Mastering a website’s Search Engine Optimization (SEO) strategy is no mean feat. With Google, and many other search engines, regularly changing their search algorithms, establishing the right keywords to attract the right netizens can seem near on impossible.
Or is it? If you’re looking to expand into multilingual websites, you’re already onto a winner. The foreign language Internet is not as content saturated as the English web, giving your website less competition per product and more potential to be found in searches. By investing time in multilingual keyword research and making a few small tweaks to your website content, you can unlock that elusive SEO ranking and attract more of the right customer traffic.
Understanding Keywords
Keywords are an integral part of a website’s functionality and they work in exactly the same way for any language. What gets typed into the Google Search box is a searcher’s tool for sifting through the Internet. What gets returned is a list of websites that best matches their search criteria, with the most relevant appearing at the top. Whether a website is deemed relevant or not is based purely on the presence of these keywords in the website. So, simply put, if you don’t have the key search words in your website, your website just won’t be found. Working keywords into your copy is the cheapest and most effective way to increase online presence and it works effectively across all languages.
Choose The Perfect Keywords
Identifyingthe right keywords can seem counterintuitive, requiring you to step back from the product. Consumers don’t search for items using the technical terms often used on a website. Instead they pick more day-to-day phrases– and this means that you should too. Online tools, such as Google AdWords, are great for cherry-picking key search words, as well identifying market competition. Being aware of how your consumers are searching for your product is just as important as having the right website content.
Exactly the same principal applies when establishing a multilingual website. However, avoid a literal translation of your English keywords via online dictionaries. Instead work with a localization agency to identify the most effective terms or phrases. Their input is worth every cent, as cultural insight and language skills will ensure your keywords match the local searches.
Less Keywords Are Certainly More
Once you have all of the keywords, you need to work them into the copy of your website. Don’t spend time doing the keyword research, then not maximize their potential. A great tip is to apply the power of one; use them once in the article title, once in the description, once in bold and once in italics. What’s important to remember is that less is certainly more. Reading an article filled with keywords is not only dull, but it can be flagged-up by search engines as spam. Try to incorporate the keywords into your website as subtly as possible – if it reads a little clunky, take it out and try it somewhere else.
Monitor Their Success
Once you’ve added the keywords to your website, you can start to monitor their performance. Google Analytics is a great online tool for rating their success – or failure. Don’t be afraid to get critical and tweak your keywords if you need to. Those that aren’t generating customer traffic should be removed and replaced by other phrases or terms. SEO is about trial and error, and watching a keyword’s progress closely can really help them perform.
Keep Content Current
As a final tip, make sure you keep your content current. Not only will it make the website a much more interesting page for your users, but it increases your SEO. Blogs, Twitter feeds and news articles are great avenues to incorporate new content and keywords. As well as attracting users to your website, they show an understanding of more locally important issues. With current news naturally ranking higher on search engines, their contemporaneity will in turn boost your SEO.
Using video content can also improve your website’s ranking, appearing much higher than simple website copy in searches. They have much less footage to compete with, so by working keywords into the title and description of films or footage, theycanjump up the rankings. However, beware of making your website too cluttered. Again, less is more, and websites that run quicker are much more search engine friendly. Avoid flash, java and java script to keep your website’s response to under 3-4 seconds.
With these simple tips, you can really maximize your website’s potential. In just a couple of months, you’ll soon see your rankings improve and the number of visitors increase.
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