| 17 min |
If you are thinking about using your website content abroad sooner or later, you cannot avoid translations or even the creation of new texts. Internationalized SEO content is essential for your international content strategy as well as for entering a new market. However, in order to become sustainably visible there and to reach your new target group, there are a few things you should know about good international content. Because not all countries are the same and not all languages are the same. We tell you what matters!
International Content – What is international content strategy?
What are the technical requirements for international seo content?
Keyword Potential Analysis – The Basis for Successful Content
Keeping an eye on user behavior for optimized content
Translate or recreate, that is the question!
International SEO Content – How to gain visibility and relevance
Driving business success with international content marketing
In order to reach your target group across national borders, international content is important. You can only be successful if you reach them with country-specific content and address them ideally. There are some factors that differ from your native content. Knowing and mastering these pitfalls is necessary to achieve top rankings abroad. Even countries where the same language is spoken often have cultural differences that should be incorporated into your content.
Internationalized content is the basic building block for your success abroad and ensures the visibility of your website. As an important ranking factor, it enables top rankings within the search algorithm of your target country. This is the only way to reach potential customers there.
In addition, it is of course important to address the right people. For this, it is essential that you know your target group in the target country. A target group analysis is therefore the right way! Similar to the definition of your local target group, you therefore consider demographic, socio-economic and psychographic characteristics. These are enriched with culture, mentality, religion and other characteristics of the target country.
In our eo:magazine, we show you in 4 simple steps how exactly to approach a target group analysis!
Your content will only reach the right people if you can successfully place it in the SERPs. Via geo and/or language targeting, you have the possibility to distribute content specifically according to language or region. Another important requirement is the avoidance of duplicate content. You can do this, for example, by using hreflang.
Want to know more about using the hreflang attribute? Then check out our hreflang guide here!
Before you create content and after your actual keyword research, it is significant to perform a keyword potential analysis for your target country. It forms the basis of your content and is therefore essential for success. Because: It ensures that the really relevant keywords appear in it. There are often big differences to the keywords you have determined for your home country content. It is important not only to carry out a pure keyword research, but also to look at the potential behind the corresponding word in the target country. Only in this way can you keep the focus on the essentials and promote good rankings in search engines abroad.
Often, terms are important abroad that you don’t need in your home country. It may therefore be possible that you require additional landing pages or content for these keywords in order to reach targeted users. In addition, you know which landing pages you can do without that already exist for your home market.
Other interesting insights that you can gain from a keyword potential analysis are the specifics of the target market and the competitive situation there. Such insights already give you initial information about your chances abroad, and you can derive targeted recommendations for action from them.
You should also consider technical terms and colloquial expressions of the language of your target country. A native speaker will give you invaluable insights into idioms, culture, and values that will elevate your content strategy to a new level.
The search behavior of users varies from country to country. Accordingly, you need to make sure to adapt your content in your international content strategy. To do this, it is not only important to analyze the wording and types of search queries, but also the search intentions. In addition, it is relevant whether the search has a regional or global reference, in order to be able to respond with the right content. You should therefore clarify the following questions in relation to user behavior in the target country:
According to the collected information, you can then build your website. In addition, you can always use these questions to optimize existing content.
Stupid translations will not bring you success. Sure, you can easily translate content into a target language, as long as the topic is relevant there as well. However, make sure that it is adapted to the specific country. Use your keyword potential analysis and include keywords that are relevant in the target country. Also make sure that the context is appropriate by using semantic terms and correct phrases and expressions. This will prevent you from putting your foot in your mouth. Working with native speakers can be a great help here. People who have lived in the target country for a long time know the culture and mentality well and can give you advice and support. If you do not have any text for important keywords of the target country on your original website, you will not be able to avoid creating new content. It is a good idea to create specific landing pages that are tailored to the requirements of the target group there.
If a country is completely foreign to you, you can ease your entry with the help of native speakers. If you want to internationalize in general, you should definitely bring people into the team who are familiar with the target country. Of course, you can also work with freelancers on a project-by-project basis – it all depends on your plans. However, it is important that you maintain a lively exchange with your personal country expert. This helps to minimize fears of entering a new market and to prevent mistakes.
For example, a native speaker can help you define your keyword set right from the start. Through his knowledge, you will learn which terms are relevant and should definitely be included in your content. In addition, he knows idioms and colloquialisms that can also be incorporated.
There are some “stumbling blocks” to working with native speakers. Just like with your potential clients from abroad, there are cultural differences that you have to respect and take into account. In addition, the time difference is often trivial. Therefore, you should always keep this in mind for a pleasant cooperation and, if necessary, plan enough buffer for projects. That way, it won’t throw a spanner in the works. It is also important to clarify the budget. The costs for content creation or support vary from country to country, and also from person to person. The billing details can also vary. These points should therefore be clarified in advance.
To avoid stumbling blocks, it is advisable to write a detailed briefing to the native speaker. This should always be your first step to preventively clarify as many potential questions as possible.
There is definitely not too much input you can give here. The more detailed your briefing, the fewer questions will remain open!
You can find an example briefing in our whitepaper “Get started internationally – Enter new markets with the help of online marketing” on page 26, which should of course be translated into the language of your native speaker.
Alternatively, you can download it here.
You have the expertise on your company, your services and products and the native speaker brings the expertise on country, culture and mentality.
If you want to take off internationally, the combination of language and search engine optimization is particularly important. Through successful optimization, you not only create more trust with search engines, but also reach your target audience better through top rankings and thus pursue an effective international content strategy to internationalize your website. This good ranking in turn ensures the trust of potential customers in your website, which makes a conversion more likely.
Want to know more about international search engine optimization of your website? Check out this post in our eo:magazine!
Especially with regard to content, you should consider three important points:
Optimizing content for the target market through proper translations, localization and transcreations
Consideration of cultural and religious influences
Avoidance of duplicate content through the hreflang attribute
You’ve done it: your content is ready, and your international website is ready to reach new potential customers. In order to stimulate the distribution and consequently increase your visibility in the target market, targeted content marketing is a good idea. Through campaigns of this kind, you can influence where your content is linked to. This also ensures more traffic to your website, more trust with the search engines and can also increase customer loyalty.
Want to know how to distribute content outside your home country? In our eo:magazine, we show you step by step how to make your content marketing campaign a complete success. If that’s still not enough, have a look at our international link marketing whitepaper!
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Plans of internationalization? Then you should not miss this content!