Maximize outreach by creating multi lingual websites using WordPress plugins
Since SEO has the powers of turning websites into revenue earning machines, it needs no further explanation why SEO is important for a website. Monetizing the opportunities arising from higher visibility on the internet is perhaps the most important reason why websites cannot do without SEO. Whether a site publishes blogs or is a business website, only hosting it on the web has no meaning unless you can optimise it for search engines that help to gain visibility. Once you achieve the target of increasing higher visibility, take the next step of connecting closely with the audience with the intention of building relationships.
Since your target is to reach out to the widest section of the public cutting across boundaries, there should not be any doubt about using English as the language of publication for the website because of its wide acceptance across the globe. The English language has good recognition even in countries where it is not the mother tongue. However, if you have business interests in countries that do not use English as the staple language for communication, then the most accepted practice is to have a multilingual website instead of having several websites in different languages. A site with the capabilities of automatic translation is highly feasible for interacting with the audience located in countries like Spain, France, China, Japan, Germany, Russia and some other countries that do not consider English as the official language. How to create multilingual websites will be clear on reading this post.
Creating websites that display in several languages
For building websites capable of displaying content in several languages, the norm is to use English as the anchor language and with the help of some technological tools, provide options to users for translating it into their preferred language. WordPress has now made it very easy to create multi lingual websites by using suitable plugins. The plugins are tools that provide additional features to websites to increase its functionality. Using WordPress plugins for translating websites is the popular choice for web developers because it is most economical and convenient. Users just have to click on the translate button to enjoy the content in their preferred language. However, the use of plugins is not practicable for large websites that run into several pages for which you have to create separate websites in the native language, just as maintaining separate sites.
Translation plugin from WordPress
The primary purpose of presenting sites in multiple languages is to build wider outreach by making websites compatible with local search engines that run on the local language so that it enhances user experience. The selection of WordPress plugins for translation would depend on the language preference that emerges from your audience research. By using the data from Google Analytics, you can identify the Geo location of the public that is responsible for generating maximum traffic and use the data for choosing the language/s for translation. This information comes handy in determining and configuring the suitable plugin that is capable of translating the content in the languages you prefer.
Every language has designated codes, and the language button is prominently visible on the website. Users can choose the language by selecting the country flag displayed alongside the language button. The WordPress dashboard facilitates the language selection as well as set up, and you can use its editing facility to make exceptions to some content that you want to keep out of the scope of translation.
SEO friendly plugins
The WordPress plugins are compatible with the best practices of multi language websites as prescribed by Google and obviously, these are highly SEO friendly. The translated web pages are attached to a clean source code. To enable search engines index the web pages in several languages the plugin has a unique feature provided with it. Knowing about the unique features of WordPress plugins will give insight about its SEO compatibility. To adhere to the Google guidelines, the language translator plugins create separate URLs for the translated pages. To make it easy for Google to identify the other languages, the plugins automatically attach hreflang tags that facilitate linking pages to the chosen languages.
Although business outreach seems to be the prime motivation for creating multi lingual websites, the underlying cause that drives the choice is to provide the better user experience to native people so that sites remain in the good books of the local search engines. Making users happy is the only way to drive traffic to websites because search engines also consider user experience as a critical factor to gauge the authority of websites. The link between SEO and the multi lingual website is more prominent for e-commerce sites because in addition to the translation facility the international tax structure is also incorporated in these websites.
Having multi lingual website is the most economical choice for maximising outreach of websites.
About the author:
Kenneth Robinson is an internet marketing professional who is also very fond of blogging. He loves to address the issue why SEO is important for a website through his blogs. Never to miss any opportunity of witnessing a soccer match, he is a die-hard sports enthusiast.