Choosing the Right Localization Partner

When localizing a website, consider the quality of translation services to include transcreation, cultural sensitivities, and language to enhance search engine optimization.

The Internet has opened up new ways of connecting with potential customers worldwide. In theory, your own little corner of cyberspace should be accessible to anyone with an Internet connection, wherever they are in the world. In practice, however, all manner of linguistic and cultural barriers remain, as well as practical considerations such as search engine optimization. After all, no one is going to visit your site if they can’t find it in the first place.

Localization is the process of adapting your website and other content for consumption in another locale. This will usually involve translation, but it doesn’t necessarily stop there. It’s important to choose a localization provider who can not only provide top-notch translation, but also the cultural nuances and any other practical tweaks that are needed.

Go Beyond Basic Translation

Translation is certainly an important part of the localization process and is vital when it comes to reaching out into new markets. It stands to reason that if a visitor cannot read or understand your website they’re not going to engage with it, much less make a purchase or respond to another call to action. Various studies have also shown that even multilingual users express a strong preference for websites in their own language.

A 2014 Common Sense Advisory survey polled consumers from 10 countries including China, Indonesia, and Japan. The countries were all non-Anglophone and chosen for one of three reasons; they have large populations, big economies, or a language that’s used in several different countries. Three-quarters of respondents said they preferred products and content in their own native language and more than half (55 percent) bought only at websites where information is presented in their own language. There were also variations between respondents from different nations, with more than 70 percent of Japanese consumers buying only at websites in their own language.

Good-quality translation is essential if you don’t want your copy – and therefore your company – to appear amateurish. Ideally you will want to be working with translators who are native to the target market and who have experience in your sector. This can be particularly important if you work in a field such as law or technology that has its own particular jargon.

Native speaking translators will be able to go beyond straight dictionary-style translations to help add a more “local” feel by adding cultural references and capturing an appropriate tone. You should also remember to localize details such as currencies and prices, shipping arrangements, and date formats.

SEO Considerations

Some localization providers will also be able to offer additional services such as transcreation and SEO. Transcreation is a step beyond translation and involves rewriting content so that it is more engaging and appropriate for a new target audience.

Localized SEO, meanwhile, will help your page rank highly in local search results. More than one-third of Google search clicks go to the top three entries on the search engine results page (SERP) while 75 percent of users don’t view the second or subsequent pages of results.

Ranking highly is just as important for Baidu and other search engines.

A vital part of SEO localization is keyword research. You should never simply translate your source keywords, as slang, abbreviations and alternative terms can all be more effective in the target language. Use your original keywords as a starting point but it can also be useful to brainstorm keywords with a native speaker and test them using local keyword tools.

Localization firms may also be able to offer more extensive services such as link-building and content marketing but a simpler way to boost SEO can be to invest in a country code top-level domain (such as .co.uk for the UK or .kr for Korea). This can not only improve your ranking in local searches, it can also lend you a more local feel to visitors.

Price Versus Quality

When looking for a localization partner, price matters but quality counts, too. The cheapest and simplest way to translate content is to simply run it through a free automatic translation tool but the results are likely to be patchy at best and disastrous at worst.

Automatic translation has its place – it can be great for a quick translation to get the gist of a piece of text, but it shouldn’t be relied upon to produce content that will represent your company to a whole target market.

As well as the quality of any translation work, turnaround speed and the capacity to undertake the required volume of work can also be important, especially for ongoing localization projects. Reviews and testimonials can be useful but you should also ask any potential provider to provide case studies or examples of similar firms they have worked with.

Image via Shutterstock.

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