Over the years, the Internet has proved to be the perfect place to promote your business via your own website. Sometimes, however, you want to reach more audiences in different markets. You can increase your website’s reach by adding multiple language versions, and multilingual keyword research – an essential part of the multilingual SEO strategy – is one of the most significant steps to achieve this goal.
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What is keyword research?
Multilingual keyword research is essentially the process of identifying keywords which potential customers may use to look for your products or services. It is employed primarily to help your website rank higher in search results for different languages, but also to preform Google Ads optimisation and to carry out research into foreign markets. All in all, it should be one of the first steps you take before entering a new market.
Keywords or key phrases are words or phrases that people type in search engines to look for things they need or want to buy. Oftentimes, it is not enough to simply translate them since different keywords work for different markets. If you want them to realise their full potential, you need a thorough and accurate research. Only then can they be applied to content in a given target language.
But how should you approach this subject?
Multilingual keyword research – what to pay attention to
Multilingual SEO is the key to reaching new markets and expanding your business internationally. But to achieve this, you need to take certain aspects into consideration.
What’s important to remember is that you should always focus on your customers in order to make your website appealing to them. You should be aware of their expectations and adjust your business to their needs – and their way of searching for products and services.
Moreover, you should always try to adapt the keywords you intend to use to a given location (a country or a region), as various markets are governed by their own laws, which means that potential customers may use different keywords or phrases to search for products, services or information – which is why detailed research is so important. Such research gives us the possibility of analysing the search results in terms of words and phrases, thanks to which we can use the ones that are best suited for our content.
When it comes to the keywords themselves, it’s important to choose the ones that have high monthly search volume – but not too competitive at the same time, so that you still have a chance to distinguish yourself and draw organic traffic to your website. Keyword research is typically based on head keywords, i.e. the ones that have high volume of monthly searches.
But while conducting multilingual keyword research, you should also remember about long-tail keywords. These are keywords that get rather small number of searches per month, which might sound discouraging at first, but it actually means that they are less competitive.
If you are just starting your adventure in a new market, you should bear in mind that it may be difficult to compete in search results against market giants. It’s a good idea, therefore, to incorporate long-tail keywords which will give your website a chance to rank higher. You might also want to consider keywords that are already working for your business and attracting customers. Such data may prove useful while adopting new strategies.
Is keyword translation good enough?
To put it plainly – it is not. Aside from the fact that various words or phrases can be translated in diverse ways (e.g. the Spanish word pantalones is translated as “pants” into American English, but in British English the term “pants” is used for underwear), people search for a given product or service using different wording to describe it – such disparities may appear on a global, local or regional level. If we simply translate search terms word for word, chances are we are going to miss the target audience entirely. That’s why each language requires separate keyword research. Only then can we be sure that our content will appeal to various audiences despite cultural differences and regional language variants.
| Hiring professional translators and copywriters who are also native speakers of a given language is always a better idea than depending on machine translation or people who are not so well-oriented in the subject. But why exactly? |
Local SEO experts and linguists
While using machine translation may be tempting – one may argue that it is a cheaper and easier way to deal with the matter of introducing your business to new markets – we should keep in mind that easier solutions are not always better solutions.
You can, of course, rely on machine translation to some degree; however, a machine won’t estimate whether a given keyword or key phrase is actually useful in the target market. For that, you need help of a professional – someone with vast knowledge of SEO and the ability to not only translate, but also reword or localise a given piece of content if the original is not well-adjusted to the market you want to introduce your business to.
Hiring a translator or a copywriter who is also a native speaker of a language used by your target audience will give you a guarantee that they will take into account cultural and linguistic differences, as they know their respective markets inside-out – which also means that they are aware of current trends and can incorporate this knowledge into your website.
While conducting a business, you definitely want to treat your customers with respect; therefore, it’s not a good idea to present them with a website that contains multiple mistakes or doesn’t match the tone or image of your brand. Quality is one of the most important aspects of localisation.
Multilingual keyword research – is it worth the money?
Incorporating multilingual keyword research, especially one that is conducted professionally with the use of analytical tools, into the plan of expanding your brand to more markets has many benefits, among which we could list:
If you care about the performance and quality of your website, it is definitely worth investing money in multilingual keyword research and SEO. There is no point in settling for half-measures here – using multilingual SEO services will prove to be a lot more beneficial in the long run.
Multilingual keyword research at Digibutsu
At Digibutsu, we cooperate with native speakers who know first-hand all the trends prevalent in their respective markets. Thanks to that, we are able to determine which keywords and phrases will actually be useful for your website and produce the best outcomes. Additionally, we help to interpret the results of the conducted research and to implement them into your website in an effective and efficient way by preparing a content plan or optimised content, using keywords that are best suited for your business and the target market.
If you are looking for professionals that will help you take your keywords game to a whole new level – contact us!
FAQ
How to do keyword research in other languages?
It’s best to hire a professional linguist who is able to not only translate given content but also analyse the keywords and estimate their impact on a new market.
How many keywords should I use for research?
Keyword research is about quality rather than quantity. The best way to conduct it is to extract the keywords used in the source text and then determine which ones perform well in the target market. By doing so, you will create a basis for the research, which will make everything easier and less time-consuming.
