CHAPTER 3:
Making Your Website a Global Success
Translating your website is essential to its international success.
Two-thirds of internet users worldwide prefer to read content in their native language.
What does a global-first, multilingual website look like?
Website translation is a massive undertaking.
Translating your website is essential to its international success.
Website translation sets you up for success. But you still need to grab it.
Enhancing Efficiency and Accuracy with AI
Content is just one component of translating your website. When planning a multilingual website, you need to optimize it for search engines and conversions, have it tested by international users, and properly track your web analytics.
Google now prioritizes page experience when ranking websites in its search engine results. It has three user-centric metrics called Core Web Vitals that quantify the user experience.
In other words, your website must load fast, respond quickly to user input, and move as it should. Otherwise, Google will penalize it. Aside from these Core Web Vitals, Google also values websites that are mobile-friendly, secure (using HTTPS), and non-intrusive (interstitials, such as pop-up ads).
International Technical SEO
Technical search engine optimization (SEO) is about optimizing your website to help Google and other search engines find, crawl, and index it effectively.
Technical SEO involves many steps, including designing the proper site structure, submitting XML sitemaps, using structured data, removing duplicate content, using redirects, and applying canonical tags.
URL Structure
- Country Code Top-Level Domain (ccTLD): Instead of using .com in your domain name, you use a specific country’s domain, such as .fr for France or .jp for Japan. This helps your local website rank higher in local search engine results.
- Subdomain: This third-level domain, which lives on your primary domain, such as cn.company.com, is for the Chinese version of your website. It is less technically complex.
- Subdirectory: This is part of your main domain as a subfolder, such as company.com/it for your Italian website. It is the easiest and least costly option.
- Different Domain: This is an entirely different domain for each country. This makes sense if you want the website to have different content, design, and layout.
hreflang Tags
hreflang is an HTML tag added to your website’s code that helps search engines categorize your website, attribute it to a specific language, and show the correct language version to users.
It also helps search engines identify which country you are targeting if more than one country speaks that language, such as English or Spanish.
For example, hreflang=“es-es” tells Google the language is Spanish and the country is Spain. Meanwhile, hreflang=“es-mx” refers to Spanish and Mexico.
This is essential because there are cultural and linguistic differences between countries that speak the same language.
Web Analytics
Your web analytics must also be set up to effectively track your international websites across multiple domains. Google Analytics (GA) is the most popular web analytics software. You can set up a GA property for every website you own. There are two options for setting this up:
One GA Property, Multiple Views
This is the most straightforward approach. If you are running your business from one location, and your website is available in various countries, set up a single GA property and create views for each country or region.
One GA Property for Each Country
If you have offices in multiple countries with varying degrees of autonomy or a different domain for each country, it could make sense to set up a GA property for each. Then, just have one roll-up GA property for all countries to give you that global view of your entire business.
Conversion Optimization
Getting visitors to your website is one thing. Converting them into leads or customers is another. This is what conversion optimization is all about. It removes barriers that stop users from purchasing or submitting their contact information on your website. It also involves testing different website elements that resonate best with your audience.
When optimizing your website for conversions, your opinions, assumptions, and gut feelings don’t matter. What matters is what the data tells you.
Regarding multilingual websites, you should not assume that what works in your home country will also work in other markets. Your target customers may have different needs, and other factors may resonate more. Here are some best practices to consider:
Trust Your Data
When optimizing your website for conversions, your opinions, assumptions, and gut feelings don’t matter. What matters is what the data tells you.
Identify Drop-Offs
Google Analytics will show your sales or goal funnel, including the percentage of drop-offs at every stage. Again, do this for every country you are targeting.
Analyze User Behaviour
Understand why users leave your website, abandon the cart, or stop short of filling out a form. Find out their needs and pain points and learn what makes them tick. Gather quantitative and
qualitative data by country.
Run Tests
A better understanding of your audience gives you some hypotheses to test. There are many options for A/B testing platforms. Make sure you’re using the right sample size to come up with a reliable conclusion.
One Test At a Time
You can test several elements, including rewriting your headline, using a different image, adding more trust signals, and keeping your form simple. You can also test one hypothesis simultaneously, using just two variations to produce conclusive results.
This is the only way to find out what works and does not.
International User Testing
Functional testing is part of the translation process. The focus is on ensuring the translated website works as it should. User testing is different. You will be testing the usability of your website and the user experience.
International user testing involves recruiting representatives of your target audience from different countries to test your website. Here are some things you should do:
Decide How to Run Tests
You can run tests in each country remotely, hire a local usability consultant, or ask your local staff to do the testing themselves.
Recruit the Right Users
Your test users must be either native or bilingual speakers. And, of course, they should be representative of your target audience.
Account for Cultural Differences
While user testing may be common in your home market, users from other countries may not be used to this. They may have different expectations. Adjust your requirements and processes accordingly.