If you need a web designer as you look towards business expansion, you’ve come to the right place! We are here to provide you with guidance regarding multilingual website design, as well as information and instruction about how to go about translation and localization.
While translation is a key part of multilingual website design, it is not the only step you’ll need to take. You will also need to be aware of localization needs to make sure people not only understand but also connect with your brand and content. You need both translation and localization to make this happen. While they share a similar purpose, they each serve a distinct role in making sure a website is suitable for multilingual use.
So, what exactly are translation and localization and what’s the difference?
Translation is the process of directly converting the content of your website from one language to another. Your target language will want to serve the geographic market you are most looking forward to targeting. You will want to make sure you translate everything from the URLs to the metadata of your site, especially so Google does not think you are producing duplicated content.
Localization comes into play when we think about making your content easy to understand and connect with. You should be localizing for different keywords that will be understood more easily. For example, if a grocery store is called a food mart in another country, you will want to optimize for the word that is easiest to understand in the target country. If your website is appealing to the target group because they can understand your content and connect with it, you are likely to bring in more business. So, both translation and localization are key for multilingual web design.
If your company is going international, having multilingual site capabilities is crucial. If you fail to translate or localize, your international venture will likely not be worthwhile because people will see your website as an example of what you have to offer. If they don’t like it, they won’t hire you. Therefore, we recommend reaching out and getting guidance on the process of multilingual website design.
What can Hartford Web Design do to help?
At Hartford Web Design, we will work jointly with localization consultants who aim to create the international brand and content that you would like to project. We will find the best localized keywords, then optimize your translated site for those words. Then, we will translate an optimize your URLs, metadata, and overall content to enhance SEO. We will make sure your current CMS will work well when translated, as well.
Once we understand what steps we need to take to begin the process of translating and localizing, we will alert search engines of the changes using canonicalization. For example, we want to notify Google of your new subdomain or subdirectory, as it would be for Canada, either ca.example.com or example.com/ca. Once Google knows this, we will make sure they know this is not spam duplicate content. After that, we will work closely with our consultants to get the translation and localization processes done quickly and efficiently so you have one less thing to worry about!
