Website localization is essential for any business that wants to increase its global online presence. Why? Because localized websites resonate better with visitors and enhance engagement.
A localized website helps you to:
- Be more visible online and reach a bigger audience: By having content in the target market’s native language, you’ll elevate your online presence and receive more website visitors.
- Improve search engine rankings and drive more traffic to the website: Localized content ranks higher in search engine results and leads to more organic traffic.
- Build your brand and credibility in the target market: A website that feels like it’s local will build trust with the target audience.
- Increase conversions and sales: A localized website gets higher engagement and conversion rates by offering a user friendly and culturally relevant user experience.
Quick navigation:
What is the website localization process?
Why is website localization necessary?
Preparing for website localization
Defining your localization strategy
Website internationalization
Cultural adaptation and user experience in the local market
SEO for localized websites
Automating the localization process
Testing and quality assurance with translation memory
Launching and maintaining a localized website
What is the website localization process?
Website localization is the process of adapting a website’s content, design and functionality to meet the linguistic, cultural and technical needs of a specific target market.
It ensures the website communicates effectively and meaningfully with the target audience. This means not only translating text but also adapting images, multimedia and other elements to resonate with the local culture.
- For businesses with an international customer base website localization is essential.
For more on localization explore tailoring content to reach global markets: The power of localization.
Why is website localization necessary?
Website localization is necessary for the following reasons.
- Cultural references: A non-localized website may have cultural references that are not relevant or offensive to the target audience. Understanding the local market is key to avoid such issues. Localization ensures cultural nuances are respected and addressed.
- Language barriers: A non-localized website may be inaccessible to users who don’t speak the language. Localization breaks down language barriers and makes the website available to a wider audience.
- User experience: A non-localized website may be less user-friendly to users who don’t speak the language. Localization adapts the website to the preferences and expectations of the target audience, increasing user satisfaction. Continuous monitoring and adjustments are needed to fine tune localization and cultural adaptation.
- Search engine optimisation: A localized website improves search engine rankings and drives more traffic to the site. Search engines favour content that is relevant to the local audience which results in more visibility and higher rankings.
Preparing for website localization
Before embarking on a website localization project there are several steps that should be followed to ensure that your localized website effectively reaches and engages your target audience.
- Define your localization strategy: Identify your target markets, regions and languages, and establish a budget and timeline for the project.
- Conduct thorough market research: This will help you to understand the local culture, preferences, and behaviours of your target audience and tailor your website to meet the specific needs of each market.
- Assess the state of your current website: Identify any technical or content-related issues that may impact the localization process. This includes evaluating your website’s architecture, content management system (CMS), and any existing translation or localization tools. Ensuring your website is technically prepared for localization will streamline the process and prevent potential roadblocks.
- Assemble a team of professionals: Include professionals with expertise in translation and localization, website development, and project management. This team will be responsible for executing your localization strategy and ensuring a smooth and successful localization process.
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Defining your localization strategy
A localization strategy is a comprehensive plan that outlines how your business will adapt its website’s content, design and functionality to meet the needs of a specific target market.
This starts with identifying the target market itself and understanding its local culture and language. It also involves determining the resources needed to execute the localization process.
Localizing your website will usually involve the following steps.
- Website internationalization (i18n): This prepares the website to host translated content by separating translatable content from the source code to accommodate different cultures and languages.
- Translating and localizing the website’s content to the target language: Accurate translation is key to ensure the message is clear and understandable. Machine translation can translate content quickly without human intervention but integrating it with human editing is often necessary to improve quality. Professional translators will ensure accurate and culturally relevant translations.
- Adapting the layout and navigation to the local culture and language: For example, some languages read from right to left so the website’s design needs to be adjusted.
- Adapting the user interface: This may mean changing colour schemes, icons and other visual elements to match local preferences.
- Testing and quality assurance: It’s important to test the website to ensure it’s culturally relevant and user friendly. Using translation memories will ensure consistency across different language versions.
A well thought out and well executed localization strategy will help your business successfully enter new markets. Ultimately, a good localization strategy will drive revenue and brand growth by making the website feel native to the target audience.
Guildhawk has experience in website localization and will ensure your website is translated and culturally adapted to the target market.
Additional resource: Localization checklist: Top tips and tools
Website internationalization
Website internationalization enables you to deploy your website in different markets without having to rebuild it from scratch. It is the process of designing and building a website that is adaptable to different cultures, regions, and languages, making it easier to localize and expand into new markets.
To internationalize your website, you should:
- Use a content management system (CMS) that supports multiple languages and regions.
- Use Unicode to ensure that your website can display characters from different languages.
- Avoid hardcoded text and use placeholders instead.
- Use a flexible design that can accommodate different text lengths and formatting.
This foundational step in the website localization process will save time and resources in the long run, allowing for a more efficient and scalable approach to reaching global audiences.
Cultural adaptation and user experience in the local market
Cultural adaptation is a key part of website localization. It means adapting the website’s content, design and functionality to the target market’s culture and language. This includes the user interface, navigation and overall content to make it intuitive and user friendly.
A localized website should feel like it was built for the target market regardless of the user’s location, language or culture.
SEO for localized websites
Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is essential because it helps localized websites to rank higher in search engine results pages (SERPs).
Optimising content (including images and videos), meta tags and structure and using keywords and phrases relevant to the target market makes the website crawlable and indexable by search engines.
Good SEO increases online visibility and drives more organic traffic to the site.
Automating the localization process
Automating the localization process can help streamline and simplify the process. There are several tools and technologies available that can help automate the localization process.
These include:
- Machine translation (MT)
- Automated translation tools
- Content management systems (CMS) with built-in localization features.
By automating the localization process, you can:
- Reduce the time and costs associated with manual translation and localization.
- Improve the accuracy and consistency of translations.
- Increase the efficiency of the localization process.
- Enable real-time updates and changes to your website.
However, it’s important to note that wherever possible automation should be used in conjunction with human translation and review to ensure the highest quality and accuracy.
Professional translators can provide the cultural and contextual understanding that machines may lack, ensuring your localized website resonates with the target audience.
Testing and quality assurance with translation memory
Testing and quality assurance are part of the website localization process. They will ensure the localized website is functional, user friendly and error free.
This means testing the website’s functionality, usability and performance and verifying the content is accurate, complete and culturally relevant. Quality assurance will also ensure the localized website meets the required standards and specifications and complies with regional guidelines and regulations like GDPR in the EU. (It depends on the target regions, industries, and specific use cases).
Launching and maintaining a localized website
Launching and maintaining a localized website requires ongoing effort and attention to ensure that it remains relevant, accurate, and engaging for your target audience.
This involves the following.
- Monitoring website analytics to track user behaviour and engagement.
- Conducting regular updates and maintenance to ensure that the website remains accurate and relevant.
- Continuously gathering feedback from users to identify areas for improvement.
- Using social media and other channels to promote the website and engage with users.
- Ensuring that the website is optimized for search engines to improve visibility and reach.
By launching and maintaining a localized website, you can:
- Increase your online presence and reach in new markets.
- Improve user engagement and conversion rates.
- Enhance your brand reputation and credibility.
- Drive revenue and growth through increased online sales and leads.
Regularly updating content, monitoring performance, and responding to user feedback will help keep your localized site effective and successful in the long term.
Guildhawk website localization projects
Corecom Consulting's Dutch Expansion with website localization
EAP Localization with two million words in a week
Technical translations powering Yuasa’s growth
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