The power of the internet is that companies can expand their reach to global markets in a short span of time. However, many companies don’t realize the importance of website localization; believing that simple tweaks and a translation plugin are all that’s needed to address different regions. Doing so, restricts your website from leveraging the full potential of the internet.
When you expand to different markets, your website still needs to rank high on Google and other search engines, right? After all, this is the most cost-effective and long-term technique of generating leads. However, Google is an extremely intelligent search engine, with powerful algorithms for local search. Your site’s ranking will be lower in regions for which you have skipped website localization, limiting your market penetration.
The good news is that website localization is not hugely complex or time consuming. Here are a few things you need to do to improve your site’s SEO for those regions:
Check Local Keywords
Each region that you’re targeting would have different search volumes for relevant keywords. This is true even among regions where English is the preferred language. This is because there are colloquial impacts on search terms used. There would be region-specific differences in search terms, search volumes, level of competition for each term and conversion probability.
Region Specific References
It helps SEO to target different pages or sections of your website for different regions. This would allow the use of country, state or city names in the metatags (page title, meta description and alt text). Avoid copy pasting content on all regional pages, by simply changing the name of the place. This will create duplicate content issues, impacting your SEO ranking. Instead, prepare fresh content with references to the region.
Content Quality
When you use a translation plugin, the quality of content deteriorates. In the worst-case scenario, your site could get listed as spam. Instead, have the content rewritten with a local flavor. Eye for detail is very important in this respect. For instance, US spellings of certain words differ from UK spellings, there may be currencies differences between regions and the usage of idioms and slangs may differ.
URL Structure
This has a huge impact on SEO and needs a well-planned strategy. You can choose different domain extensions for larger targeted regions. For example, www.yourwebsite.com for the US and www.youwebsite.au for Australia. Else, you can have sub-directories, like www.yourwebsite.com/san-jose and www.yourwebsite.com/new-jersey. There is also the option of including regions as a sub-domain, like nj.yourwebsite.com or sanjose.yourwebsite.com.
Promote Local Keywords
This can be done by creating region-specific content for the blog or news section of your website. While optimizing your site for these local keywords, such content also creates credibility for your business presence in those regions.
Increased Conversion
Website localization creates familiarity and comfort. Moreover, region-specific and high-quality content reinforce consumer confidence. Visitors need to believe they are the intended audience for your product or service offering. On the other hand, visitors steer away from sites that feel alien, which could be due to the content, design or structure, all of which contribute towards the complete user experience.
Keep it Simple
While website localization is important for your SEO ranking, it can make your site’s structure complex, if not properly planned. Rather than taking an ad hoc approach, have a professional SEO team work on this aspect right from the beginning.
Lastly, don’t limit localization efforts to your website. SEO is much more than on-site optimization. Getting backlinks from sites that have a strong local presence can aid your efforts. Don’t forget to list on Google Places for different regions. Also, make sure that your social media profiles include information on your presence in targeted regions.