The growth of languages on the web has been remarkable throughout the last decade, and this trend will continue as economies in Asia and Latin America develop further. An increasingly multilingual internet provides an opportunity for businesses to expand their horizons and target foreign language speakers on the web.
Marketing has traditionally been English language focused on the internet. This was primarily due to the share of native English speakers online overall. Now, however, native English speakers only represent 26.5% of total web users. Speakers of languages such as Arabic and Chinese have grown much quicker on a relative basis. Marketing to foreign markets online represents a cost effective opportunity for businesses to expand the number of potential customers they target.
Search activity in foreign languages has sharply increased towards the end of the last decade. This coincides with the increasing availability of multilingual websites and improved accessibility for non-Latin scripts online. A recent report stated that 90% of web users like to conduct web searches in their own language. Lucrative online marketplaces exist in Europe, Asia and Latin America which can be easily identified and targeted through a well-developed multilingual SEO campaign.
Translate & Research Keywords
The primary activity that is useful in locating search opportunities is keyword research albeit in a specific language and targeted towards a specific market. Google’s Global Market Finder is useful in locating foreign search market opportunities; an English keyword or term can be used to find local search data for equivalent keywords in the language most commonly spoken within the country being targeted.
Further keyword research should be conducted manually by translating and searching keywords. Online translation services like Bab.la or Google Translate can be used to obtain translated keywords. Tools like Google Adwords Keyword Tool can be used to find country specific data in a specified language. Examining all translated keywords through the tool will be adequate for some markets in determining search opportunities that exist.
Search Engine Identification
There are certain countries where Google, the dominant search engine worldwide, is not the leading search engine. StatCounter by Global Stats can be used to find market share of search engines in specified markets. A few examples of local search engines which are more popular than Google include Naver in South Korea and Yandex in Russia. For these search engines, research will have to be conducted by a native speaker because the tools provided by these search engines are in their own respective languages.
Another notable factor that can affect the outcome of the research is the translated keywords; an incorrect selection of words will provide incorrect data. This is why it is recommended that a native speaker of the language is used to identify and research relevant keywords.
Developing an SEO Strategy
Once a list of markets or a specific market has been identified for a search campaign, the process of priming the internet presence and creating the foreign language SEO strategy should begin. It is compulsory to have a localized website for a specific market; this would entail content translation and localization with a focus upon the identified keywords. Due to low competition in certain markets, on-page optimization is enough to gain a high ranking in search engines. For others, local and contextual thematic links will be required to drive up rankings over a space of time.
The SEO strategy for foreign markets follows the same pattern as existing English language strategies; the only difference is the language. Identifying and acting on foreign language search strategies can allow a company to diversify its client pool and expand into foreign markets.
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About the Author: Talha Fazlani overlooks Online Marketing for Language Connect, a translation services, localization and international SEO agency.
