More likely than not, you are one of the approximately 360 million people that speak English as a first language. That sounds like a lot, until you think of the 7.7 billion people in the world. Even when you consider people who can speak English as a second language, that is only 18% of the world population.
For people that are considering buying your product, or using your service, the ability to read your website content in a native language is very important. It helps them understand what you have to offer, as well as builds trust in your brand.
If you are operating your organization internationally, it’s likely that you are already aware of the importance of localizing your content. However, even if you are just operating in your home country, it’s likely there are populations that don’t speak or understand your website fully.
Benefits of Translating Your Website
Beyond just allowing your visitors to understand your content of your website better, translation of content provides other benefits.
- Brand Perception – Your website visitors will have more trust and respect in your brand if you’re able to provide content to them in their native language. Showing you are willing to translate your content can give you a leg up on your competition.
- SEO Boost – Google and other search engines will try to provide localized results for search users. This means that your content will rank higher in the results if you are able to provide a version of your content in the search user’s native language.
- Increased Conversion – You are much more likely to have a website user “convert” or move through your buying process on your website, if the content is written in a language they understand well.
How to Translate Your Website
So you understand the importance of website translation, but how do you do it? There are a few options that we typically recommend to our clients.
- Google Translate – The quick and easy way to do website language translations is adding Google Translate. This will provide an automated way to translate your website into over 100 languages. However, the content will not be natively written, and may contain errors. It also will not provide SEO localized value, as the content itself will only remain in one language.
- Language Specific Landing Pages – If you want to provide native translations for visitors, but don’t have the resources for a full website translation, one option would be to create language specific landing pages. This usually means creating a single page that is written in a foreign language, with links and resources for non-english speaking visitors.
- Full Website Translation – If you have the ability, a fully translated website is the best for content localization. This requires that all of the content in your website be translated into another language. A website developer would create your website so that alternative language text could be added to your website database. A translation firm (check out our client – The Geo Group) can be hired to provide translated version of your content. This option can provide the best translation for your visitors, as well as the best impact on SEO.
