Website translation and SEO: What should you focus on?

Making a website available in several languages is one of the fastest ways to reach new markets, but a word by word translation rarely performs well in search results or for real users.

Keyword driven localisation

For each target language, it is essential to understand how users actually search.

A phrase that works in Turkish may have a different natural equivalent in English or German.
Keyword research should be aligned with product and service names in the local market.
Localised keyword lists need to feed directly into the content and navigation plan.

Titles, metadata and navigation

An SEO friendly translation is not limited to body text.

Page titles and meta descriptions must read naturally and encourage clicks.
Menus, buttons, forms and error messages should guide users clearly through each step.
Where possible, URLs should be short, descriptive and consistent in the target language.

Localised content and user experience

Formats and expectations also need adaptation, not just words.

Dates, number formats, currencies and measurement units must follow local conventions.
Address formats, phone number patterns and contact forms should match user habits in the target country.
Content length and layout should be tested across different screen sizes and devices.

Technical details and quality checks

Once the multilingual site is built, a structured review is required.

Check for broken links, missing translations and language mix ups.
Review search result snippets and social media sharing metadata.
Configure multilingual sitemaps and language tags such as hreflang correctly.