A new article at Search Engine Land raises the question of multilingual SEO campaigns and offers the reader several pieces of relevant advice about how to make sure that one’s business is ready for that transition.
While this is all certainly helpful, the article seems to make one mistake in that it gives the impression that a multilingual campaign is only relevant for businesses that are trying to expand their SEO in line with an expansion of the company itself into new markets.
This is not the case. In an increasingly globalized world, going multilingual with your SEO might be a wise decision even for companies that are still only doing business in their own local areas.
This highlights yet another reason why it is valuable to do business with a local SEO company. If, for instance, your business is located in southern California, a highly competent Los Angeles SEO company can be expected to understand the demographics that you’ll be trying to reach in that area. And this includes language demographics.
One of the first tasks of your local SEO company will be to analyze the current search patterns in your target market in order to understand the best keywords and strategies for your SEO campaign. But if that company has a flimsy understanding of the non-English languages that are spoken in the community, which might be used in search for local businesses, then you’re in danger of missing out on large, important demographics.
Although the Search Engine Land article focused on overseas expansion, it highlighted two relevant statistics that are just as important to local linguistic diversity. Firstly, 89 percent of consumers report feeling greater customer satisfaction and brand loyalty when a company offers information in their native language. And beyond that, 56.2 percent place more importance on access to this sort of information than they do on the product’s price.
Even if you have no plans to expand in the near future, be aware of your local market’s linguistic landscape. If it is fairly diverse, look for a local SEO company that knows how to navigate that landscape.
