English-language keywords are becoming more competitive daily, making it harder to rank for popular terms – even with an unlimited budget.
To maximize your efforts, consider alternatives like multilingual or international SEO.
Before we dive in, let’s clarify the difference:
- Multilingual SEO involves multiple languages, regardless of the target country. For example, adapting a U.S. website into Spanish or Traditional Chinese for U.S. residents is multilingual but not international.
- International SEO targets different countries. A U.S. company expanding to Canada, the U.K., or Australia would be engaging in international SEO but not multilingual.
This article covers both.
Expanding beyond your current audience comes with challenges.
With over five years in international SEO, I’ve seen many brands make common mistakes. Here’s how to avoid them.
1. No market research
Sometimes, businesses notice traffic and sales from a specific country and assume they can simply AI-translate their content to rank.
Since they perform well in their home country, they believe their authority and links will carry over.
Wrong!
Every country has its own industry landscape, which may not align with what you’re used to.
Regulations on products, content, and marketing can also vary.
Most importantly, your ideal customer may have different preferences or priorities in another country.
A U.S. affiliate site for online casinos launched an international content effort but didn’t get the expected traffic. They targeted Germany, China, and Japan.
Here’s what they overlooked:
- Online gambling is illegal in two of those markets and heavily regulated in the third. While people still play in unauthorized casinos, legal restrictions affect how businesses enter the market. The risk is lower as an affiliate, but companies selling products or subscriptions must confirm whether they can sell and whether their sales model is allowed.
- The market had strong local manufacturers and distributors that weren’t active elsewhere. Creating content around these brands boosted traffic.
- A social media influencer was trending in Germany for online slot play. Content focused on this trend ranked well and attracted visitors.
Without market research, you’ll miss major opportunities to stand out – and you might even run into legal trouble, depending on your product and sales model.
Dig deeper: How to use SEO to enhance your visibility within a specific geographic area
2. Poorly prepared base version
If your primary language site is poorly built or optimized, those issues will carry over when you add another language.
I’ve seen multilingual sites with no H1s, custom child themes that make content updates difficult, and internal structures that don’t scale well.
Even a font choice can cause problems.
A clear, consistent structure also helps translation software function properly.
Most translation tools scan for text strings, but improperly tagged elements – like buttons, callout boxes, and other design features – may be missed.
In the image below, the gray text appears on mouseover but wasn’t translated from the original German to English.
Ensure your designers and developers create a framework that supports multiple languages, currencies, tax rates, and shipping options.
When adapting from English to another language, allow extra space for text expansion.
English tends to be more concise than other Western languages – and significantly shorter than Chinese or Japanese.
This is especially crucial for navigation menus and buttons.
A translation can break your design simply because there are too many words or one long word that doesn’t fit.
You can’t predict every challenge, but a clean, well-structured site will make expanding to new markets much easier.
Dig deeper: How to craft an international SEO approach that balances tech, translation and trust
3. No keyword research
Many companies translate first and think about SEO later, resulting in multilingual content with no keyword focus.
Conducting keyword research before translation helps your team incorporate key terms from the start.
It also helps determine whether a term should be translated at all.
Some languages, like German, often retain English terms, while French is less likely to do so.
A quick check with a keyword research tool can show whether to translate, keep the original term, or use both.
Keyword research can also reveal potential conflicts.
For example, a company wanted to rank for “MDR” in German, referring to “managed detection and response.”
However, MDR is also the name of a major German public TV and radio station – making ranking for the term impossible.
Beyond choosing keywords, research helps identify local content clusters and plan accordingly.
Poor keyword implementation
Writing with keywords in mind is challenging in any language, and it becomes even trickier in a foreign one.
Translators prioritize accuracy, not SEO.
Where you see keyword variations, a translator sees inconsistency, which can lead to over-optimization.
Working with a native writer instead of a translator allows for better flexibility and keyword integration.
Dig deeper: 15 SEO localization dos and don’ts: Navigating cultural sensitivity
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4. Internal linking
Too many websites overlook internal linking in their international content.
Both navigational and in-content links must be fully localized to maximize their value.
Many sites either link back to English pages or only to the target language homepage, missing key opportunities.
This is primarily a user experience issue.
When users land on unexpected content, it can be frustrating and lead to high bounce rates.
You want visitors to take action, and you’ve invested in content – so it needs to perform.
Users who can’t easily find relevant information are less likely to convert.
From an SEO perspective, internal linking is one of the few factors you can fully control.
With so many ranking elements out of your hands, taking advantage of what you can is crucial.
As you develop your keyword list, create an internal linking strategy alongside it.
Keep local preferences in mind. Your best-selling product in one country may not be the same in another, so adjusting your internal links accordingly can improve efficiency.
Also, share your linking strategy with your translation team.
Translators and transcreators can help create natural, localized links, but most translation software won’t automatically adjust links to point to the correct language version.
A native-speaking editor is your best option for ensuring strong anchor text and proper link placement.
Dig deeper: International SEO: How to avoid common translation and localization pitfalls
5. Only thinking about text
Images and videos are powerful content tools, but if they’re not relevant or accessible to your audience, they lose their impact.
The images you choose can shape how visitors perceive your brand. That’s why it’s important to have a local review them.
Sometimes, it’s as simple as ensuring the people in your images reflect the local population.
Other times, it’s more complex. Allegorical images, for example, may not translate culturally.
If you keep the same images, update your alt tags to reflect the local language and, if possible, include relevant keywords.
For videos, narration can be highly engaging – unless the viewer doesn’t understand the language. In that case, it becomes alienating.
Some companies opt for instrumental music and subtitles, allowing users to select their preferred language.
If your videos are already produced, the easiest and most cost-effective way to internationalize them is by adding localized closed captions.
Fully localizing or dubbing them is more expensive but provides a better user experience.
These assets can also be repurposed for other targeted campaigns.
However, if you’re hosting them on platforms like YouTube or Vimeo, you must organize them properly to ensure seamless access.
Dig deeper: 6 SEO considerations for a successful international expansion
Going global successfully with smarter SEO
Internationalization can feel overwhelming, especially for small and medium-sized businesses.
Taking the time to prepare – particularly with market and keyword research – can reveal significant opportunities and reinforce commitment to the project.
With that foundation in place, it’s time to move forward with localization.
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