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We’ve waxed lyrical about the benefits of multilingual SEO, but, of course, challenges do come with the many moving parts involved. It requires a deep understanding of language nuances, cultural differences, and search engine algorithms. In this blog post, we will explore the challenges of multilingual SEO and provide tips and strategies for overcoming them. Buckle in, it’s a long one!
Choosing The Right Language(s)
If you’re forging ahead with a new international business strategy, you might think that targeting all the major languages, and countries, will maximise your opportunities for new customers. Wrong! Opening the net too wide means you lose focus and are less likely to be able to implement strategies or monitor results effectively.
There are a multitude of different factors to consider when zeroing in on the languages to target, including language popularity, competition and cultural differences. But most importantly, dig down into your analytics and see where users are currently browsing your site from. This tells you there is already potential for growth in that country or region, and adapting your site for their language and culture with multilingual SEO will encourage them to return again and again.
URL Structure and Domain Strategy
Once you’ve picked the languages you want to focus on, next comes deciding on the site structure itself. Depending on the size and scope of your website and brand, you have the following options:
A subdomain can be seen as an entirely different site from your original — this means any authority you’ve built up with Google via backlinks or content will not transfer to the subdomain. The URL structure would look like the following: fr.yoursite.com.
- Pros: Easier to organise the new translated pages; international users are clear with which area of the site is directed at them; it’s easy to monitor results with separate analytics.
- Cons: Any page or domain authority on the original site will be lost, so you are essentially starting from scratch; you will have to double your SEO monitoring and implementation as they are two different entities.
Think of this like a folder on your desktop where you save all related content and files. If you were thinking of branching out into the French market, the URL would look something like this: yoursite.com/fr and any additional pages would be tacked on after ‘FR’, like so: yoursite.com/fr/product-page.
- Pros: All content and backlinks sit under your primary site, meaning all authority remains within the original website; you need only to implement SEO strategies on the one site.
- Cons: Having separate directories, or folders, for each language means you’re likely to end up with hundreds of similar pages which risks duplicate content; optimising each section for the local search engines is more difficult as you’re working on just one site overall.
This is similar to the subdomain in that it is seen by Google to be a stand-alone site, however in this case the URL structure will be entirely unique, for example: www.yourFRsite.com or www.yoursiteFR.com
- Pros: All content and backlinks sit under your primary site, meaning all authority remains within the original website; you need only to implement SEO strategies on the one site.
- Cons: Having separate directories, or folders, for each language means you’re likely to end up with hundreds of similar pages which risks duplicate content; optimising each section for the local search engines is more difficult as you’re working on just one site overall.
You should take into consideration the size of your site and the scope of your business before making a final decision — alternatively, get in touch for a chat and we can talk through your best options for implementing your multilingual SEO strategy.
Hreflang Tags and Sitemaps
When it comes to multilingual SEO, one of the challenges of implementation comes from hreflang tags and sitemaps. It is absolutely vital to ensure they are consistent and accurate. Quick SEO lesson: hreflang tags are used to tell Google which language and region versions of a page are available, while sitemaps are used to list all the URLs of a website. Both of these elements help Google index and rank the right pages for the right users.
But , if the hreflang tags and sitemaps are not aligned or updated, it can cause confusion and errors for Google, and your potential customers. For example, if a page has a hreflang tag for French but is not included in the French sitemap, or if a page has a hreflang tag for German but the content is in English, Google might not be able to crawl or display the page correctly. This can result in poor user experience, lower rankings, and lost traffic.
Here are our top tips for implementing hreflang tags and sitemaps for multilingual websites:
- Use different URLs for different language versions of a page, and avoid using cookies or browser settings to change the content language dynamically.
- Use the correct language and region codes for each hreflang tag, and make sure they match the content and target audience of each page.
- Use XML sitemaps to specify each page’s alternate language versions while also using hreflang attributes.
- Keep the hreflang tags and sitemaps updated and consistent whenever you add, remove, or change pages on your website.
- Validate your hreflang tags and sitemaps using tools such as Google Search Console or third-party validators.
Keyword Research and Content Optimization
As with any SEO project, keyword research is vital. No matter what tool you use, it’s important to remember to take search intent into account when curating your keyword list — it’s no longer just about the search volume anymore. But the biggest bit of advice we can share for your multilingual SEO project is: GET A LINGUIST. Not only will they be able to highlight the keywords that will work best for your new target market, but they’ll provide valuable insights into the local area, cultural references and the tone.
Of course, you can’t just slot some keywords into your website and call it a day. All of your content will need to be adapted to the new language, and culture, while utilising the keywords found in the research and also maintaining your original marketing messaging. Again, your linguist is going to be your best friend for this job, so make sure you’ve found someone who prioritises quality and creativity over anything else.
*Side note, we have so many top tips for choosing the best linguist or translator for your project, we’ll have to write a blog on this shortly, so keep an eye out for that!
Remember, when we talk about content in this sense, we don’t just mean the articles and landing pages — we’re talking title tags, meta descriptions, headings, images, links, and schema markup too. This attention to detail shows Google and other search engines that you’re dedicated to providing your international users with a tip-top experience, giving you trust and credibility.
Avoiding Duplicate Content Issues
We’ve already mentioned rewriting the content on your site, and we know this sounds like a big job. But other than tailoring the content to your new audience by adapting the cultural references, tone and (obviously) language, it’s also important to avoid putting out duplicate content across the internet.
Having duplicated content, either on a subdomain, subfolder or separate domain, will hurt your rankings — and likely your reputation. Firstly, search engines won’t know which page to rank if there are two (or more) pages with the same content, so they’re all at risk of being ranked lower in the SERPs. But that’s only the best-case scenario! If Google suspects it is word-for-word duplicated, there’s a chance you could face a manual action from Google.
Having said that, if you’ve correctly implemented the hreflang tags, Google will be able to identify the content is aimed at a different audience — but it is explicitly stated in their guidelines that AI-translated content is seen as spammy. Like us, Google believes that, at the very least, translated content should have a human editor. And, as we keep banging on about, this means your linguist can infuse the copy with local insights, meaning it’ll be far more engaging for your new audience.
You can read more about the pitfalls of relying on AI for translation here.
As you can tell, there are a lot factors when it comes to multilingual SEO which can seem overwhelming, but each step is vital for a successful international business strategy. We can’t stress enough, however, the importance of working with a talented linguist (or team of!) to push you ahead of your competitors.
Luckily, here at Managed Language we not only have a huge roster of creative and top-quality translators, linguists and copywriters, but we also have a fantastic team of project managers who can take the stress of multilingual SEO out of your hands. Get in touch today if you’re interested in learning more!
