Businesses with a global audience will often have to present their services or products in a variety of languages, including its online presence. As a website is one of a company's key communication tools in this day and age, the way in which existing and potential customers come to find the site is hugely important. Pay per click, on or off-line business directories and advertising are popular channels to encourage the world to land on a website, Ftce math but organic search engine rankings are seen as the holy grail by most.
The keywords used on a website are integral to search engine optimisation (SEO) and need to be chosen carefully for any link building or pay per click campaign. Deciding on the right ones can be difficult; they need to be suitable descriptors for the business, product or service, not be too generalised and therefore overly competitive and most importantly have a high enough number of people searching for them. However, when it comes to translating a set of researched keywords into other market languages it is usually not as easy as using a literal translation.
Certain phrases will not make sense when translated like-for-like so it is important to understand the language to ensure the search term is conveyed. However, even when the sense is correct there is a need to understand the language and also the particular the country's culture to ascertain whether the term is used. For example, Spanish is used across the world but nuances occur from country to country; the language is not used in exactly the same way in Spain, Mexico or Argentina, plus there are dialects to consider, just as there are in English.
It is advisable to discuss terms with someone who not only speaks the said language but who knows the particular country the business has an interest in, making sure the fine lingual cultural distinctions are taken in to account. Then, re-undertake any keyword research, using Google adwords tool for example, to ensure the traffic volumes are high enough on each term to be worthy of using. In countries like China and Russia, where Google doesn't dominate the market, businesses should focus on those search engines that are used and as such understand how many people are searching in Baidu and Yandex respectively. It is in countries such as these where the largest cultural search term difference will be found.
As a working example between English and Spanish I have taken the term 'video mobile phone', which has a traffic volume in Google.co.uk of 6,600 and 110,000 globally. When translated in Google translate I get 'de v�deo de tel�fonos m�viles' but in Google.es it has nobody searching for it. Even checking the traffic for 'tel�fono m�vil con v�deo', which I believe to be more meaningful, the traffic volume for Google.es is still zero. This illustrates how easy it is to get keyword translation completely wrong so businesses beware.
Punch is a UK based, boutique PR, search and social media company with the skill set, reach and client base of a global agency. Specialists in tech PR, the aim is to provide clients with strategic advice that has significant and measurable impact on their business. To find out more about online PR and Punch's integrated services, please visit punchcomms.com or call the team on +44 (0)1858 411600.
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