What is multilingual SEO, keyword research and how to make them work
If you are an SEO connoisseur, there are all chances you know what steps to take when you are entering a multilingual SEO game. But if you’ve never ventured into the multilingual website business, it makes sense for you to find an expert who will run the process in all its complexity. Remember - your website must attract an eclectic audience who lives in various regions and speak different languages. This task is well within a multilingual SEO expert’s range. But don’t worry, we got your back. Here is an article that gives you a general idea about multilingual SEO. Please note that SEO ways and means are forever changing and so make sure you apply them with caution and verify your strategy before going all in.
What is SEO?
As you may already know, an SEO strategy is something you do to make your website visible to your potential clients, customers, reader, target audience, etc. You can think about it as an ad campaign for your site or a neon-glowing shop window for your business. Because if you have a brick-and-mortar shop, that’s what you do - you make your place stand out by telling your target market this is what they are looking for. On the Internet, it’s different. A lot more different. There are not so many ways for your potential clients to know your business even exists. It’s a bad thing. The good news is that almost all of them can find your website through Google search.
You might have done it thousands of times yourself. When you need something, you type it into the Google search box and - tah-dah! - you get SEARCH RESULTS. Ever thought of where they come from? Yes, the answer is search engine optimization and the best and correct ways to apply it. The better you do, the higher the rank of your site, the more people - and clients - know about it, the more successful your business becomes. There may be no better way to describe the importance of SEO for your business.
Okay, what is multilingual SEO, country code top-level domain?
Imagine there are customers, new markets who are interested in buying your product or service but they don’t speak your language (presumably, English) OR they don’t do Google searches in the language of your site. Do you know what happens to those poor souls? They would never find out how great your company is and how life-changing your product or service is UNLESS you want to target them and tell them about it. Help them find you by creating different versions of your website in multiple languages for different countries! Usually, they have the same name but different letters after the dot, for example, .com, .fr, .de, etc. These letters are the designation of country code top-level domains. Why having one site in one language when you can have as many as you want in many languages?
And in case you wonder - yes, all versions of your site need some optimization for search engines to be applied so they can be happy and rank high on Google search result pages. Because you need them to be on the top of the first page, so busy Internet users don’t have to look any further after hitting that SEARCH button. (There are actually scientific research data that show people don’t like to dive into second pages of search engines' result pages - and forget about 3rd pages and lower). Now, when you have different language versions of your wonderful website and played your SEO game like a pro, expect an increase in traffic, orders, success, awards, and other sweets and candies.
Okay, but how do I make it work?
One of the keys is to find the keyword that would get you more traffic and take you to the Moon - or at least to the top of the first search engine result page, which sometimes is even harder than marketing sand in Sahara or getting to the Moon. Keywords are the queries web netizens type in when they search for what you offer. If you go to the Google search page and type in, let’s say, ‘pizza’ you will see a drop-down menu with suggestions (‘pizza near me’, ‘pizza dough’, etc). These are examples of keywords for companies that sell pizza, obviously. (By the way, it's one of the ways to find the keywords you may use). And since keyword research is a time-consuming process and no one has time anymore - remember those social media users who don’t want to go on the 2nd search result page? - SEO experts invented some easier ways to do it. And they called them keyword research tools.
What is a keyword research tool?
What exactly is it? To put it simply, it’s a service that makes your life easier and lets you find keywords you may be interested in using. Then you can sieve them through and pick the ones you will include in your targeting campaign. Also, these tools are useful for your content strategy as they help find article and blog post ideas that your customers are looking for. (Guess how we came up with this piece?) And if you thought we are done with keyword research tools, just think about it as an intelligence tool that allows you to peek into what your competition does. Since they are in the race too, and they might know about best practices and you can look through their websites to find the keywords they are using to get to the top. Pretty neat, if you think about it. Who would’ve thought that your competitors can help you attract more clients to your website and find crisp and fresh ideas for your blog? Amazing!
What is the best keyword research tool?
There are a lot of free and pay-to-play keyword research tools that gather data you can use for multiple purposes, from improving your SEO strategies and audience research to PR campaigns and brainstorming sessions. We will take a look at 3 probably the most obvious choices and will get back to the review later in one of our blog posts with more pros and cons.
Google’s Keyword planner
Okay, maybe this one is not that obvious. They made it for advertisers, but it is still a very useful tool for SEO people. Plus, it’s free, which is always a nice thing. You need to know that you can create a Keyword planner account through Google Ads. It asks for your payment details but doesn’t require running an active campaign or paying for anything. In the Keyword planner, you can type in any keyword and get a (very) general idea about how popular this particular keyword is at the moment. You can get a list of keyword ideas too.
Google Search Console
We’ve already touched upon this one earlier. It gives you dozens of ideas you can use and check. Google’s search console is not a keyword research tool in the truest sense of the word, but it helps you come up with new ideas, and what could be more valuable than that? Moreover, you can use it in combination with Google Analytics to get in-depth data on keywords. Google Search Console is not an orthodox keyword research tool, but it is helpful and underrated. Give it a try and you’ll be surprised at the results.
Semrush Free Option - Keyword Magic Tool
This little guy is as simple as a keyword research tool can get, but it gives you tons of data to work with. Free users get a 7-day trial with 10 daily requests, which is enough to try it out and decide if you want to pay for it. Every time you hit that query button you get new keyword ideas and trends, traffic insights, etc.
How do I generate keywords for my research?
This part of your SEO game takes the most time, effort and focus. But once it’s done right, it pays off by making your business more successful, getting new clients and retaining your existing customers. There are some general avenues you can follow to make a keyword list that works for you. Start with brainstorming broad topics that can include key properties of your product, your business, your customers and your potential audience. If your company already had sales, ask clients why did they choose your product. They know the pluses, after all, they voted for them with their wallets. Some of the info on the user experience you can also get from your sellers or customer support reps.
Use keyword research tools - Yes, find the right one for you and use it for your own advantage to find new or high-ranked keywords, discover ones your competitors use, find Amazon, YouTube and Reddit auto-suggestion search keyword, etc. Always check, re-check and analyze keywords you add to your list. The time spent analyzing is the money saved advertising. Or doing SEO, for this matter.
What is the best way to do multilingual keyword research?
Though optimization and keyword research are crucial for the future of your business, but there is no unique recipe for success. Some companies have an SEO department, others outsource their website business. There are hundreds, even thousands, of SEO experts, teams, and dedicated firms that offer their services in website promotion. And it’s up to you to choose the one to work with. As for international SEO, we would recommend you contact language experts who are in this business. Thus, you will get the translation, adaptation and transcreation (no generic Google Translate mumbo-jumbo) of your website done, which is a big deal if you want your texts to go global and to read and sound natural for native speakers in other countries. Then, language pros with SEO experience are more skillful in finding the best keywords and SEO strategies. Plus, they can offer you an insight into cultural and linguistic backgrounds to help you get more bang for your buck.
Conclusion
The search engine optimization and research for keywords are complex and sometimes confusing, but if you know your business like the back of your hand and want to get to the top - figuratively and literally to the top of the first Google search result page - you will prevail. Anyway, you can always get a team of multilingual SEO experts onboard to delegate this part of the equation to professionals. No matter which way you choose, we hope our SEO tips were helpful and wish you luck and all the best in your journey to the shining height of success.
