What Is SEO Localization? 9 Practices for SEO Localization

In today's digital age, businesses seek to expand their reach beyond domestic markets. Thus, localized SEO is one of the best strategies for achieving this goal by adapting websites to the needs and preferences of different languages and regions. 

A research found that 75% of online shoppers prefer websites in their native language, and 72% prioritize obtaining information in their own language over price.
 

By adjusting content, keywords, and SEO techniques to local markets, you can enhance online visibility, drive relevant traffic, and increase conversions. 

Furthermore, Google's algorithm now prioritizes localized content, making localization needed in international digital marketing. To learn more about what is SEO localization strategy, take a look at the following guide.

What Is SEO Localization?

So, what is SEO localization? Localizing SEO is a process to optimize your website for different languages and regions to achieve higher search engine rankings and attract more relevant traffic.

However, it is not just about translating your content. It requires customizing it to align with the local culture, preferences, and search behaviors of your target audience.

This process includes optimizing various elements such as target keywords, content, title tags, meta descriptions, URLs, image alt text, and external links. It also considers regional currency preferences, relevant imagery, and the use of unique metaphors and local idioms.

How Does Localization Differ from Translation?

While SEO translation focuses on converting content from one language to another to make it understandable to a new audience, localization goes a step further by optimizing the content for local search algorithms and audience preferences.

For instance, if you own a bookstore in the U.S. and want to expand to France, you’ll need to translate your content into French and localize it for the French market.

Consider the title of your homepage in three scenarios:

In the translation example, the words are simply converted from English to French, which might make your site appear bland or misleading. 

In the localization example, the content is adapted to the French market by changing the shipping location, using familiar local terms, and addressing the specific preferences of the French audience.

Therefore, understanding what is SEO localization can be beneficial your website to become more relevant and engaging to your target audience, which led to higher conversions and sales.

What are The Aspects to be Localized?

So, what is SEO localization? It involves more than just translating words; it’s about adapting your business to meet the unique needs of different countries for a better return on investment. Here are the key areas to focus on.

1. Brand Strategy

Adapt your unique selling points, positioning, competitors, messaging, and cultural relevance to suit each country. What appeals to buyers in one country may not resonate in another. 

2. Buyer Personas

Redefine your buyer personas for each region. Consumer problems, product preferences, and purchasing habits differ from one region to another, so their needs and pain points will vary.

3. Content

Customize your content and marketing messages to fit local audiences. It involves more than translation; adapt your website content to align with local interests, cultural preferences, metaphors, idioms, and humor.

4. Operations

Adjust your operations, including sales processes, customer service, products, and payment options, to suit local preferences. For instance, if your customers prefer bank transfers or cash payments over PayPal or credit cards, make sure to accommodate those preferences.

9 Best Practices for Localized SEO

To learn more about what is SEO localization, here are the 9 best practices you can do.

1. Prepare Site’s URL Structure

Localized URLs play an important role in SEO as they help search engines and users identify the page's language and target location. To implement localized URLs, consider the following structures:

Country-specific domains (e.g., website.fr for France)

• Pros: Clearly indicate content intended for specific countries.
• Cons: Some countries require residency for domain registration, making it challenging to obtain these domains.

Subdomains with gTLDs (e.g., fr.website.com and de.example.com)

• Pros: Separate sites within the main domain, making them easier to set up and manage.
• Cons: May not consolidate domain authority as effectively as subdirectories.

Subdirectories with gTLDs (e.g., website.com/fr and website.com/de)

• Pros: Consolidate domain authority and simplify site management since all language versions are part of the same domain.
• Cons: More challenging to manage separate sites.

Each URL structure has its advantages and disadvantages. So, choose the one that best aligns with your business needs and target markets.

2. Conduct an Analysis on Local Search Competitors

The following practice of what is SEO localization is to understand your competition is needed when expanding globally. To identify local SEO for small businesses are the competitors in a new market. First determine who they are, as they may differ from your usual rivals.

Use tools like SE Ranking’s Google Location Changer to see who ranks for your key terms in the new market. You need to search like a local by using relevant, bottom-of-the-funnel keywords that potential customers might use to make a purchase. Also, analyzing search results will help you understand local search habits and keyword usage.

3. Local Keywords Research

After identifying your competitors, start researching keywords that drive conversions. Here’s what you need to do:

• Focus on Long-Tail Keywords: Long-tail keywords, more specific phrases, generally have higher conversion rates as they reflect a more defined search intent.
• Use Keyword Tools: Tools like SE Ranking’s Keyword Suggestion Tool can help refine keyword phrases based on actual search volume and user intent.
• Partner with Local SEO Experts: Collaborate with experts on local SEO strategy who understand the language and culture to guide your keyword research.

4. Map The Keywords

The next practice of SEO localization is to avoid simply translating your existing keyword map and content strategy. You need to conduct new keyword research for each market variation in search behavior and language:

• Categorize Keywords by Intent and Volume: Recognize that search intent, demand, and phrasing vary across languages and cultures.
• Transactional Keyword: For example, a US company expanding to Hungary, researching terms like “children’s toys” shows that “gyerekjáték” is better than a direct translation.
• Group Related Keywords: Cluster keywords by intent (informational vs. transactional) to structure your content. Then, focus on clusters with high search volume and relevance.

5. Implement Hreflang Attributes

The Hreflang Tag is a section of HTML code that informs search engines about the language and region targeted by a web page in a multi-language or multi-regional site. 

This attribute is important to guide search engines to display the most appropriate version of a page based on the user's language and location.

• Provides Search Engine Clues: The hreflang tag helps search engines understand which version of the page to show based on the user's language and region.
• Ensures Relevant Results: It ensures that users in different markets see the correct and relevant version of your content in search results.

Proper implementation of hreflang tags helps avoid confusion and improves the user experience by presenting the most suitable content version for each user.

6. Avoid Automatic Redirects

Automatic redirects can prevent users from accessing their preferred language version of your site. Instead, offer options such as adding a language selector, providing links to other language versions, or using banners to let users choose their preferred language.

7. Address Duplicate Content

Avoiding duplicate content is needed since it can negatively affect your site’s ranking, visibility, and performance in search engine results. These duplicate content can harm your SEO, such as:

• Confuse search engines: Lower your rankings if duplicate content is across different localized versions.
• Harm user experience: Make content seem repetitive and less useful.
• Waste crawl budget: Search engines might focus on duplicate pages, and missing important content.
• Dilute link equity: Spread backlinks and shares across duplicates, reducing overall page strength.
• Canonicalization issues: If search engines are not sure which version of a page to index, they may choose to index an arbitrary version that may not be in synch with your localization strategy.

To address these issues, you can inform search engines which URL is the main one by using the rel="canonical" tag in the <head> section of each alternate webpage’s HTML source code. The tag helps indicate the primary URL to search engines, ensuring consistency in indexing.

8. Consider Optimization on Different Search Engine

In regions where search engines like Baidu, Naver, or Yandex are more popular than Google, tailor your SEO strategies accordingly. For example, Baidu has difficulty with JavaScript and images, so serving important content in HTML can help. Yandex prioritizes user experience factors such as page speed and readability.

9. Use Local Servers

Last but not least of what is SEO localization practice, is to improve global load times, consider hosting your site on local servers or using a Content Delivery Network (CDN). 

A CDN distributes content from servers close to the user, enhancing speed and potentially improving rankings. Services like Cloudflare and Amazon CloudFront offer global CDN solutions that can help boost your site speed across different regions.

Conclusion

That’s all the discussion about what is SEO localization. This strategy is essential for international digital marketing. By tailoring your website to different languages and regions, you can enhance online visibility, attract relevant traffic, and boost conversions and sales.

However, it is undeniable that the practice of localized SEO, which is quite complex, requires thorough and in-depth research. In this regard, you might consider hiring professional SEO services that specialize in this field.

SEO Services by cmlabs can help analyze the overall performance and effectiveness of your website. Additionally, to ensure your website content is well-optimized according to expert standards, you can also utilize Professional Article Writing Services by cmlabs.

This can help regularly produce and also assist your local seo google my business optimization. So, contact our team to discuss your business needs!