No matter whether you’re looking for local SEO services for law firms, or want to extend your business to an overseas audience, the best way to reach new potential clients is by far with multilingual or bilingual SEO services.
Multilingual SEO is among the most crucial aspects of catering to a larger audience, especially in multilingual areas. At the same time, even a bilingual SEO approach may shift from a local effort to an international strategy.
In this article, the expert team at Rosy Strategies will explore the benefits of SEO for bilingual websites.
About Multilingual SEO
In essence, both multilingual and bilingual SEO covers a similar term: search engine optimization in two or more languages. Traditional SEO usually focuses on optimization in a single language, which is a straightforward approach to having your site indexed by Google for local search results. A crucial aspect of local SEO is adding geolocal search terms and keywords to make sure that users will find your pages and websites.
Bilingual or multilingual website SEO is pretty much similar, but it requires additional knowledge of at least one more language. Because of this, it’s imperative for law firms to work closely with translators who work in tandem with bilingual optimization experts to always ensure accurate content localization and translation to nail the right SEO strategy.
The Benefits of Bilingual SEO for Websites in the Local Scene
The most crucial benefit of multilingual SEO is that you can expand your reach and infiltrate those sections of the local market where you previously had no digital presence. For example, this can be highly beneficial for a law firm in a bilingual environment such as Miami, where Spanish and English are used extensively and interchangeably.
While English is still the most prominent language on the internet representing around 26% of all global users, it still excludes a massive portion of people from reading content in their native language. From that point of view, a multi- or bilingual approach can enable you to open up new business opportunities both locally and internationally.
You can connect with a broader audience. What better way to do that than by providing content in more than one language? Especially in the language that’s widely spoken in your local area?
Lastly, you can establish a stronger foothold in the local market. Given your specific situation, bilingual SEO and a professional language with content written in two languages, you can build more trust, evoke more precise emotions, or simply exude more professionalism.
Bilingual SEO for Local Businesses: How Does it Work?
At first glance, the entire strategy of a multilingual approach seems quite simple. However, when you dig deeper into the specifics, you might find yourself in a difficult situation as you don’t really know where to start.
Fortunately, our bilingual SEO experts can help you develop a strategy and lay down a solid foundation to get you started.
Research The Market, Your Audience, and Locations
Every good SEO strategy starts with understanding the market and your user’s search habits. What legal terms are they searching both in English and Spanish? What are their demographics? The more you know about your local legal trends and your users, the better you can plan the type of content and SEO strategy that will help you expand your reach and rank higher.
Research Your Keywords
This is where things can get a bit more complicated. Now, instead of one, you will have to conduct at least two or more thorough research sessions for trending keywords with high volumes.
Still, even that can get overwhelming, so try focusing on the following to avoid not getting sidetracked:
- Localize your strategy: See how different speakers in your area search for the same type of legal services. You can’t just literally translate from one language to another in every case, so it’s always a plus to know if there are any area-specific differences between legal terms, even in the same language. While this may be an “off” example, remember that what we call an “elevator in the U.S. is called a “lift” in England.
- Check out your site’s performance: Look at your pages with the best traffic and figure out which keywords already drive users to your site. This can help introduce new keywords in the current language of the site and may help you forecast a trend for the second language.
Multilingual SEO: Technical Aspects
Here are a few technical processes that will help you get the most out of multilingual SEO:
- Get dedicated URLs: If you have unique URLs, you can avoid penalties for content duplication. For starters, language indicators in the URL itself can help solve the issue.
- Hreflang tags: These tags tell search engines which language you are using on a dedicated page so it can be pushed in the SERPs easier for users who are searching in that given language. These can be inserted in the header of the original page or submitted through the sitemap.
- Address other areas as well: Apart from localizing and translating your site, it’s also imperative to translate your title tags, meta descriptions, and meta keywords.
Additional Benefits of Bilingual SEO
What else can a bilingual approach help you achieve?
- Better recognition and improved brand awareness: Build more and better rapport with your local audience by targeting them in their own languages.
- Gain the upper hand on the market: Bilingual local SEO can help you differentiate yourself from your competitors in the eyes of those who speak more than one language. They will simply have an easier time evaluating and understanding your services, which will build trust between you and them.
- Simplifying the conversion process: When prospects read something in their native language, it gives them an easier way to access your services.
- Better traffic: It goes without saying, but the more speakers you cater to, the more users will visit your website,thereby helping you rank higher.
- More cost-effective marketing: Bilingual and multilingual SEO costs more or less the same as a unilingual strategy but gives you more opportunities to market to a larger crowd. Additionally, you’ll already have the advantage if you want to transition from the local scene to the international market.
Finishing Thoughts
Getting started with multilingual or bilingual SEO might look intimidating, but it’s a worthwhile investment with the right approach. The right strategies can help you reach more people, boost your traffic, improve your credibility and your overall online presence.
Like unilingual SEO, a bilingual approach will also require the experience of a professional team. On that note, consulting with SEO experts (such as us) who thoroughly understand the local target audiences can help you define user intent better. Even if you are fluent in both languages, bilingual SEO experts can help you target keywords more effectively and can help you weed out phrases that don’t just drive traffic but convert it as well.
That said, feel free to contact us today so we can help you maximize your reach in the local market by creating a bilingual or multilingual strategy.