SEO Localization Raquel González CEO & Founder of Seoulful Translations From basics to best practices

INTRODUCTION ABOUT ME Translator for almost 8 years (Korean/English/Spanish) Lived in South Korea for six years SEO consultant focusing on international and multilingual projects Speaker in SEO and translation events, such as Sitebulb, Search Barcelona, SEO Vibes on tour, Aula CM, and more. /raquelgonzalezseo /raquelgonzalezseo

SEO What is SEO How do search engines work Keywords and search intent International SEO Relevance of international SEO International SEO strategy Workflow as SEO translators Practical example Best practices INDEX

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WHAT IS SEO It is the process of optimizing your website for search engines, so your content ranks in the top results when a user searches for specific keywords. SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization On-page SEO Off-page SEO Technical SEO Our focus as SEO translators

SERPS Query that the user searches (it can be the same as the keyword) Organic results People Also Ask (PAA), where Google shows questions that users search for related to this topic

SERPS Paid results (Google Ads) Related terms and semantic words

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Content is created and uploaded to the internet, making it available for search engines to find. Content publishing HOW DO SEARCH ENGINES WORK

Search engine bots, called spiders, explore the internet by following links between pages to discover new and updated content. Content publishing Crawling HOW DO SEARCH ENGINES WORK Content is created and uploaded to the internet, making it available for search engines to find.

Search engines process and store discovered content in a massive database to understand what each page contains. Search engine bots, called spiders, explore the internet by following links between pages to discover new and updated content. Content publishing Crawling Indexing HOW DO SEARCH ENGINES WORK Content is created and uploaded to the internet, making it available for search engines to find.

When someone searches, the engine analyzes its index to show the most relevant results first, favoring websites that are well- optimized and high-quality. Search engines process and store discovered content in a massive database to understand what each page contains. Search engine bots, called spiders, explore the internet by following links between pages to discover new and updated content. Content publishing Crawling Indexing Ranking HOW DO SEARCH ENGINES WORK Content is created and uploaded to the internet, making it available for search engines to find.

SEARCH ENGINE'S RANKING FACTORS Search engines use complex algorithms to evaluate content quality • • • • • Google, for example, uses 200 ranking factors to analyze: Intent behind a query Relevance of the content Quality of the content Usability of the content Context and setting (location, search history)

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DEFINITION Keywords are words or phrases we use to optimize our content so we can rank for them Queries are the actual words that users type into search engines It's the average number of times a keyword is searched for monthly Search volume Keyword difficulty Keyword seasonality It means how hard it is to rank for a keyword based on other competitors How search demand changes throughout the year (specific months or seasons) Keyword Related queries

TYPES OF KEYWORDS BY LENGTH Short-tail keywords • • • They consist of 1 or 2 words Usually very difficult to position for High monthly search volume Middle-tail keywords • • • They consist of 2 or 3 words A bit easier to position for Decent amount of search volume Long-tail keywords • • • They consist of more than 3 words Low search volume but easier to rank for Very specific or informational keywords "translation" - SV: 456K "spanish translation" - SV: 74K

TYPES OF KEYWORDS BY LENGTH Short-tail keywords • • • They consist of 1 or 2 words Usually very difficult to position for High monthly search volume Middle-tail keywords • • • They consist of 2 or 3 words A bit easier to position for Decent amount of search volume Long-tail keywords • • • They consist of more than 3 words Low search volume but easier to rank for Very specific or informational keywords "document translation services" - SV: 2200 "professional translation services" - SV: 1100

TYPES OF KEYWORDS BY LENGTH Short-tail keywords • • • They consist of 1 or 2 words Usually very difficult to position for High monthly search volume Middle-tail keywords • • • They consist of 2 or 3 words A bit easier to position for Decent amount of search volume Long-tail keywords • • • They consist of more than 3 words Low search volume but easier to rank for Very specific or informational keywords "what is the difference between transcription and translation?" - SV: 500

TYPES OF KEYWORDS BY SEARCH INTENT Informational intent • • • • • • • • • • • • Users are looking for information about something They are normally long-tail keywords It can include modifiers: How to What is Guide to Tips for Benefits of Top of the funnel content (awareness stage) Blog posts answering the user's question How-to guides with instructions FAQs about a topic

TYPES OF KEYWORDS BY SEARCH INTENT Transactional intent • • • • • • • • • • • When the user is ready to make a purchase or book a service. They are high-conversion keywords It can include modifiers: Buy Book Hire Services Bottom of the funnel content (decision stage) Service pages Booking systems Product pages

TYPES OF KEYWORDS BY SEARCH INTENT Navigational intent • • • • • • • • • • • The user is trying to find a specific website or brand They are usually branded keywords It can include modifiers: [Brand name] + location [Brand name] website [Brand name] phone number [Company] sign up Bottom of the funnel content (decision stage) Homepage Login/Account pages Contact/support pages

TYPES OF KEYWORDS BY SEARCH INTENT Commercial intent • • • • • • • • • • • The user is researching or comparing products to help make a decision It can help to bring the user to conversion pages It can include modifiers: Best Top Compare Reviews Middle of the funnel content (consideration stage) Comparison articles Case studies Detailed product guides

TYPES OF KEYWORDS BY SEARCH INTENT Local intent • • • • • • • • • • • The user is looking for a service or product in a specific location or area They are high-conversion keywords It can include modifiers: [Service] near me [Location] + [Service] [Company] open hours Local [service] Middle/Bottom of the funnel content (consideration to purchase stage) Store location pages Location-specific service pages Professional association directory pages

WHERE TO FIND KEYWORDS Using third-party tools like Ahrefs or SEMrush • • These tools will help us perform a keyword research in different languages While some have a free limited version, they are paid

WHERE TO FIND KEYWORDS Using third-party tools like Ahrefs or SEMrush • • These tools will help us perform a keyword research in different languages While some have a free limited version, they are paid Checking Google Auto-suggestions • • Start by typing your keyword and a letter of the alphabet It can give you ideas of what users search for

WHERE TO FIND KEYWORDS Looking at PAA and People also search for • You can find related keywords and common questions on Google's search results

WHERE TO FIND KEYWORDS Looking at PAA and People also search for • You can find related keywords and common questions on Google's search results Researching your local competitors • Take a look at how your competitors are optimizing their content and what keywords they rank for to give you ideas

WHERE TO FIND KEYWORDS Looking at PAA and People also search for • You can find related keywords and common questions on Google's search results Researching your local competitors • Take a look at how your competitors are optimizing their content and what keywords they rank for to give you ideas Using AI to come up with new ideas • While it's not recommended to perform keyword research with AI, it can be useful to brainstorm new terms or topics

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WHY INTERNATIONAL SEO MATTERS Specializing in SEO localization is a growing opportunity • • • Every day the number of companies that want to expand globally grows Moreover, 75% of users prefer buying products from websites in their native language Brands need experts that understand both language and digital marketing: they need somebody who can help with cultural adaption, local market knowledge, and SEO expertise With SEO localization services, you can help brands: • • • Connect with their target audience by adapting that content to their culture Rank for relevant keywords that target users actually search for Build trust and authority in new local markets

INTERNATIONAL SEO STRATEGY 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. Research the target market and your local competitors Choose the right domain structure Optimize your hreflang tags and other necessary technical elements Localize your keywords and your content Be mindful of UX, cultural aspects and user search behaviour Optimize for specific regional search engines (Yandex, Baidu, Naver,…) Perform local linkbuilding and outreach Aspects to consider if you want to expand to other countries

INTERNATIONAL SEO STRATEGY Research the target market and your local competitors • • • Before expanding, you need to research if your product or service is necessary in that market You also have to research your local competitors (not companies that expanded into that country as well) Checking your Google Analytics or any analytics tool will also give you information about what countries your users are visiting your website or buying your product from

INTERNATIONAL SEO STRATEGY Choose the right domain structure ccTLD https://example.de https://example.es https://example.co.uk https://example.com/de/ https://example.com/es/ https://example.com/jp/ https://de.example.com https://es.example.com https://it.example.com gTLD with subfolders gTLD with subdomains Clear geotargeting Easy separation of sites Different server locations Expensive Only targets one country Easy to set up Low maintenance Domain authority transfers Geotargeting not clear Single server location Easy to set up Different server locations Clear geotargeting Easy separation of sites

INTERNATIONAL SEO STRATEGY Optimize your hreflang tags and other necessary technical elements • • • • • Hreflang is an HTML attribute used to specify the language and region of a webpage It uses: ISO 639-1 codes for languages (en, fr) ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 codes for countries (CA, US) Another technical aspect that you might want to consider is the page speed, since some countries might not have high speed internet, so you need to adapt your website for your users

INTERNATIONAL SEO STRATEGY Localize your keywords and your content • • • • • • • • • Keywords can't be directly translated, they need to be localized Your keywords should match how locals actually search. Even within the same language, search habits are different For example, British users usually search for "women trousers" while Americans look for "women pants" Adapt your content to local formats: Show prices in local currency Use local date formats Adapt phone numbers and addresses Use local measurement systems Adapt payment methods

WHY YOU SHOULDN'T "TRANSLATE" KEYWORDS Brief: Need to localize a "Bed and breakfast" landing page into Spanish. bed and breakfast ≠ cama y desayuno bed and breakfast = casa rural

INTERNATIONAL SEO STRATEGY Be mindful of UX, cultural aspects and user search behaviour • • Search behavior varies dramatically across cultures. For instance, Spanish users might type longer and more detailed queries, while Korean users tend to use more concise words User experience also matters. For example, Japanese users often prefer lots of information and bright colors, while users from the US scan for quick answers and prefer a more straight-to-the-point design Useful resource: The Culture Map by Erin Meyer TIP

INTERNATIONAL SEO STRATEGY Optimize for specific regional search engines • • • Some countries rely on their own search engine, besides Google and Bing For example, in China, they use Baidu more than Google Optimizing for their search engines will increase the chances to be found by your target users

INTERNATIONAL SEO STRATEGY Perform local linkbuilding and outreach • • • When targeting a new audience, you also have to work on getting backlinks from local sources That will help to build trust with local audiences, signal that market presence to search engines and increase the website relevance for local searches If you create high-quality multilingual content, you will have more chances to get natural links

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CLIENT BRIEF We will go over the brief with the client in an introductory meeting • • • • • • This brief can vary from client to client, but it should contain information like: Source keywords and URL Target audience and market Internal links Project requirements SEO tools they will provide (if any) Brand style guide, glossaries, tone of voice…

CLIENT BRIEF Let's say Zapier contacted us to translate one of their most successful articles to Spanish- speaking audiences They give us a brief with all the necessary details, including the keywords and secondary keywords they want us to localize. They also ask us to provide the H1 with back translation and ask you to provide relevant external and internal links in the target language into the article.

MULTILINGUAL KEYWORD RESEARCH We will start our keyword research strategy • • • • Now, with our source keywords list, we can start brainstorming seed keywords thinking how we would say in Spanish: best meeting scheduler (SV:400) meeting scheduler app (SV:200) meeting scheduler software (SV:50) best group scheduling app (SV:40)

MULTILINGUAL KEYWORD RESEARCH Once we have our seed keywords, we can search them on Google • • • • • We can search for each keyword and see what results come up. Now, it's time to add to our list keyword synonyms such as: herramienta de programación de reuniones programas para programar reuniones software para agendar citas y reuniones software de citas organizador de reuniones

MULTILINGUAL KEYWORD RESEARCH We can also check our competitors and what they already rank for In this case, when searching on Google those keywords, "Hubspot" or "Calendly" came up We can remove branded keywords and filter by search volume That will narrow our keyword list. Now we should look at what keywords are related to our topic and add them to the list we had

MULTILINGUAL KEYWORD RESEARCH When we have a decent list, it's time to check them on a keyword research tool By doing that, we can see if people actually search for those keywords, if they will be difficult to rank for, and what the search intent is We can see that most of those keywords don't have much monthly volume or some may seem synonyms but they have a different search intent.

MULTILINGUAL KEYWORD RESEARCH It's time to narrow down our list and choose which keywords are more relevant It's a good practice looking at the search results for each keyword, to see if the keyword intent matches with the source keyword Also, if the keywords you choose as secondary keywords show the same search results as your primary one, you know you are on the right track

LOCALIZE AND OPTIMIZE YOUR CONTENT After we decide our list of keywords and the client approves them, we can start translating our text. Once we finish localizing the content and rest of elements (like meta data), we can send our translation to the client, or, if we have expertise in CMS, like WordPress, they can ask us to directly upload the content

H1: Main keyword First 100 words: primary keyword Through the text: primary keyword, secondary keywords and semantic keywords H2: Secondary keywords Image title and alt text: primary keyword Title tag: Main keyword Meta description: Main keyword / secondary keyword(s) URL slug: Main keyword

BEST PRACTICES IN SEO LOCALIZATION Numbers and dates It's better not to add numbers or dates in the URL, but you can add them in the headings /best-meeting-scheduler-apps /10-best-meeting-scheduler-apps-2024 Keyword stuffing Search engines have evolved and understand the content of a page without needing to add your keyword a 100 times. If you do that, you can get penalized as it will look spammy "If you want to learn about keyword stuffing, this keyword stuffing guide will teach you why keyword stuffing is bad and how keyword stuffing negatively impacts your SEO strategy"

BEST PRACTICES IN SEO LOCALIZATION Title tag and meta description When you localize the title and meta description, you have to be aware of character limits, so it doesn't get cut off on search results Title tag: max. 60 characters Meta description: max. 150 characters Mangools SERP simulator

BEST PRACTICES IN SEO LOCALIZATION Zero-volume keywords You might find that, when localizing some keywords, you can't find high- volume keywords like the original or most of them show 0 to 10 searches per month However, zero-volume keywords are a gold mining opportunity, because it means that the competition is low and you will have easy wins

BEST PRACTICES IN SEO LOCALIZATION Anchor text and internal linking Internal linking is one of the best ways to increase traffic and relevance to other pages of your site That's why it's important that you check if you can link to other articles related to the same topic. That will create topical authority As for anchor texts, try to make them descriptive and use relevant keywords Once you learn how to use meeting scheduler apps… Click here to read our article.

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