Search engines play an inevitable role in people’s lives in today’s digital world. People rely on search engines to find information, know about brands, buy products/services, and more. Yes, right from finding the nearest restaurant to learning about that advanced feature of newly launched gadgets, people ask search engines for answers.
Businesses know the importance of search engines very well and their role in driving traffic and closing sales. That is why most brands invested in Search Engine Optimization (SEO) to get ranked on top of SERP (Search Engine Results Page). However, often businesses get their website optimized for only English, the language of their website.
But the online marketplace is vast, and there are a lot of non-English speakers out there. You do not have to miss them if you want to expand your business globally. Some of you may even have your website content available in various languages other than English like German, French, etc. But, that is not enough.
Businesses should have multilingual SEO in place to attract organic traffic from targeted countries. That is sending French users to your French website and German users to your German website.
So, investing in multilingual SEO is crucial, especially if you want to expand your business on the international level. Thus, you can attract the appropriate audience in your newly targeted countries.
Why do you need Multilingual SEO?
As a business, you will have a standard SEO strategy. That is you will optimize your content for English. It is because your website is in the English language. However, if you have target audiences in multiple countries and regions, you would need multilingual SEO.
Multilingual SEO allows you to
- ★ Target a new audience and expand your potential audience.
- ★ Improve your chances of getting ranked for a specific country/region.
Having a French variation of your original English website allows you to attract French users to find your products. Thus, multilingual SEO is all about reaching new audiences by addressing their needs.
Though it sounds easy, multilingual SEO can be a daunting task in real-time. If you don’t do it in the right way, you may end up hurting your rankings. One of the prime challenges of multilingual SEO is duplicate content. If you offer similar content on your website on multiple pages, Google may not know which content to show in the search engines.
Duplicate pages compete with each other, pushing rankings of individual pages down. However, you can avoid all of these issues by following some best practices. Let us discuss some ways to improve your WordPress website's multilingual SEO.
How to Improve Your WordPress Website Multilingual SEO?
Here are 3 ways to optimize your Google ranking for multiple language versions of your website:
1. Use Dedicated URLs
Search Engine giants like Google and Bing have an exclusive algorithm to rank content. Businesses should follow specific guidelines set by these search giants to get their content on top of the SERPs. The structure of your URL plays a vital role in that.
The biggest challenge for many website owners is duplicate content, especially those who work on multilingual SEO. If search engines find your site have duplicate content, it may lead to penalties like lowered rankings or even deindexing.
Google’s best practices recommend using dedicated URLs to combat duplicate content penalties. Yes, your URL structure has to be optimal, especially with WordPress multilingual SEO.
You can achieve that by using language indicators within your URL. The indicator enables search engines and users to identify the language from the URL itself. For instance, your original website page is www.xyz.com, while the French version can be www.xyz.com/fr/.
The placement of the language indicator in the URL relies on the URL structure you choose. Especially the difference between using dedicated Country Code Top Level Domains (CCTLDs) and subdomains on your website. For example:
- ★ Top-level domain (e.g. www.xyz.fr)
- ★ Subdomain (e.g. www.fr.xyz.com)
- ★ Subdirectory(e.g. www.xyz.com/fr/)
You can choose any of the above options. In general, subdirectories come with easy maintenance and yet deliver good results. So, defining your URL parameters is crucial to make your website SEO-compatible. That way, you can indicate to the search engine what to serve depending on the user’s location.
2. Use Hreflang Tags Wherever Necessary
Hreflang tags are snippets of code that dictate search engines about the language you use on each page. They are mandatory for websites that have multiple languages. They help Google or other search engines to differentiate your content versions.
For example, an hreflang tag for a page in English will be like hreflang= “en”.
These tags make Google’s job easier by offering information on added languages, pages to visit, and regions targeted by these pages. You can add these tags in the header section of your original page, or you can submit them through a sitemap.
For example, hreflang tag for a page in French targeting French users:
<link rel="alternate" href ="http://xyz.com/fr" hreflang="fr" / >
If your page is targeting various regions, you will have to add tags regarding every language. We agree that this process is a little complicated and time-consuming. But, it is mandatory for proper optimization of your multilingual SEO.
3. Translate Your Metadata
Your website content has to be translated into the needed language. Undoubtedly it is the topmost priority while doing multilingual website SEO.
However, there are other elements that visitors cannot see and are meant for search engines alone. You need to consider those elements also, especially if you want to nail WordPress multilingual SEO.
That collection of elements is known as metadata, and it encompasses everything from meta description to tags and image alt text. Translating your website’s metadata is crucial to driving targeted traffic from other languages. Without metadata, your page will not get ranked at the top in other languages like English.
Metadata translation is not just translating it word for word, but you have to concentrate on meta description, alt text, and even keywords. For multilingual website SEO, you will have to focus on new keyword research for your targeted languages and further optimize content for them. Thus, you need to rewrite alt text and make sure your meta descriptions target those focus keywords.
You can leverage keyword research tools like Ahrefs, Ubersuggest, and Google Keywords Tool Planner to find the perfect match keywords for the targeted countries.
Final Thoughts
If you are thinking of expanding your business and targeting an international audience, you are possibly an already successful business in your country. To reach a global audience and become a global business, you would need your websites in several languages other than English. Thus, you can attract the appropriate audience from your targeted countries.
Plus, other than content, you would need to invest in multilingual SEO to get ranked on SERP and drive organic traffic from various countries to your website. You can achieve multilingual SEO for your WordPress website by following the three handy steps discussed in the blog. If you put in the right efforts, you can be sure of becoming a renowned business globally.
If you have any queries regarding optimizing your multilingual site for search engines, reach us at Cypherox Technologies. Our SEO team can help you with multilingual SEO for your website.
