13/07/2016

Find out what is actually behind the myths and what is really important when it comes to SEO-optimised translation.

The keywords in the meta tags are in fact no longer taken into consideration for ranking purposes but the description tag should not be ignored. Google will show the text entered here as a snippet in the search results. Incorporate two important keywords here and sum up the site’s content. The clearer and more informative the snippet, the more likelihood of a click!

The times when identified keywords had to be skilfully worked into the content as word play using the exact words and not appear anywhere else in the content of your website are over. Nowadays, Google recognises variations and synonyms and assesses these accordingly. So-called keyword stuffing is also no longer recommended. Google recognises an increased number of keywords, considers this to be an unnatural frequency and downgrades the page.

The more pages Google can index for your website, the better your ranking, right? Wrong, the time for that is also over. The main thing is relevant and unique content that provides users with key information about your company:

• What services do you offer?
• Where can you be found?
• And why should users choose you and not a competitor?

You have identified the perfect keywords for your website and have incorporated these as well as possible into your site, but still no clicks? A good selection of keywords alone will not optimise your page. User friendliness and, above all, user experience are vital. If a website is difficult to navigate or if page loading times are too long and the content is not informative, the user will not stay on your page for long and may even click on straight away. This so-called bounce rate and time spent will have an impact on the ranking in the search results. They tell the search engine whether a page is relevant enough to be positioned high up in the rankings.

Absolutely not a myth! Write your texts for your readers, not for Google. A balanced interaction between the right keywords and unique content is ideal. The texts should be well structured and, above all, easy to read. A meaningful title will encourage readers to read on. Let the keywords flow into the text naturally and in moderation and create a visually clear structure that guides readers through the salient facts. You can make the key information more accessible for readers by using sections, headings and selective highlighting. Pay attention to the text length as well. (Related) Keywords can be accommodated more frequently and more practically in longer texts but readers do not want to scroll forever. It is a matter of finding the happy medium here.

Interesting content will captivate readers and invite them to spend longer on your page. This not only sends a positive signal to Google, it also increases the likelihood of the user choosing your product and recommending your page.

The website should be localised for the local market within the target country. This includes the keywords. Simply translating them is not sufficient. It is important that the keywords in the foreign language also reflect the search behaviour and events within the local market. This means that keywords may differ from country to country and from language to language. The translation of the website content may not match that of the original 100% once the previously researched keywords have been incorporated into the target text.

From a purely technical perspective, a translation of the website using the foreign language keywords is sufficient to improve search results. For users themselves however, transcreation of the text may be more appealing and improve his or her user experience while visiting your website which, in turn, may increase the time spent and the positioning within the search results.