Multilingual SEO

Running a multilingual website marketing campaign

The entire world does not speak English. By ignoring other languages, you are in effect blocking potential users from finding and interacting with your business.

Speaking in tongues

We are very lucky that English is often regarded as the language of both the net and business, but we have to remind ourselves that not everyone speaks it. Non-English versions of a website are not created overnight, nor will the cost of translation be cheap. Taking the step to offer a multilingual site, or dedicated language versions, is something that has to involve all functions of the business and must be budgeted for. The overriding question must be whether a multilingual version of your website, or launching a new countryspecific site, will add value for both yourself and your customers. If the answer is no, save yourself the project management nightmare and spend the money visiting these far-off climes instead.

Going the whole hog

If you decide you need, or have already implemented, a multilingual site, well done! Multilingual sites are difficult projects to manage and maintain, but the benefits - if they are done correctly - can be immense. Be sure to assign a country manager to each language version of the site/s. This person will be responsible for the website content and updates but, more importantly, will be your interface with the local Google site. They will have to manage keyword selection, optimisation, and an AdWords budget if you are planning to pay for placement.

Managing multilingual campaigns

Follow the same steps as you would for your English-language site. Find out who your competitors are, research your keywords and begin optimising the non-English pages. You will need to set up an account with each of the Google territories to monitor your AdWord and Analytics; for Spain, for instance, you would start with www.google.es.


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