforms. If you want to use your website for a foreign market, you need to translate it into multiple languages.
Our world has become an interconnected global community, and people speak different languages to each other. They often communicate in a language that is easy for both native and non-native speakers to understand. Among 7000 languages, you can target different people and generate enough visitors by translating your website into different languages to reach the desired number of visitors. The more you have the local reference in your content, the higher the traffic to your website.
The better your user experience with your website, the more likely your leads are to qualify and convert. Localized content does exactly that as your website visitors speaking different languages react enthusiastically if you talk to them in their language. This way, your chances of getting loyal customers in international markets grow enormously.
Content localization, including website content, can do wonders for your website traffic and your marketing in general. It's one of the best ways to get in front of new customers quickly and effectively. That's why you need a well-thought-out localization strategy to make the most out of it, including local SEO strategy, a multilingual website creation approach, and follow best practices to achieve that.
Equipped with this knowledge, there's one more thing you should do: go and grow!