Stop doing SEO translation, start doing SEO localization with Maria Scheibengraf

Maria Scheibengraf joins Jack Chambers-Ward to explain why localization is so important for your international SEO strategy. Direct translation just doesn’t work for SEO. You need to take culture and nuance into account when it comes to your international SEO strategies. Maria explains the common problems that many agencies and SEOs face with multilingual SEO and how to get SEO localization right. Follow Maria Scheibengraf Follow Maria on LinkedIn Follow Crisol Translations Resources Maria's companion blog post Book recommendation: The Culture Map by Erin Meyer The Nike 'Am I a Bad Person? ad Sponsors Experience the evolution of SE Ranking Start your 14-day free trial of Optmyzr Book your personalised Optmyzr demo Chapters 00:00 Start 00:00:34 Intro 00:01:37 Sponsor: SE Ranking 00:03:45 Sponsor: Optmyzr 00:06:39 Welcome to the show Maria Scheibengraf 00:08:06 Why is SEO localisation so important? 00:11:00 The flawed workflow of SEO translation 00:15:10 Direct translation doesn’t work 00:16:21 Localisation is so much more than language 00:20:33 Book recommendation: The Culture Map by Erin Meyer 00:20:53 High context vs low context communication 00:22:06 British humour vs American humor 00:24:00 The importance of technical SEO in localisation 00:27:25 Understand what devices your audience are using 00:30:00 Common problems with SEO localisation 00:36:35 Linguists should learn SEO skills 00:40:30 When should SEO localisation be involved in the process? 00:41:09 The ideal international SEO workflow 00:44:35 How NOT to convince Germans to buy your products 00:47:45 How to budget for SEO localisation 00:49:20 Reuse resources to save time and money 00:51:45 Reframe your unique selling points to different cultures 00:54:05 Understanding cultural-coding 00:55:32 Be mindful of your messaging in different cultures 00:57:10 Marketing is still about evoking emotions in your audience 00:58:00 Even emotions are culturally coded 00:58:37 ‘Am I a bad person?’ Nike ad 01:00:34 Individualistic vs collectivist cultures 01:02:58 Search behaviour is becoming more conversational in English 01:05:05 AI is not trained on minority languages 01:06:58 Adapt your language to cultural standards 01:08:12 Even small changes in language can make a big difference 01:09:12 Don’t say ‘please’ in your Spanish content! 01:10:51 How language changes through generations 01:11:35 “De nada” means “it’s nothing” not “you’re welcome” 01:13:49 Tiny errors can really change your messaging 01:14:08 How to build trust with your audience 01:15:40 Where to follow Maria Scheibengraf 01:16:36 Outro