Digital marketing is international

SEO techniques are not only limited to English language content. We frequently find companies and even marketing agencies following SEO guidelines for digital English content that do not consider or think about International SEO when they are translating their sites into other languages.

The idea of reaching customers and potential clients in their own language is a step further in broadening your audience, so using the right keywords to drive users to your website is a necessary launching point. A translation of a website page doesn’t guarantee that the choices of words selected are the strategic words or keywords that your customers use to search information online in their language. 

SEO is important in any language. A good international SEO strategy starts with identifying the right keywords for your product or services in the language that you are adding to your marketing mix.

For instance when doing a Spanish translation of a website, keywords must not only be translated to Spanish but keyword research has to be done for each of your target locales to make the Spanish language website content effective for you and your target audiences.

Keywords Research for Spanish Translation

Let’s look at the keyword “Spanish Translation”. That is an important keyword for our marketing efforts since we are a Translation agency.

While doing keyword research, you’ll see variations of the keyword phrase and you’ll want to pay attention to the ones that have more “Volume in Searches” and are effective in bringing traffic to your website. On top of this, you’ll need to focus on the keywords that convey the intent to buy or use your services.

Successful Keyword Research:  Variations to look for

1. Let’s start by looking at the difference in search volume between plural and singular forms of the keyword ”Spanish Translation”.

Search results using one Keyword research Tool.  Region- United States –

Spanish Translation                                                                                 550,000

Spanish Translations                                                                                    2,400

Search results worldwide, using another Keyword research Tool- 

Spanish Translation                                                                                 1,500,000

Spanish Translations                                                                               1,500,000

So, keyword search volume varies according to the tool and location.

2. There are also related keyword phrases that have higher search volumes than “Spanish Translation”.

Search results in US- 

Spanish Translator                                                                                 1,220,000

English into Spanish Translation                                                          832,000

translate english to spanish                                                                    450,000

translation from english to spanish                                                           8,100

translation from spanish to english                                                           4,400

When searching for Spanish keywords translated from English, we extract the results from Worldwide since Spanish keywords have lower search volume in the US. 

traductor ingles español                                                                                     4,090,000

traducción español                                                                                                       6,600

traducion ingles espanol                                                                                         110,000

traduccion de ingles a español                                                                               673,000

3.  People also search for keywords in the reverse direction when they need Translation from English into Spanish. Here are some keywords we found that show this variation- 

translate spanish to english                                                                   450,000

spanish to english translation                                                                368,000 

traducción de español a ingles                                                                           368,000

Traductor español ingles                                                                                  2,740,000

traducir español a ingles                                                                                       110,000

4.  Searchers misspell about 10% of their search queries every day. The search results vary for different misspellings.

You can consider misspellings of the keyword that have significant search volume.  In the case of “Spanish Translation”, users typing in the search box enter frequent misspells as shown below: 

soanish translation                                                                                         590

spanish transltor                                                                                             590

soanish translator                                                                                        2,900

soanish to english translator                                                                         170

soanish to english translation                                                                       170

translate soanish to english                                                                           140

spanish tarnslation                                                                                            10

spanish tranlsation                                                                                          170

spanish to english tranlsation                                                                         30

english to spanish tranlsation                                                                         30

spanish english tranlsation                                                                              20

english spanish tranlsation                                                                               10

There was not a significant volume of misspelled Spanish keywords.

5. Other keyword phrases that include the core keyword term can be added to the list, and should also be considered if the number of searches and keywords are relevant to your SEO goals. 

Spanish Language Translations                                                                 10

Certified Spanish Translations                                                                   10

Spanish Technical Translation                                                                   20

Spanish Website Translation                                                                      40

Document Translation                                                                            4,400

In this case we’d select “Spanish Website translation’ since it has a greater search volume and contains 2 important keywords for us “Website Translation” and “Spanish Translation”.

Spanish Keywords related to previous terms 

Traductor tecnico                                                                                                     2,400

Traducciones technicas                                                                                               210

Traductor Tecnico ingles espanol                                                                             590

Traducciones certificadas                                                                                           210

Traducción de documentos                                                                                        720

Traducción de sitios web                                                                                              20

Traducción de páginas web                                                                                        260

Translation of Keywords and Locations

Different keywords that can be used for Spanish Translation have different search values and they also change according to the location of the search- 

traduccion del ingles al español                                                                              6,600                                 (Location: Spain)

traduccion del ingles al español                                                                              2,900                                 (Location: United States)

Traduccion al español                                                                                              18,100                                 (Location: Spain)

traduccion al español                                                                                                 6,600                                 (Location: United States)

Traduccion al español                                                                                                8,100                                  (Location: Mexico)

Traduccion al español                                                                                                4,400                                  (Location: Argentina)

traducciones  del Ingles al español                                                                                10                                  (Location: Spain)

traducciones al español                                                                                                    10                                  (Location: United States)

We hope you’ve found this discussion helpful in understanding the process of keyword research for successful International SEO.  Search is cultural and depends on the language!  Remember that keywords with higher volume of searches in one location and/or language will not necessarily be as popular in another language. Creating effective content while translating websites requires the selection of the appropriate keywords, by:

· Researching for effective keywords that users use to search.

· Restricting the keyword research to the locale of your target audience: all location, country, city, or zip code.

· Use Keywords that have the intent you are looking to draw potential clients. 

For more about our website translation process, please contact us.  We look forward to helping your website draw a world of loyal customers with international SEO!