Importance of Localized Content for SEO

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Ever wondered why your search results are always pertinent to your physical location?
For instance, when you search “best Italian food,” you get results in your vicinity. Or when you search “vehicle repair,” you will get results within your city or proximity.
Now, you didn’t mention your location, but the results were still location-specific. Moreover, the results will vary when you search from a different city or area.
But why are we even discussing it?
It works for us, and we get the search results that we need. Yes, that’s what search engines do. They give you the most valuable and apt results for your queries.
Search engines assemble their algorithms to give you results that serve your purpose. And one of the key constituents of these algorithms is the localization factor.
Google Update: Google deployed the “user localization update” in its algorithm in 2015. And hereafter, localized content became more crucial than ever for SEO.
If you wish to rank for search queries specific to a city, you need to localize your content.
You must convince Google that your content is relevant to search queries from that city. And here is where various content localization techniques put in an appearance.
So, let us familiarize ourselves with the definition and impact of localized content.

What is a Localized Content?

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Content localization refers to the process of making your content best-suited to the language, culture, and mannerism of your specific target audience.
It surpasses the process of merely translating a content’s language to attract a specific audience. Instead, it goes deeper to add an element of localized context to your content.
The local target audience must enjoy a personalized experience with your content. Thus, convincing the local users to make a purchase decision.
An Example: For instance, consumers from Asia relate to and find value in your website content. However, the same content might not ring a bell for consumers from Australia.
They might not even relate to the images you use in your content. And this reduces the likelihood of these consumers buying from your website.
While localization may commence from content translation, it influences factors like:

• Context of the content
• Currency customization as per localization
• Units of measurement
• Images relevant to the target audience

Importance of Personalization: Moreover, the need for personalization is growing in tandem with online competition. Customers are not likely to settle down for any half-baked efforts.
74% of shoppers are most likely to abandon a site that doesn’t personalize their content. This makes it evident that localized content is crucial for your site’s conversion rate.
Let’s jump to the next section to learn how localized content does the groundwork for better SEO.

Importance of Localized Content for SEO & Conversions

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1. Increased Keyword Relevancy and Organic Traffic

When you put a significant amount of work into content localization, it reflects in your SEO.
As per stats, over 50% of all Google search queries are in languages other than English. Thus, it stands out a mile that you lose oodles of traffic unless you localize your content.
Localization Update: Moreover, Google notices your content localization efforts. And it is evident with Google’s “user localization update” that made its debut in 2015. Search engines are likely to offer results that are localized through and through.
Use Keywords to Your Advantage: As you translate and localize your content, you add a different set of keywords to it. These keywords are typical of the locality for which you optimize your content.
These are a combination of the words used by your target audience in their local language. You might completely miss out on them unless you choose to localize.
Easy to Rank: As you target these localized keywords in your content, you are likely to rank for them. And these main phrases, in harmony with long-tail keywords, grow your content relevancy. This will help your localized content rank in the SERPs.
As you attain good rankings, you attract traffic for these localized search terms. Thus, you can establish a new stream of traffic to your site.

2. Increased Conversion Rate

Content localization can significantly affect your conversion rate.
As we go by the statistics:

• 86% of campaigns with localized messaging outperformed campaigns in the English language. Moreover, the former leads with a higher number of conversions and click-through rate.
• 40% of consumers are not likely to purchase from a site that is not in their native language.

Several localization factors that give impetus to your conversion rate include:

• A well-planned localized content can source you relevant traffic that converts readily.
• Content localization further helps you optimize the context of your content. It grows the user engagement and increases the users’ likelihood to purchase.
• Users readily share localized content that adds value to their contacts and followers. This increases the visibility and reach of your content. Thus, further attracting higher conversions from your localization efforts.
• Your localized content also helps you establish a stand against local SEO competition.

To attract an audience from a specific region, you need to outperform the existing competitors in that area. Localized content can help you with it and grow your conversions.

3. A Sporting Chance to Acquire New Backlinks

The use of local keywords in your content boosts its relevancy for local searches. Moreover, when you fine-tune your content for localization, you optimize its local context. And this makes it highly valuable for your target audience.
Chance to Go Viral: For instance, you create a well-researched and distinctive article on a popular topic. Now suppose this article becomes viral and gains oodles of backlinks in your country.
But, there are chances that your article doesn’t perform well in some regions. If these regions are valuable for your business, you need to localize your content.
Your localization efforts help the users from these regions connect with the article. And they might like to share it across with their contacts.
Chance to Gain Backlinks: Moreover, other localized influencers and bloggers might like to share your article. They are most likely to give you backlinks to your content. Thus, helping you inherit good authority from numerous reputed sites in this region.
This authority further elevates the domain authority of your global domain. And thereinafter you can expect a growth in your global and localized rankings.

How Can Localized Content Improve Your Sales/ROI?

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1. Gear Up for Substantial Returns from Your SEO Investment

While you plan your SEO strategy, you allocate a part of your marketing investment to it. And you can calculate your SEO returns in the form of traffic and conversions.
Now, your content and SEO might help you draw impressive returns in your home country. Whereas it might not turn up as expected in other valuable regions. And this unveils a leak in your SEO and content strategy. Therefore, you need to opt for localized content to fix it.
Nokia's Mistake: Nokia took a sharp nose-dive with its Lumia phone in countries that speak Spanish. The native meaning of Lumia in Spanish is “prostitute.” And as a consequence, the brand’s offering was an utter flop in these countries.
Thus, appropriate content localization helps draw returns from your SEO investment. There are numerous ways localized content can help you draw substantial SEO returns:

• Optimize for the localized keywords in your content that attract relevant traffic.
• Use tools like SEMRush and Ahrefs to search for content trends specific to a region. Produce quality content based on these trends to grow your reach and relevance.
• Specify the right context of your content by using localized long-tail keywords.
• Use images and examples that people from a specific region can relate to easily.

All these steps will help you grow your search engine presence for the localized regions. And as a result, you can expect good SEO returns and increased conversions.

2. Delineate the Context of Your Content and Messaging

Localized content has a greater reach and conversion potential than generic ones.
As per Nieman Journalism Lab, the localized social media posts drew 6-times more conversions than the generic posts.
With that said, it is essential to plan a geo-targeted context for your content. The consumers must relate to your messaging and comprehend its context with ease.
Add Long-tail Keywords: Adding native long-tail keywords to your content improves its context. These keyword combinations might be typical to the native language of a region. And these are important for your content to rank on highly relevant search queries.
Improve Relevancy: Moreover, you need to focus on improving the relevancy by adding geo-targeted images. The localized audience should relate to these images, thus increasing the engagement.
Out-and-out language translations might not produce a contextual relevance.
For example, a phrase like “stand out a mile” means ‘pretty obvious’ in English. However, after translation in another language, it might relate to the distance parameter. Therefore, you need to protect the right context of your content.
Factors to Focus: The language, the currency, and the native phrases are other factors you must focus upon. These factors are essential to fabricate the right context for a specific audience.
If your target audience relates to the content’s messaging, you can expect a good ROI.

3. Humanize your Brand Messaging for Better User Engagement

One of the major ground rules to producing content is writing for humans. Whether you wish to achieve SEO excellence or higher conversions, humanize your content.
Over 49% of Marketers said in a survey that geo-targeted ads give the highest ROI. Moreover, if your content establishes a human connect it gets a significant reach.
Humanize Content: While you localize your content, you must ensure that it appeals to humans. Localization opens a window of opportunity to humanize content for a specific audience.
A sharp-witted move is to organize your content around a core mission.
Establish Emotional Connection: Many brands indicate support for a local cause or a solution to a common issue in their messaging. This allows them to establish an emotional connection with the users easily. It, as a result, reflects growth in their sales and conversions.
The objective is to traverse the cultural differences with your humanized content. The locals must feel you are one of them. And you must know how it feels to walk in their shoes.
Some significant steps that will help you humanize your localized content include:

• Display photos and images that are relevant to the audience from a specific region. Try limited use of random stock images and use audience-specific imagery. Your images must convey the “human” sentiment behind them quickly.
• Connect with local representatives to understand the nuances of the local dialect. They can help you sort some native phrases that can optimize your content & message.

4. Boost Your Overall User Metrics

Localized content offers higher engagement potential than generic content.

• 65% of users, who have high proficiency in English, prefer to engage with content in their native language.
• 86% of localized campaigns offer higher CTR and conversions than global campaigns.

Thus, content localization helps you elevate the user metrics on your site in many ways:
Define a harmony between localized content and the best SEO practices. It can help you rank for the local searches.
Reduce Bounce Rate: Moreover, the use of long-tail keywords will enable you to rank for relevant queries. Thus, you gain relevant traffic that has a lower bounce rate and engages well. This traffic has a higher likelihood of clicking on the desired call to action.
Geo-targeted Ads: Planning geo-targeted ads with localized messaging helps you draw a higher number of impressions and CTR. Now, if your landing page is localized, you can expect positive user metrics.
With that said, localized content initiates an upsurge in positive user metrics. And thereupon, you receive higher sales and growth in ROI.

5. Optimize for the Audience Trends to Grow Conversion Rate

The user trends widely influence your localization efforts. You must examine the user trends of your specific audience during localization. And you must utilize the data from these trends to shape your localized content.
Some specific localized trends are:

• 75% of consumers choose to repurchase from a brand that offers aftersales care in their native language.
• 76% of shoppers are more likely to purchase if the product description is in the local language.

An actionable tip for analyzing the localized trends is by using advanced SEO tools.
Make Use of Tools: Tools like SEMRush and Ahrefs allow you to draw good insights into user trends. You can use the tools to define your specific target audience and find the leading trends.
Find Content Trends: Find content trends and SEO-specific trends specific to your target location. And use this data to inform your content and messaging.
Partner With Local Sites: You also need to assess various local sites and join forces with locals to find these trends. The target audience must feel a personalized touch in your content. And it will increase the content’s engagement potential and conversion rate.

6. Grow Your Visibility for the Target Location

Localization helps you grow the reach of your content and other marketing efforts.
Produce Shareable Content: Suppose you produce a sharable content piece for a global audience. Now, there are chances that it might not perform for specific regions. Here localization plays a crucial role in finding your content the right visibility.
As aforementioned, users engage with localized content more readily. And if they find it valuable, they may readily share it among their connections.
Partner With Local Media: Moreover, local media sites are more likely to accept your localized content. You can also expand your off-page link-building efforts to local high-authority sites. And localization will increase their likelihood to accept your content or link to it.
Gain Quality Backlinks: You can start gaining high-quality links from reputed sites in your target location. It will help you grow your site authority and referral traffic too. Moreover, the site authority will reflect in the form of improved rankings in the SERPs.
The increased visibility of your site will translate into higher returns from investment.

7. Stay Well-prepared Against the Local Competition

When you wish to target a specific audience, you ought to surpass the local competition.
You cannot plan to win a local audience with generic content. The local competitors have higher odds of winning owing to a better local connection. Smart ways to overpower your local competition can include:

• Join forces with locals and use their inputs to optimize the localized content.
• Organize your message around a local cause or to solve a specific problem for the locals
• Upsurge the personalization and humanization aspect of your content
• Collaborate with reputed local sites to grow your visibility and authority
• Optimize the localized content to grow its search visibility for specific queries

With all the above factors combined, you can establish a prominent local presence.
Your audience must not find any resistance in comprehending your content or messaging. And this will allow your audience to switch to your brand without a second thought.
Localization helps you stand out among your competitors. And it adds up as high conversions and ROI.

Localized Content FAQs

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Q1. Which Localization Trends are the Most Likely to Shape the Future?

The latest localization trends that will help you sell across various geographies include:

• Users would prefer a more personalized form of localized content. Big Data and customization will play a significant role in content personalization.
• Localized video content is expected to upsurge the return on investment. Users might require more than subtitle translation. Localized video ads are already drawing good reach for companies.
• Voice search is growing, and translated content might fail to rank for voice queries. Therefore, businesses need to localize content for multilingual voice search.
• AI and machine learning can help businesses with more accurate content translation swiftly. Global brands have already started employing these technologies for localization.

Q2. How Does Localized Website Differs from International Website?

An international website addresses a global audience, and it allows language translation.
For example, an on-demand entertainment website that serves globally. You can access it from anywhere in a translated language. However, you cannot expect a local payment model or local currency.
Localized sites are the adaptation of international sites into an accessible local form.
They adapt to various local components to make the site valuable for a specific audience. These components include the local language, local currency, imagery, delivery options, etc.
Localization takes far more effort from a business’s POV. However, localized websites perform better in SEO and draw better ROIs.

Q3. How Can I Draw Good ROI from Localized Content?

• Optimize your content for specific local keywords and phrases
• Personalize via local imagery, currency, payment model, and other specific components.
• Examine and optimize for specific user trends of a specific target location
• Organize your messaging to support a local cause and humanize for the local audience
• Grow your local visibility and site authority by gaining links from reputed local sites
• Stay ahead of local competition in terms of SEO, reach, personalization and engagement

Content localization is a crucial attribute for your online success in the global market. So, if you wish to capitalize on your localized content with substantial returns, connect with us today.