Multilingual SEO: Best Practices for Website Optimization

Around the world, people turn to search engines to make purchase decisions, whether they're looking for software tools or running shoes. That’s why search engines are the single most powerful drivers of website traffic. SEO (search engine optimization) enables marketers to attract traffic with high ranks on search pages, leading to clicks, demos, and conversions. 

But what about multi-language websites? You can't just auto-translate the site and expect search engines to do the rest. You need to set up your multilingual SEO correctly so search engines can crawl, rank, and deliver your content to the right audience.

In this guide, we’ll demystify multilingual SEO so you can stay search-friendly as you expand your product or business into different languages.

What is Multilingual SEO?

Just like regular SEO, multilingual SEO involves researching and understanding the best search terms and keywords for different languages. It’s the practice of optimizing and configuring a website to connect with a diverse, multilingual audience, no matter where they’re searching from. For example, Ahrefs, a popular SaaS tool, has a multilingual website with 13 different language versions, including Ahrefs.com/es (Spanish), Ahrefs.com/de (German), and many more.

To maintain a seamless search experience, Ahrefs implements multilingual SEO. Multilingual SEO ensures that searchers see the right localized page every time, no matter what language they’re using. 

Take note of the search results when you Google, “Que es Ahrefs?” in Spanish, rather than English:

You’ll see how Google accurately detects the language of the searcher. The top result is the localized Spanish site, Ahrefs.com/es:

So, how does multilingual SEO happen? It’s not as easy as simply auto-translating your website with Google Translate. In reality, it requires some preparation to get it up and running smoothly. Fortunately, there are several best practices and tools that streamline the process from start to finish.

Benefits of Multilingual SEO

Multilingual SEO is essential for businesses expanding into new markets. According to research, global internet users are 76% more likely to engage with content in their native language. 

This means your website, case studies, and landing pages need to be translated and localized for each market. Plus, you must signal to search engines that these new translated versions exist. While it takes effort to roll out and maintain, most businesses find the investment in multilingual SEO is well worth it.

Here are the top 4 benefits of multilingual SEO:

• Expanded Audience Reach:
  By optimizing your SEO for multiple languages, you’ll connect with a broader, global audience, making your site accessible to more potential customers.
• Better UX:
  Offering content in a user's native language enhances their experience, increasing the likelihood of engagement and conversions. 
• Higher Search Engine Rankings:
  Multilingual SEO helps your site rank better in local search results, driving more targeted traffic from different regions.
• Competitive Advantage:
  By investing in multilingual SEO, you can stand out in markets where competitors may not be optimizing for multiple languages, giving you a distinct edge.

Best Practices for Multilingual SEO

When managing a website for different regions or languages, it’s essential to set things up so search engines like Google can index the content properly. This involves doing keyword research on your target markets, using Hhreflang tags to specify language and region, organizing URLs, and customizing content for each audience. 

1. Pick target markets and dive into keyword research

First, you’ve got to do your market research.

Let’s take a look at the statistics from the 2023 report from We Are Social. With nearly 10% of global internet users, South and Central America represent promising markets to cover.

Let’s say you have a successful project management SaaS tool in the US. Perhaps you want to channel your success in Silicon Valley to a new region like South America. After all, The Economist Magazine says startups are booming in Latin American tech hubs like Buenos Aires and Sao Paulo.  

But how do you know if you should market your product in Brazil or Argentina? 

Rather than going on a hunch, you can use an SEO keyword research tool to find the international search volume for target keywords. Ahrefs, SEMrush, Surfer SEO, or Moz are excellent SEO tools for multilingual research.

Start by thinking about the key terms your clients might use, like “project management,” “task management,” or “project management tool.”  Next, translate these key terms into the language you’re researching.  

Then, check how often these keywords are searched and how tough the competition is in each language. Finally, use this data to tweak and improve your keywords to better fit what people are searching for in different languages.

In places where Google isn’t the main search engine—like China (Baidu), Russia (Yandex), and South Korea (Naver)—keep in mind that Google might show lower search volumes compared to the local search engines.

To see how strong your target market is, you can also use Google Trends. It shows if interest in a topic or keyword is going up or down, and you can filter results by country.

2. Localize and translate your site content

After you’ve done your research and picked the languages you want to target, it’s time to translate your website.

Google Translate has come a long way in recent years, but it’s not perfect—especially for the most important pages of your site that need to drive conversions. 

We recommend translating your site and UI with a best-in-class translation tool like Localize. Localize is a no-code translation tool for websites and SaaS platforms that automates the translation process from start to finish. 

Plus, with JavaScript, Localize is automated and always on, so you never have to worry about deploying new translations every time you update the English version.

3. Configure your Site URLs, Hreflang tags, and Metadata

Now comes the important part: optimizing your translated webpages for search. These tools can help you signal to search engines that your new translations are ready for visitors:

• Consistent site URLS for each new language
• Hreflang tags
• Translated metadata and title tags

In this section, we’ll take a deeper look into each element.

Site URLs

Google recommends creating unique URLs for each language or region to ensure the content is understood and targeted correctly. To help search engines properly index your translated pages, set up subdirectories or subdomains for each new language:

• Subdirectories: example.com/es, example.com/fr
• Subdomains: es.example.com, fr.example.com

Whatever structure you choose, maintain consistency across URLs to keep your site organized and user-friendly, which is key for both search engines and visitors.

Use UTF-8 for any non-ASCII characters in the URL, file name, or parameters.

Hreflang tags

To ensure search engines index your content in different languages, add hreflang tags to your pages.

Here's an example of how you might use hreflang tags in your HTML:

<head>

    <link rel="alternate" href="https://example.com/en/" hreflang="en">

    <link rel="alternate" href="https://example.com/fr/" hreflang="fr">

</head>

In this example, the hreflang tags tell search engines that there are English (en) and French (fr) versions of the webpage, helping direct users to the correct language version based on their preferences.

Title Tags and Meta Descriptions

Well-written title tags and search meta descriptions are an integral part of multilingual SEO. We recommend translating these and having a local expert review the language for accuracy.

Optimize your SEO for Multiple Locations

Just like regular SEO, it may take time to see results, but the payoff in organic traffic and new customer conversions is well worth the effort. Set your multilingual sites up for success by promoting your content, asking for referrals, and securing high-quality backlinks.

SEO is an ongoing journey, and multilingual SEO adds another layer of complexity. To keep your team motivated and invested in expanding into new markets, track and celebrate the success of your localization efforts. Watch for increases in organic traffic from your new multilingual pages, the number of new customers or leads from each country, and the impact of high-ranking international keywords. 

Every win is a step towards stronger global growth—so let those results shine!

Multilingual SEO Made Simple with Localize

SEO doesn’t have to be complicated. With Localize, you can translate your SaaS website in minutes using our top-tier translation management system. Our no-code SEO tools make it easy to boost search visibility, clicks, and conversions—implementing best practices like Hreflang tags with just a click. Join over 1,000 companies, including Atlassian, Cisco, Discord, and Ahrefs, who trust Localize for global expansion.