Multilingual Content Websites & Translator Plugins

[Mahesh]

As a results of the session we had earlier I would like to just brief a bit about the language translations and use of plug-ins and its effect on SEO:

Google often tries to look for the main language present in the website and each of the pages and it would be good if the language sticks on to one per page and avoid translators (Translators with country flags). By the Global SEO standards if you are planning to target a website on the larger basis try to make your language posts visible in search results. Using automated translators are the most sought after ways on getting your content to people across the globe, but Google recommends that you should not use automated tools and translations for getting indexed and this can be view as SPAM by Google.

Regular Multilingual translation or semi-automated translated content doesn't cause any duplicate content issues as both the languages are different and the meta's are also varying, but if its generated using a completely auto-translated process then it can be considered as duplicate (if not blocked by Robots.txt or used canonical element). Its also very important to ensure that the translated contents are bring shown in different URL's or directories to avoid any kind of duplication issues.

Few translator tools can also create server load and increase in the webs space as it saves the cache of the translation pages in the directory. Also having an automated translator plug in can shift the meaning and keyword focus of the content, the plug can only give a generic idea about the content. For optimizing and creating a multilingual content website it very necessary to maintain the right architecture for a website and to avoid any potential duplication, crawling, indexing issues which can effect their SERP's.

[huzaifa]

Thanks for sharing this Mahesh.I completely agree with you on not to use automated translators.

However i feel we still need to discuss this topic on Multi-lingual SEO and Multi-Regional SEO further.

I think we must also address how we can reach these two important categories of People when globalising SEO.

A)IMMIGRANTS and B)TOURISTS (Correct me if i am wrong)

By IMMIGRANTS i mean -> well you could have a spanish guy staying in San Francisco or Ontario searching for some spanish product/service.

So personally i dont think its enough that we just track location by using ip addresses of users surfing and then deliver the content in accordance with the URL rules and content delivery rules as discussed during the session.

We must also track the language preference of the visitor from the website internally.

[douglas]

This discussion is going good guys! The points you raised are relevant Huzaifa. Eager to hear back from Gurus

[Mahesh]

We did mention about that during the session i.e. targeting people on a wider basis by using multilingual content which targets people of different languages in one country or multiple countries (or by the text book phrase Immigrants) and using localized keywords for better ranking opportunity. We have used an example of promaster.ca where we have given an option for users to either view the contents using English or French through a subfolder structure and this can be quite useful and informative for a user. Showing contents based on IP tracking should be avoided as its bad for usability and Google will rank only the global content and also you will be losing out on potential traffic and conversions from people who are following other languages in the specific location.

To put it across in more simple terms - For a large scale business website make the content globally visible so that it serves the purpose of the business but ensure its effective and search engine friendly. Also having a set content based on the business preference and relevancy (crafted by analysing the keyword variation and proper meaning) can also give more SEO benefits to the website.

All these completely revolve around where the business is being targeted and their customer preference. If the website is multi-regional or multi-lingual there are other factors to consider as well like for example: if a French user visits our website from Spain and wants to know about the most happening events in Spain through a subdomain but he wants the content to be in French.

For maximum SEO benefits we will need to ensure that the geo targeting settings (webmastertools, server location, location information etc.) are set in correctly but in few scenarios an "event" may have similar pages in every subdomain so it’s necessary to add a canonical tag to it as well. If you are targeting international users then you can use semi-translators (Check TechWyse blog for example) but if there are any automatic translated content then ensure that it’s blocked in search engines. A Global SEO for a website is not just about how the content is being displayed for the user but it’s also about how the webpages/contents are being optimized for the local and global search results so that we offer maximum visibility and search engine friendliness.

[huzaifa]

Thanx for your time Mahesh appreciate it!

So by giving an option for the users to view the content in their preferred language and using a subfolder structure is the way to go about this issue.

Google explains this situation in a blog post ->

I am NOT sure if this is the way to go about this. This will definitely require a case study.

However here is what i understood from the post and kindly correct me if i am wrong.

-> Select one language as the main language of the website.
-> Give the Option to visitors to choose their preferred language
-> Google suggests to store the preferred language settings in cookie.
-> pick one canonical URL that best reflects the genuine locale of the page’s main content.
-> Specify the various language versions via the rel=”alternate” link tag, using its "hreflang" attribute.

Hence When your content is returned in search results, users will likely see the URL that corresponds to their language preference, whether or not it’s the canonical.

I guess we require to confirm this via case study first.

Lemme know your thoughts Mahesh.

[Mahesh]

Yes, you have read the post right. This is one way you can ensure that you show the right content to the users by maintaining the SEO benefits. Having an alternate tag for the contents is considered the best way if you want the localized content to be ranking in SE's (also don't forget the Geo-targeting settings). As mentioned earlier all the factors will entirely depend on the business websites and where the content is being targeted and their business requirements. And talking about the study, this sound like a good blog topic. May be you can write a blog about it and explore the mentioned factors further.