For a website to succeed, it must meet two key goals: providing high-quality content and ranking at the top of search results. While these objectives can feel a bit vague, they are the foundation of any successful website and are largely driven by SEO.
WEB POSITIONING
SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) involves all the actions you can take to optimise your website’s content for both users and search engine algorithms. A well-executed SEO strategy helps you build credibility with your content, attract quality traffic to your site (from users who are genuinely interested and engaged), and, with proper internationalisation, ensures global visibility online. But what are the essential aspects of SEO?
Timing and Location
If you’re aiming to take your website global, the first thing to do is specify the language of your site and its geographic location. This allows search engines to link your content to local maps and deliver precise results based on users’ geographic areas—without the need for visible changes to your site.
Content Variety
It’s also crucial to keep your content fresh, original, and diverse. Regularly updating your site with new content, along with a mix of multimedia elements, helps improve your SEO. Web crawlers (search engine algorithms) reward variety, including different types of content, authors, and features. This keeps potential users engaged and builds trust, as they see that your website is a well-maintained space filled with valuable, up-to-date information.
Keywords
Lastly, the way you use keywords is essential to improving your website’s presence in search results. Keywords serve a dual purpose: helping search engine crawlers capture information and ensuring that users understand your content.
Keywords are terms that describe your content and should be used consistently across your website. You should include them in the text, file names, titles, headings, hyperlinks, and most importantly, in the meta tags that crawlers use to analyse your site.
The placement of these keywords is important, but so is choosing the right ones. Understanding the latest jargon in your industry is crucial, as well as knowing how close the keywords are to the actual subject matter of your content.
For instance, let’s take the example of the French term for ‘assisted reproduction’. Until Law 2021-1017 on bioethics, the term used was ‘procréation médicalement assistée’. However, the official term has since changed to ‘assistance médicale à la procréation’.
Given the recency of this change, many users may still search for the older term, making it more beneficial for SEO purposes to use it. However, the newer term is more accurate from a formal standpoint. So, what should you do?
The best solution is to include both terms and clarify the change. This way, you can optimise your SEO to attract more traffic while staying true to the evolving nature of the language.
By staying on top of SEO trends and keeping your content relevant and up-to-date, you can maximise your website’s visibility, improve user engagement, and grow your global reach.
WEB LOCALISATION
The ability to effectively use web localisation tools is what sets a quality web service apart—structured and tailored to the needs of its users. It’s not just about mastering the subject matter and the form; search engines reward attention to detail in every aspect, including language. That’s why it’s crucial to follow an internationalisation process that fits the specific requirements of each language.
While there are automated modules available for translating websites, they often come with significant flaws due to the lack of human intervention. This can result in issues like ambiguous homonyms, gender and number inconsistencies, incorrect verb tenses, and more.
For instance, imagine a bank’s website where the word ‘banco’ (meaning ‘bank’ in Spanish) is mistakenly translated as ‘bench’ in English—a piece of furniture to sit on, not a financial institution.
This highlights the critical role of web localisation. It’s more than just translation; it’s about adapting your content with the help of a professional translator who fully understands the meaning of the text and the cultural nuances of each region. A skilled localisation expert is well-versed in the linguistic customs of each place, ensuring your message resonates accurately.
At Verba Libera, we offer tailored localisation and SEO services, as well as expert linguistic advice to enhance the quality of your content. If you’re interested in learning more about how we help our clients achieve excellence, feel free to reach out. And if you already know what you need but are unsure how to move forward, explore the range of language services we provide.
